August 2nd, 2022 at 10:25 AM ^
Thanks for the link, it’s direct and informative. I wonder what impact it will have on the team both this year - and probably for the next three years.
it definitely appears a coaching change is in order.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:48 AM ^
Awful to hear... JUB has known all of these people personally for a long time. I'm sure he had the report all weekend after tweeting about its leak last Friday... digested it, then spent yesterday talking with people around the program. If after those talks he believes Pearson will be let go, then it's likely just waiting on the PR department.
My son did the Berenson hockey camps 3 years in a row right before Red retired. Lora Durkee was like the den mom for those camps, very nice lady. I can recall seeing Bancroft (who was head trainer at the time) but nothing sticks out other than he didn't seem very approachable... kind of like the old, ornery (and usually intoxicated) zamboni driver that every ice rink seems to have. So all of these people (Wiseman and Pearson included) worked together for a very long time. Bancroft ascends to director of hockey ops, Wiseman stays another year and bolts for an NHL assistant job, and the entire culture goes to shit.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:53 AM ^
JUB explicitly said in his Friday tweet that he did not have the report but knew it had been leaked.
August 2nd, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
my senior year we were following a downward trajectory for the 4th straight year thanks to giordano (head coach). he inherited a program that might not have been at third base, but it was close, and he squandered it. couldn't coach, couldn't recruit, thought he was herb brooks II, lost the locker room very quickly. the team signed a letter and gave it to canham and canham canned giordano very shortly after that.
sorry to hear this about mel, but hey, if points 2 and 3 have substance to him then it's time for the 'next coach up', and away we go.
Sorry, but the report actually CLEARS Mel of the wrongdoing WilmerHale was tasked with investigating. That is a really big deal and it’s being skipped right past because people (including Bacon) are jumping to the part about culture issues - which were a byproduct of the investigation, not the task of the investigation, and were thus not fully investigated.
Agree with this. I read most of the report, and it seems as though Mr. Shields is spewing a lot of sour grapes...
With that bein said, if Mel has created a toxic culture, then it needs to be addressed according to University guidelines.
Thanks, and yeah. It’s REAL hard to read the full report and NOT come away with that perspective on Shields and what really happened here that started all of this.
Regarding the process ahead, having read the full report, I just don’t see this as the type of thing that someone gets fired for. Changes, yes. Some discipline, yes. Fired, no. It’s a ton of drama spurred by someone with a clear axe to grind that led to a lot of they said/they said, and uncovered some unpalatable interactions that happen in most any work place but rise nowhere near to the level of what the headlines would make the non-reader believe they are. Frankly reading that report kept me on the edge of my seat just WAITING for that big, juicy, awful “OMG they are RIGHT he MUST be fired immediately” moment to happen and it just… didn’t.
They have a recording of him in a conversation that he denied happening. In most workplaces, lying in the context of an investigation of your behavior could get you fired.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:10 AM ^
Seems like Pearson will not be renewed and the University decided to put the report out so that the press would provide the context when that news breaks.
If they’re not planning to renew him, and knew this, then it’s administrative malpractice to continue letting him recruit and come into work every day without a contract and go weeks/months without replacing him.
You don’t need the media to provide the context for that decision before making it. And being that the school has had the report since May, they could have put it out there sooner.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:11 AM ^
A quick summary of what JUB wrote doesn't sound very good at all for Pearson.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:12 AM ^
Looks as though we will be getting a new hockey coach.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:12 AM ^
He gone!
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:16 AM ^
It certainly seems like Michigan needs to terminate their relationship with Pearson.
It's weird to me that in a sport as insular as hockey, Michigan has been able to recruit at the level they have while also fostering what sounds like a cultural tire fire. How does the player discontentment not get back to recruits? And why did so many players come back for last season? Many of them had professional options.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:22 AM ^
Without reading the report (since I haven't seen it yet), it seems more likely that it wasn't the entire culture at fault. If *all* players felt threatened, they wouldn't remain and recruiting would reflect it. It seems that it may have been only that one class - but very hard to say without more information. Have any players spoken up in support of Pearson?
The harassment stuff is unacceptable and must be dealt with accordingly, but again is that entire culture or just one guy being a ****?
Regardless, a house cleaning is likely coming... with good apples thrown out with the bad.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:29 AM ^
He might be a good coach and a bad person. See Urban Meyer. Many are willing to put up with the latter to get the former and ticket to the NHL.
August 3rd, 2022 at 12:35 AM ^
How is he a good coach? He had the best draft class in the history of hockey and still couldn’t even win the conference. The dude is a chump.
Two frozen fours in 5 years seems pretty good.
August 2nd, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
Part of this is the larger issue with "hockey culture" in general. Berating players, players biting their lips, etc. is a generational issue, not at all limited to Michigan or college, or anything similar. Searching for articles about "hockey culture issues" currently leads to either the rampant sexual assault scandals that went through hockey canada or the racism that's still extremely present. But borderline (and NOT borderline) abusive coaching is as prevalent in hockey as it is anywhere.
Anyone who has played hockey at a decently competitive level knows exactly why this exists. It’s inherent to “hockey culture” to the core.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:18 AM ^
More self-inflicted program destruction.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:19 AM ^
JUB is generally a straight shooter, and from what he presented i think he is right-- Mel needs to go.
I believe there are several former MSU coaches who might be available. /s
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:20 AM ^
Action must be taken
we don't need the key, we'll break in.
he gone. always thought Pearson was an A++ hire. boy was i wrong (most likely, based on this summarization of the report).
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:50 AM ^
He was an A+ hire... hindsight is 20/20. (Assuming there were no previous allegations when he was and assistant here or while coaching at Tech)
Warde couldn't predict the future and know information that wasn't yet available. What matters is what the school/AD does now.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:25 AM ^
Brian, wise man, come on down
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:26 AM ^
Maybe the seemingly baseless Wiseman speculation a few days ago wasn't so crazy after all......
August 2nd, 2022 at 12:51 PM ^
Will Wiseman be named HC in a few days? Who’s to say?
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
Seems to me that, in light of the fact Pearson was a long-term hockey assistant under Red Berenson, maybe there should have been some red flags noted prior to bringing him back.
Or maybe there was but assurances or assumptions were made that such issues were in the past.
Given the caveats expressed at the top of the Bacon tweet, there's more yet to be looked at, but this doesn't look good at all for Pearson.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:43 AM ^
The Peter Principle is always in play. Perhaps Mel was fine as an assistant when Red ran the show, perhaps he was even fine as a HC at Tech, and maybe HC at Michigan was where the magnitude of the job was more than he was capable of managing well. Who knows
August 2nd, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
True, as some folks eventually rise to the level that their negative or incompetent tendencies are more likely to finally be exposed. And he won at MTU, so possibly his way of doing things was accepted there because of his success.
As you said, "who knows", but I now wonder if we'll hear previous undisclosed info from anyone within the Tech program or the Houghton-area media.
I'd be pretty surprised if a peep comes from MTU on this for a few reasons:
1) The culture at Tech is definitely affected by being in the UP. Those that thrive here tend to be more "old-school" in their approach to life, and thus would be more likely to tolerate the allegations listed.
2) Tech as an institution is extremely self-conscious about all of its stereotypes, including the UP-influenced culture (aside from superficial marketing tools like pasties and waterfalls). They won't want anything surfacing that suggests they tolerated things like Pearson's allegations for any period of time.
3) No one cares about Tech. Even if someone no longer employed by MTU came forward with similar allegations about Pearson as we're hearing now, I doubt it would be more than a footnote in any articles written about it.
That being said, I also wouldn't be surprised if there were no missteps at Tech. It was still a stepping-stone job for Pearson, and we all know that when we're working towards a better job, we're on our best behavior to catch the attention of those hiring. Once hired at the dream job, it's much easier to let peripheral pieces of the personal brand slip because the goal is, in some ways, already accomplished. But that's pure speculation.
I talked to one player who played under Red/Mel back in the early 2000s (and this was probably 15 years ago when we talked) and I remember him telling me that Red was the tough one and Mel was the one you would go to if you had a problem. He was the one they would talk to. I don't know if others who played under them shared that same experience, but that was his.
Excellent insight. Sounds like the classic good-cop/bad-cop arrangement that has, it appears, long been common (see the Miracle on Ice team for the canonical example).
Which is not to say that it's right.
FWIW, Tech's current head coach, Joe Shawhan, strongly suggested when he was promoted from assistant to head coach in the wake of Pearson's departure, that Pearson instituted a similar model here, in which the head coach, in this case Pearson, was the tough one / bad cop, while the assistants were relatable / good cops.
August 2nd, 2022 at 11:09 AM ^
rob f can you enlighten me?
"Pearson was a long-term hockey assistant under Red Berenson, maybe there should have been some red flags noted prior to bringing him back."
Red has some culture issues?
August 2nd, 2022 at 12:15 PM ^
Other than a well known public urination situation from over two decades ago, no, but that wasn't my point. What I was putting out there is that possibly Mel had some "issues" himself back during his days as assistant that could/should have raised some red flags within the athletic department.
Not meant by me at all as any kind of "indictment" of Red.
August 2nd, 2022 at 12:23 PM ^
Men should be allowed to pee outside. My wife encourages it because it keeps the deer from eating our flowers and plants.
August 2nd, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
LOL, and a +1 for the chuckle.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:27 AM ^
Sounds like Mel needs to go.
The timeline is extremely disappointing to me (which I think Bacon was wrong to try and defend). The report was submitted 3 months ago so why are we in August and Warde still hasn't made an action? If this is not criminal as Bacon suggests, I dont see why the AD couldnt have made a decision right when the report came out. Is Warde just putting his head in the sand and waiting for the next guy to make a decision for him (President Ono for example)? I wish Warde (and Michigan) had learned some kind of lesson from the Anderson scandal but apparently that is not the case
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:34 AM ^
Due process is still needed.
Report is submitted in May (and how much of that is allegations versus actual evidence?) and people in positions of authority need proper time to evaluate the report and possibly perform their own diligence before acting. Not to mention that there will be legal (civil if not criminal) implications for all of this regardless of what decisions are made, so there is yet another layer of bureaucracy to manage.
The timeline doesn't seem all that unreasonable.
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:56 AM ^
Normally I'd be inclined to agree...
But Mel's contract expired. What's stopping them from just saying it's time to move on?
August 2nd, 2022 at 11:58 AM ^
I assume just making sure they have everything in order.
August 2nd, 2022 at 12:03 PM ^
There can be some need for that even for an expiring contract (Minnesota-Duluth got smoke by declining to renew the women's hockey coach a decade ago) but it has been months and there is plenty of money available for lawyers and business experts (not to mention, you know, a law school and a business school on campus) if you need to get it right.
A few weeks, I can understand and even support. I have to conclude there is a different reason for it to take this long.
I would guess they had to wait for the report to come out. Firing him back in May would've essentially let everyone know what was in it was very bad and forced them to release it then.
But that’s the point: the report could have come out back in May.
I don’t understand why that’s a bad thing. If what’s in it is bad and fireable, then fire the guy. Or in this case, just announce you’re not extending him and start your search. Waiting a few months isn’t going to make it any better. It really just makes everyone wonder why something wasn’t done months ago.
Now we’re roughly a month away from practices starting and we’ve allowed the guy to come into work every day without a contract and without finding a replacement.
So if he IS gone, why did the university wait until August instead of doing it in May when they got the results, or June to give them a few weeks to assess? If they’re going to keep him, then not extending him is equally mind boggling.
August 2nd, 2022 at 11:19 AM ^
Due process agreed.
However this might be everything you need:
"the investigators make clear their belief that Pearson lied to them repeatedly on serious issues – in one case denying an important conversation took place, until confronted with the tape recording of that conversation."
GAME OVER MAN!
August 2nd, 2022 at 10:58 AM ^
The bo statue is still up. Warde clearly isn’t up for the moment to deal with this
August 2nd, 2022 at 11:48 AM ^
lol. as if you have the foggiest notion.