EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Fired Michigan State University head football coach Mel Tucker’s legal battle is moving to a different docket, after an order issued this week allows the case with sexual harassment accuser Brenda Tracy to head to federal court.

However, this could be the first of many tedious back-and-forths in this case. Tracy’s attorneys are asking the judge to expedite the decision and move it back to state court.

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Tucker’s team has until 4 p.m. Wednesday to respond to that change. They claim the text messages between Tucker and Tracy prove they had a consensual relationship, while Tracy claims Tucker sexually harassed her.

Tracy is a rape survivor who established the group “Set the Expectation.” She met Tucker while her organization spoke on campus following the Larry Nassar scandal. Both admit they developed a friendship, but an April 2022 phone call where Tracy said Tucker masturbated on the phone changed things. She filed a Title IX complaint in December 2022 and the school wrapped up its investigation in July. Tucker claims it was consensual phone sex.

Tracy’s name appeared in a September 10 USA Today article that detailed the alleged harassment. MSU suspended Tucker without pay and eventually fired him at the end of September.