It's unbelievable that it needs to be said. Mel Pearson should no longer be at the helm of the Michigan hockey program.

This isn't a recent development, especially considering athletic director Warde Manuel has had the contents of the WilmerHale report on the hockey program since May. The contents of the report did not change from May until now, instead, it's available for public consumption.

The contents are damning. Incomprehensible. Whatever descriptive word you would like to use, it's bad and unacceptable for anyone in a leadership role.

They say there are two sides to every story. But what if one side provides enough evidence that trying to explain away blatant disregard for people within the program is a fool's errand?

You might not even be able to get the truth from the other side, considering Pearson blatantly lied to investigators about key facts during the investigation. Those actions alone are grounds for dismissal. An intent to deceive.

Let's take a look at some key points from the report and why Pearson's employment with the University of Michigan needed to end months ago.

The issues with Bancroft

According to the report, former Operations Director Rick Bancroft consistently harassed and bullied multiple women that worked with the hockey program. Names are available within the report but, of respect for them and what they went through, I will not mention them by name.

Bancroft 'retired' suddenly in June. Pearson was accused in the report of not being willing to hold Bancroft accountable for his actions. This means he was likely aware of what Bancroft was doing and chose to do nothing about it.

Creating an atmosphere that is unsafe or uncomfortable for women is unacceptable in any setting, not just in men's sports. It has to be stopped at its roots and it was clear that nothing was done to do so, creating a toxic atmosphere for everyone involved.

It's clear that Bancroft was used as a 'fall guy' to at least justify keeping Pearson this long. The bare minimum. The fact that Bancroft was even able to retire and walk away with a slap on the wrist after the contents of the report were revealed shows the systematic failures by the leadership of the hockey program as well as the athletic department.

Players feared retaliation

Players talk amongst each other, you should expect nothing less when they spend the majority of their time together in an athletic program. If a player cannot present their concerns to the leader of the program, then it's clear that said leader should no longer be in control as that presents the fact that the best interest, and welfare, of the players and those inside the program, will never be taken into consideration.

When senior leaders on the team presented issues to Pearson, there was fear of retaliation.

Take senior Straus Mann for example. The Wolverines' first goalie to be named captain, a star of the team. He feared that Pearson would bad-mouth Mann to NHL teams after raising concerns about the team to Pearson directly. Mann was so fearful of his professional career being ruined before it started, that he left school early in order to sign a professional contract in Sweden.

The expectation has never been that every head coach should cater to every player's needs and concerns, that's absurd. However, when multiple seniors approach the head coach with legitimate concerns about team culture and feel terrified to speak out of concerns that their careers beyond Michigan will be impacted, those in charge cannot be in charge any longer.

Lying to investigators

The report also stated that Pearson openly lied to investigators about key facts throughout the investigation. In fact, at one point during the investigator's conversation with Pearson, he openly lied about having an important discussion and was presented with a recording from the said discussion.

That sure screams like someone trying to impede an investigation and getting to the truth. Guilty conscience or just horrifically a bad memory?

The former, I'd say.

While the full report had much more damning things to say about Pearson and the hockey program, putting the above points alone in a vacuum is enough to terminate Pearson on the spot.

So, why hasn't Warde Manuel done so?

This leads me to what we're hearing, which coincides with what John U. Bacon tweeted out about the situation today.

We had heard as early as this week that Warde had a sense of loyalty to Pearson and that he wanted to sign him to a long-term extension, which coincides with what Bacon tweeted.

If this all comes to pass, it's incomprehensible at this point that Manuel would even want to continue with Pearson after all has been revealed.

Not to mention, Manuel has had the contents of the report since May and the only "action" that was taken was to let Bancroft 'retire' from the university.

If the standoff between the Regents, the president and Manuel continue, both the Regents and president hold Manuel's job in the palm of their hands. It's clear what will need to be done if Manuel's moral compass cannot find its way north.

Manuel is not a bad person, he's far from unintelligent. However, choosing to support Pearson through this process is a baffling hill to die on. Doing the right thing, the blatantly right thing trumps loyalty at the end of the day.

If Manuel cannot find it in himself to do the right thing, then wholesale changes beyond the hockey program need to be made in order to get things right.

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