Couch: Focus shifts to timing of Mel Tucker suspension and an MSU football team in transition

EAST LANSING – Let’s get this straight: Mel Tucker caused this mess. Everyone else at Michigan State is trying to make the best of a tough situation.

That goes for athletic director Alan Haller, interim President Teresa Woodruff, acting head football coach Harlon Barnett — elevated to the top job Sunday — and the rest of MSU’s coaching staff, which now again includes Mark Dantonio. Same for 100 young men on MSU’s football team, whose season we’ve recently learned was always a ticking time bomb. Thanks to Tucker.

It turns out, this thing was going to blow up no later than the Spartans’ bye week in early October, when Tucker faces a hearing to determine whether he violated MSU’s Title IX policy. He’s accused of sexual harassment by Brenda Tracy, a prominent advocate against sexual assault and a rape survivor. He’ll be fired if the decision goes against him. He’s done as the Spartans’ coach either way.

As of Sunday, Tucker is suspended without pay, a reaction to an exhaustive and revealing USA Today investigation, which published Sunday morning.

RELATED: Couch: Mel Tucker has likely coached his last game at Michigan State

The questions now are not about the decision to remove Tucker, but about whether the university handled his case appropriately. Whether this should be coming to a head during the football season when university leaders were aware of Tracy’s complaint in December. Whether Tucker should have been coaching at all this season. And why a USA Today story suddenly made it OK to oust him.

The scrutiny is justified, the skepticism understandable, given MSU’s troubled history with Title IX cases. We also don't know enough yet.

Sunday was a missed opportunity for MSU to breathe confidence into how it handled Tucker’s case.

Haller and Woodruff took turns on the same podium at Spartan Stadium that Tucker stood on less than 24 hours earlier, following MSU’s win over Richmond. They announced Tucker’s suspension, Barnett’s promotion, Dantonio’s return and then explained the case against Tucker in scant detail. Then took three questions.

Haller and Woodruff could have done themselves a world of good Sunday by standing in for a few more. Or, in Woodruff’s case, any at all.

It was awkwardly short and unsatisfying. It also lacked the opportunity to pin them down on some basic detail, the sort of clarifications that help the rest of the world understand how they could learn about a complaint in December, know there was a Title IX case by an outside investigator, know that she submitted her report in late July, and not act until a newspaper article appeared in September.

An MSU spokeswoman Sunday night said that “Alan (Haller) was given enough info in December to help determine interim measures that were put in place, but that was the extent. Neither the board or president were provided any details beyond the fact that a complaint against Mel Tucker had been brought forward.”

Those interim measures, Haller said Sunday, were for no contact between Tucker with the complainant. And then also increased oversight, by him, of the program and of Tucker.

That Haller, Woodruff and board members had extremely limited or no knowledge of the nature of the complaint should have been noted in the press conference (multiple times probably) and would have been — to MSU’s benefit — had they spent 10 or 15 more minutes answering questions. Even if you can’t say much, you can just repeat saying very little until you run into a question that allows you to provide useful information. Title IX is a complex subject. People who cover it regularly aren't always clear on the rules and processes.

There are potentially two good reasons for the timing of Tucker’s discipline. One, Haller and Woodruff hadn’t been privy to much of the information in the USA Today article before they read it. The details led them to suspend Tucker for, an MSU spokeswoman later explained, "unprofessional behavior and not living up to the core values of the department and university.” Two, that Tracy’s cooperation with USA Today took away an expectation of privacy. And that just came to be on Sunday.

"As there have been new developments before the (Oct. 5) hearing, and with the best interests of everyone, including student athletes and the university community in mind, I have suspended Mel Tucker without pay as an additional interim measure," Haller said during his opening remarks.

The timing isn’t ideal. But there is no ideal timing for this. If they were to suspend Tucker in December, without knowing the contents of the complaint, and not knowing if they were likely to eventually fire him, they’d have a sidelined coach through key recruiting months and spring practice. If the outside investigator had wrapped up earlier, say in June, and Tucker had been let go in July, the entire team would have had 30 days to enter the transfer portal. That’s definitely not ideal for the program and, I’d argue, it wouldn’t be for most of the roster. At least now, MSU’s players will have 10 games to digest whether they want to be part of MSU’s program, post-Tucker. They’ll have additional data to assess.

Tucker’s case does raise questions about the Title IX process overall. When being fair to two people means being unfair to 100 athletes, that’s not a great system.

Those 100 football players should be the focus now — helping them get the most out of this season and then figure out their futures. That’s Barnett’s challenge and duty. He’s waited a long time for this chance. It’s not how he wanted to become a head coach, but you can bet that he’s all in to prove he’s worthy of the opportunity.

I think MSU fans will rally around this team and around Barnett and Dantonio and this staff, even if there are some bumpy days. There's a shared trauma that’ll perhaps strengthen the bond between the program and its fan base.

A lot of folks trying to make the best of the circumstances.

MSU’s leadership should be held accountable. Always. But let’s not forget, this is Tucker’s doing.

Contact Graham Couch at gouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU football: Focus shifts to timing of Mel Tucker suspension