Ex-Michigan State coach Mel Tucker wins court fight over release of text messages

MASON, Mich. — An Ingham County judge dismissed a lawsuit brought against former Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker by the woman the school said he sexually harassed. 

The lawsuit, which centered around text messages between Brenda Tracy and her friend Ahlan Alvarado that were released by Tucker and his attorneys last year, had been filed on behalf of Tracy's nonprofit and an LLC in her name. Alvarado, who has since died, was Tracy's friend of two decades and also worked as her booking assistant for her nonprofit, Set The Expectation.

MSU fired Tucker for cause last year after Tracy reported that he'd sexually harassed her and the university investigated. Tucker's attorneys have said the messages show Tracy had a personal, consensual relationship with Tucker.

During a hearing on Thursday morning, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Wanda Stokes dismissed six of the seven counts in the lawsuit because attorneys for Tracy's nonprofit had not met legal standards for the lawsuit to proceed to discovery. She ruled the remaining count was moot because a protective order previously agreed upon between the parties will remain in place.

The protective order bars the release of specific information related to sexual assault, harassment or gender discrimination victims.

The dismissal with prejudice means attorneys for Tracy's nonprofit can't refile the lawsuit.

Eric Delaporte, an attorney for Tracy's nonprofit, said he plans to appeal Stokes' ruling. He also said he will look into remedies for what he said were lies Tucker's attorneys made in court and in filings. He said Tucker and his attorneys ruined the nonprofit's name when they released some texts previously.

Tracy, a national sexual violence prevention advocate who has spoken to MSU's football team and was on campus another time as an honorary captain for a spring game, has said Tucker sexually harassed her, including making sexual comments and having unwanted phone sex with her in 2022. 

The legal fight over text messages began about a month after USA TODAY published a story in September detailing MSU's long-running sexual harassment investigation of Tucker. The university suspended him without pay the same day the story was published and weeks later fired him for cause.

In October, the MSU hearing officer hired to adjudicate the harassment proceeding issued a report that found Tucker responsible for violating the school's sexual harassment policy.

Tucker — who denies any wrongdoing and said he and Tracy had a consensual, intimate relationship — has taken steps to file a lawsuit over his termination. According to his contract, signed in 2021, he was owed about $80 million in guaranteed money when he was fired.

In October, on the day of a key hearing in the former coach's harassment case, Tucker's legal team released pages of text messages between Tracy and Alvarado.

Tracy then sought a court order preventing Tucker's team from releasing additional messages, arguing further releases would include sensitive or confidential matters that could cause irreparable harm. Private discussions between Tracy and Alvarado "involve highly sensitive information regarding other survivors and their families," Tracy wrote in an affidavit filed with the motion for the restraining order.

Less than a month after that agreement, Tucker and his attorneys asked the judge to dismiss the case altogether.