Mel Tucker publicly apologizes to Michigan, hasn’t reached out to Jim Harbaugh

Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker suspended four players on Sunday night for their involvement in the assault of two Michigan players, Ja’Den McBurrows and Gemon Green. The four suspended thus far are Tank Brown, Khary Crump, Angelo Grose, and Zion Young.

On Monday afternoon Tucker made a statement on the matter at his presser.

“We’re not here to make any excuses for the behaviors on Saturday,” Tucker said. “They are unacceptable. It is also very important to say we honor the traditions of the Big Ten Conference, including the Michigan State-Michigan rivalry game, and we have a responsibility to uphold the values of this great university. We are deeply sorry to both universities, the conference, our fans, alumni, supporters, and of course, all of our student-athletes, past, and present.”

The four players already suspended, and perhaps, even more, Michigan State players, could very well receive criminal charges. Tucker said the MSU honors “the traditions of the Big Ten Conference, including the Michigan State-Michigan rivalry game”. However, there’s no place for what happened on Saturday night in a rivalry, or society.

While Tucker has now publicly apologized to Michigan, he has not personally reached out to Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh to do the same. Harbaugh said that the assault has been traumatic for the Michigan program, especially McBurrows and Green.

“I can’t imagine that this will not result in criminal charges, the videos are bad,” Harbaugh said. “And it’s clear what transpired. It seems very, very open and shut.”

The Big Ten Conference as well as the University of Michigan Police and Michigan State University Police are investigating the matter, and there will be more twists and turns before the dust settles.