Tucker says there was no misconduct at Michigan State. Huh?
Before we get to this week’s fun and games, I’m wondering how people feel about the morality play going on at Michigan State.
Or should we say, the lack of morality play?
The school suspended coach Mel Tucker this week in the wake of sexual harassment case involving Brenda Tracy. She’s a sexual assault prevention advocate Tucker brought in numerous times to speak to his team.
Tucker and Tracy hit it off and romance bloomed. At least until he pleasured himself during a 36-minute phone call with her last year.
Tracy says she was traumatized and filed a Title IX complaint. Tucker says the phone sex was consensual and he did nothing wrong.
“I am not proud of my judgment and I am having difficulty forgiving myself for getting into this situation,” he told investigators. “But I did not engage in misconduct by any definition.”
Do you buy that?
Maybe I spent too much time in Sunday School growing up, but I think a married man finding pleasure over the phone to a new flame qualifies as misconduct by at least some definitions.
Tucker says his marriage was estranged, but he’s long preached the importance of character to his players. They will soon become his ex-players once the legal wrangling plays out.
The big point of contention will be the “moral turpitude” clause in Tucker’s contract. It says he can be fired if he “engages in any conduct which constitutes moral turpitude which, in the University’s reasonable judgment, would tend to bring public disrespect, contempt or ridicule on the University.”
This fiasco has certainly managed to do that.
Tucker’s lawyers will argue the phone sex was not “moral turpitude.” They’ll say that Michigan State just wants to get out of the $75 million buyout it would owe Tucker if he was fired for just being a crappy coach. This will probably end with a settlement in which Tucker gets a few million just to go away.
Given his definition of misconduct, there’s no telling what he’ll do with all his free time. But if you’re a woman and Tucker gives you a call, my advice would be to hang up the phone.
That concludes this week’s sermon. Now, on to this week’s picks and the fire and brimstone raining down on Jimbo Fisher.
Rivalry revival?: Florida-Tennessee football rivalry? It's up to the Gators to restore the roar | Whitley
Expert analysis: Former Florida football coach picks Vols over Gators
Tennessee at Florida: The Vols haven’t won in The Swamp since 2003. That was seven coaches and 2,391 Jeremy Pruitt jokes ago. But Tennessee wasn’t supposed to win those games. That’s not the case Saturday, but I have a gut feeling the stage will be too big for QB Joe Milton. Florida 26-23
Alabama at USF: To get psyched for this game, Alabama players ate gator meat this week. Either Nick Saban really is losing it and thinks USF is UF, or he’s refusing to feed his team beef until it beats a ranked team. This one certainly won’t qualify. Alabama 42-10
South Carolina at Georgia: The Bulldogs finally play a team that doesn’t bus to every game. We think. South Carolina’s averaging 1.51 yards per rush. That will make for a long ride home from Athens. Georgia 32-14
Louisiana Monroe at Texas A&M: After last week’s face plant in Miami, Aggie Nation is ready to invoke the football turpitude clause in Jimbo Fisher’s contract. Beating the Warhawks won’t do much to calm the masses. Texas A&M 45-12
Georgia Tech at Ole Miss: All hail the Rebels! Their win over Tulane last week is the only SEC victory of a top 25 team this year. The Yellow Jackets are barely a top 125 team. Ole Miss 33-12
Joe Milton Redux: I also had a gut feeling Aaron Rodgers would win NFL MVP.
Kansas State at Missouri: The Wildcats are ranked 15th in the AP poll, so this is a chance for the SEC to regain a bit of pride. Maybe the Tigers can do what ‘Bama, Texas A&M and LSU couldn’t, but I doubt it. Kansas State 27-17
Colorado State at Colorado: The Deion Effect. ESPN’s “College GameDay” and Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” will both be at a game involving Colorado State? At this rate, Coach Prime will get his own network by November. Colorado 35-16
LSU at Mississippi State: Speaking of hot seats, Brian Kelly will be hovering over one if the Tigers lose Saturday. It’d be a great story if Zach Arnett started 3-0 as Mike Leach’s replacement, but the cowbells will be silenced. LSU 29-17
Vanderbilt at UNLV: This is the first time the Rebels have played host to an SEC team. Georgia apparently wasn’t available, so they settled for Commodores. For the sake of SEC pride… Vandy 24-21
Programming Update: Fox has announced “Big Noon Kickoff” will be at Deion’s bi-annual teeth cleaning on Nov. 17th.
Samford at Auburn: The Tigers are 28-0-1 against Samford, with 17 shutouts. If they lose this one, the SEC should just shut down. Auburn 43-2
Last week: 6-3 (Thanks, Jimbo). Season: 17-7.
David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Tucker's view of misconduct at Michigan State has no moral component
