Former MSU football coach Mel Tucker uses toxic tactic to defend himself

Ever since USA TODAY broke the news last month about Michigan State University’s investigation into Mel Tucker’s alleged sexual misconduct, the former football coach has been playing defense.   

Statements from Tucker or his legal team have vehemently denied allegations he sexually harassed Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor and activist the coach had hired to speak to his team about sexual violence. The alleged harassment – an April 2022 phone call with Tracy during which Tucker masturbated and is accused of making sexual comments without her consent – was not harassment at all, according to Tucker.

While he has admitted to masturbating during the call, Tucker claims it was consensual phone sex.   

Mel Tucker's defense went way beyond denying accusations

No matter what happened in that phone call, Tucker’s public behavior since then has gone well beyond just denying sexually harassing Tracy.

In his first public statement addressing MSU’s investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct, Tucker went on the attack. He accused Tracy of fabricating the harassment to “revive her career” and “destroy” his life, and called the allegations “character assassination.”

Other swipes at Tracy are sprinkled throughout the rest of the statement: Tucker implied she provoked him into having phone sex (and blames her for neither objecting nor hanging up the phone), claimed she spread rumors about his marriage, and propped up the idea that Tracy was motivated by greed.   

In a second statement following news that MSU was planning on firing the coach, Tucker repeated his claim that Tracy had made false allegations and called the investigation into his alleged misconduct a “miscarriage of justice,” a sentiment that appeared again in Tucker’s 25-page response from his legal team to MSU’s notice of termination.

Tucker has insisted that Tracy is untrustworthy, and that he is the real victim of this situation by using a common tactic called DARVO. It’s an acronym that stands for deny, attack, reverse victim and offender. Perpetrators of wrongdoing – especially those who commit sexual misconduct – often use it to deflect blame and responsibility. It never happened, she’s lying, I’m being falsely accused.   

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In his statements, Tucker has checked all the DARVO boxes: He has denied any wrongdoing, attacked the alleged victim (as well as the investigative process), and adopted a victimized role while portraying the alleged victim as the real wrongdoer.

Even Tracy herself noticed his use of this tactic. In a post to social media, the sexual assault survivor and activist called his initial response “just more of the same DARVO.”     

DARVO is a common tactic used against victims of sexual violence

We are psychology researchers who first named this response (Jennifer J. Freyd in 1997) and continue to study the tactic. Our research on DARVO finds it is a common tactic that can influence people’s perceptions in ways that favor perpetrators.

People who are exposed to a perpetrator’s DARVO responses are more likely to find victims less credible and perpetrators less responsible for the wrongdoing they committed. Whether Tucker is guilty or not guilty of what Tracy has alleged, DARVO itself is harmful. It promotes victim blaming and prevents thoughtful discussions of sexual violence from happening.  

In cases of sexual violence, DARVO capitalizes on common misconceptions. If it were really harassment, she would have just hung up, she would have said something, she would have reported it sooner.

In reality, people who are subjected to sexual violence often do not conform to stereotypical ideas about how victims should respond. For instance, many victims “freeze” while experiencing sexual harassment. But for those who subscribe to incorrect assumptions about how people respond to sexual violence, DARVO appears to make a compelling argument.   

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DARVO is a venomous response that seeks to silence victims, confuse observers and empower perpetrators. And when a prominent public figure like Tucker amplifies DARVO, its legitimacy and cultural contagion are boosted. She’s lying, just like that woman who falsely accused Mel Tucker. Happens all the time.   

That’s why it’s important to identify and name DARVO when it happens. Research tells us that DARVO is less likely to influence observers’ perceptions when they are educated about this tactic. In other words, knowing about DARVO renders it a less effective tool.

When Tracy called attention to Tucker’s use of DARVO, she contained this disorienting tactic into a more understandable package. His denials, attacks and victim-playing make more sense – and are potentially less impactful – when viewed through the lens of DARVO.   

Perhaps it was an awareness of his DARVO responses that contributed to MSU’s decision to fire Tucker. In its termination letter to the coach, the university called attention to his “unconvincing rationalizations and misguided attempts to shift responsibility.”

By rejecting the narrative Tucker had promoted, the university made a decisive statement against victim-blaming tactics like DARVO. Which, in the shadow of MSU’s initial failure to stop former employee and convicted sex offender Larry Nassar, is a move in the right direction.   

Tucker’s DARVO defense was ultimately a bad play. It was ineffective in helping him retain his job, and it injected more victim-blaming sentiment into a cultural landscape already hostile toward people who experience and report sexual violence.

Tucker didn’t have to resort to DARVO to defend himself; he might have easily offered that, from his perspective, he did not engage in sexually harassing behaviors – and he could have left it at that. The attacks and attempts to portray himself as the victim of malicious false allegations were a toxic and unnecessary addition.   

DARVO has always been bad for victims, and it has always been counter to the prevention of sexual violence. But, with enough awareness and education about this destructive tactic, its power and frequent use can be curbed.    

Sarah Harsey is an assistant professor of psychology at Oregon State University–Cascades. Jennifer J. Freyd is professor emerit of psychology at the University of Oregon, and founder and president of the Center for Institutional Courage.