Mel Tucker released a statement in response to sexual misconduct allegations. The suspended Michigan State football coach called the allegations false, while also calling out the school’s “hearings.”

Tucker was suspended on Sunday after a report released by USA Today alleges Tucker engaged in nonconsensual phone sex with a woman working with the football team on violence education. The report said the woman, who willingly identified herself as Brenda Tracy, is also a rape survivor.

“Brenda Tracy’s allegations of harassment are completely false,” he said in the statement. “The proceedings initiated by Ms. Tracy are devoid of any semblance of fairness for any matter of this importance, and the University’s ‘hearing’ scheduled for Oct. 5-6 is so flawed that there is no other opportunity for the truth to come out.

“That is why I share some truth with you now. I helped bring Ms. Tracy to campus in the summer of 2021 because I support her mission of sexual misconduct prevention. This single presentation was her only paid engagement with the University. We developed a mutual friendship that grew into an intimate, adult relationship; at this point, my wife and I had been estranged for a long time.”

He explained he and Tracy engaged in “dozens of calls” from fall 2021 through winter of 2022. He stressed many of the calls were initiated by Tracy late at night.

Tucker, who was an assistant at Alabama in 2015, said in the statement the university’s investigator found that the coach and Tracy had a “personal relationship” and that the two shared “deeply personal and private information with each other.” He added Tracy invited the personal relationship by accepting gifts, including athletic shoes and a $200 Venmo payment.

Check out the full statement below.

University President Teresa K. Woodruff and athletic director Alan Haller announced the suspension Sunday pending the results of an outside investigation into the allegations.

The university hired a Title IX attorney to investigate Tracy’s complaint and the investigation concluded on July 25. A hearing is scheduled for the week of Oct. 5 determine if Tucker violated the school’s sexual harassment and exploitation policy.

When the investigative report was finished, Tucker was told not to have contact with Tracy and that Haller would increase his oversight of him and the program, Haller said at a news conference Sunday evening.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.