Michigan Fires Head Hockey Coach Mel Pearson

TheWolverine.com and noted author John U. Bacon is reporting that the University of Michigan has fired head hockey coach Mel Pearson after a report was made public about numerous allegations made against the hockey program.

The WilmerHale law firm out of Washington, D.C. conducted an investigation into allegations of improprieties made against the program. The probe was concluded in May, but only made public earlier this week.

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Pearson leaves Ann Arbor after a successful five-year tenure coaching the Wolverine hockey program. He was 99-65-16 at Michigan. He replaced the legendary Gordon "Red" Berenson in 2017. Before coming to Michigan, he was the head coach at Michigan Tech from 2011-17.

The sudden instability in the program comes after one of Michigan's most successful seasons. They won the Big Ten Tournament and advanced to the Frozen Four before losing in the national semifinals to eventual national champion Denver in overtime. Michigan also made the Frozen Four in Pearson's first season of 2017-18.

There is no timetable to name a replacement. But with fall practice set to begin next month, Michigan doesn't have much time to name Pearson's replacement. As The Wolverine's Chris Balas reports, former Wolverine player Brian Wiseman is a strong possibility to replace Pearson in Ann Arbor.

There had been reports from the aforementioned John U. Bacon that the Board of Regents (along with interim school president Mary Sue Coleman) were in a staredown with Athletic Director Warde Manuel and Pearson over the head coaching position as recently as Thursday:

But things obviously changed in the last 24 hours or so.

5 Things The Detroit Media Should Look Into Instead Of MSU Athletics Donations

The Detroit Free Press is suing Michigan State University for records pertaining to donations from two billionaire alumni that helped fund Mel Tucker's 10-year, $95 million contract extension. It's peculiar that the Detroit media has such dogged interest in menial and old news at Michigan State after displaying a distinctly different appetite for coverage of the Robert Anderson scandal at Michigan.

Regardless, it appears that the Detroit media is eager to wield its investigative power to hold public institutions and figures to account. With that in mind, we've come up with a few things that would actually merit their attention, effort, and resources, unlike beating down the door for MSU's tax-deduction receipts.

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