Michigan introduced Friday that males’s ice hockey coach Mel Pearson is not going to return for the 2022-23 season. Following an investigation into Pearson’s therapy of gamers and workers, the college selected to half methods with him.
Pearson’s contract expired earlier this yr, and he labored as an at-will worker all through the investigation. After reviewing the survey ends in this system, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel introduced that Pearson was being let go as head coach.
“It has been decided that Mel Pearson is not going to be returning as ice hockey coach,” Manuel stated in a press release. “This resolution has been weighed lots and for a while. We welcomed an unbiased third-party assessment of our program’s local weather and tradition earlier than persevering with our assessment in keeping with campus management.
“Our student-athletes having a optimistic and significant expertise is paramount, and a transparent expectation inside our division is that each one staff and workers are valued and supported. I deeply recognize and worth the many individuals who’ve come ahead all through this assessment.
“Right now’s announcement displays the seriousness of what we have heard and the values ​​we maintain pricey at Michigan.”
Pearson was accused of telling gamers to falsify contact tracing data on COVID-19 varieties, deceptive recruits about how a lot scholarship cash they’d obtain, berating and belittling gamers and workers and never correctly addressed allegations of mistreatment of feminine staff by Director of Hockey Operations Rick Bancroft, in line with a report from The Athletic.
Pearson additionally pressured former Michigan goalkeeper and captain Strauss Mann off the crew after he expressed issues concerning the tradition of this system.
The pinnacle coach at Michigan for seven seasons, Pearson compiled an general document of 99-65-16. In 2022, the Wolverines reached the Frozen 4 below Pearson.
