EAST LANSING, Mich. – Mel Tucker’s attorney revealed hundreds of previously unreleased text messages from Brenda Tracy, presenting them as new evidence that undermines Michigan State’s decision to fire the head football coach.
On Thursday morning, Oct. 5, Jennifer Z. Belveal, a lawyer with Foley and Lardner LLP, sent out a letter with the subject line, “New evidence regarding Mel Tucker matter.”
The letter says Tucker’s defense team discovered new evidence in the form of a witness and messages sent by Tracy to her close friend and assistant, Ahlan Alvarado, who has since died.
“This new evidence undermines MSU’s decision to terminate Mr. Tucker, and further confirms that the underlying ‘investigation’ failed to meet minimal due diligence standards -- at Mr. Tucker’s expense,” the letter reads.
NOTE: Some typos and abbreviations within the text messages have been lightly edited for clarity.
Background on case
The controversy surrounding Tucker became public early the morning of Sept. 10, when USA TODAY published an article detailing allegations made against him by Tracy, a prominent advocate against sexual violence.
Tucker had hired Tracy to speak with his team twice and serve as an honorary captain for the 2022 spring game as part of an initiative to educate his team about sexual violence. The two developed a personal relationship, but they dispute whether it was romantic and which parts of it were consensual.
Specifically, Tracy accuses Tucker of sexually harassing her by masturbating during a phone call on April 28, 2022. Tucker says his actions were consensual.
Tracy filed a complaint with Michigan State’s Title IX office in December 2022, and the university hired an investigator to look into the case.
The results of that investigation were submitted in July 2023. It wasn’t until the USA TODAY report in September that details leaked to the public.
Tucker was originally suspended pending an October hearing (scheduled for today, Oct. 5) designed to determine whether he had violated the school’s policy against sexual harassment and exploitation. But a week after the USA TODAY report, MSU informed Tucker of its intention to fire him, and despite his scathing objections, he was officially terminated Sept. 27.
New evidence
Tucker’s lawyers said this new evidence in the case confirms that Tracy “had simultaneous consensual personal relationships with Mr. Tucker and at least one other married coach, contrary to what she told the investigator.”
The other coach mentioned in the evidence is new Georgia Tech basketball coach Damon Stoudamire, who was an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics from 2021-2023.
Tucker’s defense team questioned Tracy’s previous statement that she doesn’t date people in her field and accused her of not only misrepresenting relationships, but also manipulating a witness.
“We want to be certain that each of you are privy to some of the newly discovered evidence, primarily in the form of messages authored by Ms. Tracy herself but also including new witness statements, that she hoped (and obviously anticipated) you would never see,” the letter says.
The new evidence includes around 20,000 new “communications or documents” involving Tracy, Tucker’s lawyers said.
“This evidence completely contradicts Ms. Tracy’s claims and suggest that she manipulated a key witness, the university, Mr. Tucker, and the public,” they wrote. “You should know that Ms. Tracy allegedly deleted key evidence and provided only self-serving excerpts to OIE (the Office of Institutional Equity) to sustain a claim of ‘harassment’ that MSU never should have been investigating in the first place.”
Relationship questions
Tucker’s lawyers placed under a microscope Tracy’s claim that she doesn’t date people in her field, specifically revealing text messages she exchanged with Alvarado.
“I haven’t even heard from Damon since Monday,” Tracy wrote in a Jan. 15, 2022, text.
“He’ll pop up,” Alvarado replied.
“For sure,” Tracy said. “He’s not going nowhere. Lol. He was supposed to find time to see me before the 20th.”
“Coach Tucker told me he loved me last night,” Tracy texted Alvarado at 9:43 p.m. Jan. 15, 2022. “It wasn’t weird tho. He made sure I knew it was about being a friend.”
“In other news lol,” Alvarado replied. “Coach Tucker isn’t going anywhere either.”
“Def not lol,” Tracy said. “He went to some retreat for his birthday. Came back all zen. He’s one of those -- in another life.
“I guess they talked about trauma and he said he thought about me and how amazing it is that I can speak about mine. He said I’m a brilliant human and too special for this world.
“Damon is so cute in his tight shirt and pants lol. I like seeing him on TV.”
You can view all the text messages included in the letter at the bottom of this page.
Tucker’s lawyers said this exchange refutes Tracy’s allegations that the attention from Tucker caused her distress.
“It also decimates Ms. Tracy’s claim that she would not consensually engage in a personal relationship with a coach,” the letter reads.
Lawyers said Stoudamire and Tracy previously teamed up to provide training to his players.
In a Sept. 10, 2021, text message, Tracy said, “Why is every man in my (direct messages) asking me out now? It’s like they can sense that I’m dating someone already. I will not get distracted. I have a good thing with Damon.”
On Oct. 27, 2021, when Stoudamire was an assistant with the Celtics, they were hosting the Washington Wizards. Tracy texted Alvarado, “Watching the DJ at halftime. Thank God I graduated to a coach on the bench LOL.”
Accepting gifts
The letter also challenges Tracy’s claim that she wouldn’t accept gifts from Tucker after knowing that he was romantically interested in her.
Here are several messages from Tracy to Alvarado included in the letter:
At 10:52 a.m. Nov. 9, 2021: “Michigan State might be going to the Rose Bowl or one of the other major ones. We should check this calendar and keep dates open. I know coach Tucker would give us tickets.”
At 5:25 p.m. Nov. 26, 2021: “Tucker signed his contract. I can’t even wrap my brain around $95 million. Sheesh.”
At 5:26 p.m. Nov. 26, 2021: “Can you imagine around $700K going into your bank account every month? Every month. Crazy.”
At 5:27 p.m. Nov. 26, 2021: “I’m gonna ask him to finance the doc part of it. He’ll do it.”
New witness claims phone sex was consensual
Tucker’s lawyers introduced an unnamed new witness who is “familiar with Ms. Tracy’s representations regarding their relationship.
That witness came forward under oath and said the two “were in some sort of relationship when the conversation took place ... the phone sex was consensual.”
No other statements regarding the validity of the relationship have been made under oath, according to Tucker’s defense team.
The new witness said Tracy went to “extraordinary lengths” to stop her messages with Alvarado from coming to light, the letter alleges.
“As detailed in the new witness’ sworn statement, while Ms. Tracy’s supposed friend lay dying in a hospital, and even after death, Ms. Tracy sought to sleep over at Ms. Alvarado’s house (in her room) and repeatedly asked Ms. Alvarado’s family for access to Ms. Alvarado’s phone and computers,” the letter says.
“It really struck me as odd that she would want Ahlan’s things and would be asking Ahlan’s family for them as Ahlan lay dying in her hospital bed,” the witness said, according to Tucker’s lawyers in the letter.
“Ms. Tracy’s shocking efforts to obtain access to Ms. Alvarado’s electronic devices containing evidence against her reveals how desperately she wanted and needed to ensure their contents were never disclosed,” the letter reads.
Spring game comments
Tucker’s lawyers accuse Tracy of trying to convince the investigator hired by Michigan State that she had been brought to the spring game because of ulterior motives.
Here are the text messages Tracy provided during the investigation:
Tracy (12:24 p.m. April 17, 2022): “I saw an interview with Tucker about the practice and he said, ‘Brenda Tracy was in town and educating our players is important,’ or something similar, but not, ‘She’s serving as captain.’ Or, ‘We’re wearing shirts to raise awareness,’ or even a mention of Set The Expectation. I wonder if it’s because of the behind the scenes stuff that he’s now being weird. Like he’s nervous to talk about me now? “She’s in town” what??
Alvarado: Who knows, friend. Men are weird no matter what. They think acknowledging is doing something. I don’t see why it’s a secret. They announced you at the game?
Tracy: I don’t know, but he didn’t do a good job. I expected more from him.
Alvarado: Agree
Tracy: Don’t have me there if you aren’t going to talk about it. We’re not checking boxes.
Alvarado: They took care of us but the important part was to raise awareness.
Tracy: Exactly. It’s not about you and me.
Alvarado: It’s always about them somehow.
Tracy: I gotta step all the way away. I can’t have this messing with the message or mission. That’s not something I can do.
According to Tucker’s defense team, those messages were provided to the investigator, but the following comments were “conveniently omitted.”
“MSU posted and coach isn’t being weird at all,” Tracy said at 2:08 p.m. April 17, 2022. “Feels like all is good. And I all of a sudden have a T-shirt discussion with licensing at MSU and some non-athletic staff and a T-shirt company. Blessings on blessings when you stay the course and do what’s right.”
Money questions
In the letter, Tucker’s lawyers also insinuate that Tracy was motivated by financial gain.
On Sept. 21, 2021, Tracy told Alvarado that her attorney was reaching out to Michigan State about a settlement.
“Karen, a lawyer, is reaching out to the head lawyer at MSU to discuss what this might look like moving forward,” she wrote at 2:40 p.m. Sept. 1, 2022. “She’s going to gauge their response and we will go from there, but sounds like we will be asking Tucker to not speak on me or the incident and him or MSU will need to make an anonymous donation to STE (Tracy’s nonprofit organization, Set The Expectation) so that we can further our work.
“Karen said once she can test their tolerance -- like do they just want this to just go away -- then she’ll be able to better help me make decisions.
“Having him just sign an NDA tho just means he did it. No one will know and there are no consequences for him.”
At 2:48 p.m. Sept. 1, 2022, Tracy said, “Money is my only recourse to make him feel like there is a punishment.”
Seven minutes later, the letter claims Tracy texted, “When they do the money, I should make him pay me 10K directly. Or ask, anyway.”
On Dec. 9, 2022, Tracy texted Alvarado, “I’m filing a formal complaint with MSU. ... Karen said after that we can let him know that we want to come to an agreement, then it doesn’t have to go to a hearing or anything unless he wants it to.”
The letter claims one week before Tracy filed her complaint against Tucker, she admitted to being “down to $5.” She also talked about realizing she was supposed to be paying down 2018 taxes, Tucker’s lawyers said.
“So apparently I was supposed to be paying down 2018 taxes and not staying caught up on the other years because now the IRS wants their money,” Tracy wrote at 7:58 p.m. Dec. 19, 2022. “I have to come up with $25K over the next six weeks.”
Conversation with ESPN
The letter detailed the following conversation with Tracy and Alvarado on May 16, 2023:
Tracy: I just talked to my new ESPN reporter.
Alvarado: How did it go?
Tracy: Good. I like him. He said they aren’t going to do anything yet. But obviously if they get tipped off about other outlets or if MT does something, they would need to cover it.
Alvarado: That makes sense.
Tracy: It does, and I told him I understood the process and all that but that I’m also trying to get through the school process without public input.
Alvarado: Exactly. What did he say to that?
Tracy: He said he understood, and barring other circumstances, he would try to make sure that happened.
Tracy: His hands are tied on some stuff.
Alvarado: Well I’m glad you were able to communicate that.
Tracy: But he said he understood about me wanting control over the process and why that was important for me.
Alvarado: It’s important.
Tracy: He’s the guy that did Kyle’s story.
Tracy: I think he’ll do a good job. I think he’ll be fair.
Three days later, on May 18, Tracy texted Alvarado, “Dan said ESPN is starting to send out FOIAs. General stuff so he doesn’t think they will know. But who knows.”
‘The investigation failed miserably’
Belveal concluded in the letter that Michigan State’s investigation “failed miserably” in its attempt to verify Tracy’s statements.
“Had the investigator simply asked for all messages between Ms. Tracy and her friend of 21 years, who also served as her assistant, and who was the key witness offered by Ms. Tracy, Ms. Tracy’s misrepresentations and manipulation would have come to light months ago,” Belveal wrote. “This certainly is not a proud moment in Spartan history, and it continues to cast a post-Nassar shadow on an institution that I, as an alumna, hold to a higher standard.”
Full letter
Here’s the full document sent out by Tucker’s lawyers: