In a story published Tuesday by The Athletic, according to an anonymous survey of Michigan players and staff, Wolverines head coach Mel Pearson is accused of telling players to provide false information on COVID contact-tracing forms, of misleading recruits about how much scholarship money they would receive, and of allegedly calling one player a “Jew.”
Pearson also displayed an “inability or unwillingness” to hold the team’s director of hockey operations Rick Bancroft accountable for conduct that included the “mistreatment of female staff members,” according to the report that cites an investigation by law firm WilmerHale.
The report also details how Pearson is running the hockey team prompted former Michigan goalie Strauss Mann to leave the team last summer after his junior season.
I have received the investigative report into the University of Michigan hockey program. Here are the basic findings, and my initial conclusions. https://t.co/bSp3qfD9Ex
— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) August 2, 2022
The summary of the responses from the anonymous survey is dated June 8, 2021. The investigative report by WilmerHale is dated May 5, 2022.
The WilmerHale report runs 68 pages and includes interviews with 16 individuals.
The anonymous survey was reportedly administered “because no one was willing to speak on the record about issues in the hockey program, including gender discrimination concerns, for fear of retaliation,” the report states. The WilmerHale investigation was kickstarted by complaints made by Steve Shields, Michigan’s former director of player development.
In Sept. 2021, Shields filed a complaint to Michigan’s Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office. According to the WilmerHale report, Shields says he was terminated from his volunteer position in retaliation for reporting a number of concerns about how Pearson ran the program. The case was subsequently closed.
In the WilmerHale report, investigators wrote that it is “more likely than not that (Pearson) terminated Shields because he believed (Shields) raised concerns about COVID protocols and (Pearson’s) treatment of student athletes.”
Pearson took Michigan to the Frozen Four the past two seasons with a roster of several high-end NHL draft picks.
He signed a five-year contract when he was hired in 2017-18 that expired this past April.
