BOWLING GREEN — The incident that set off the hazing inquiry into Bowling Green State University hockey was known as Rookie Day, a booze-drenched rite of passage for new members of the team.
This year, it was Sept. 2, but the party was said to be an annual tradition, baked into the calendar for at least the past four seasons.
It seemed everyone in the program knew about it.
Well, almost everyone.
Importantly, the independent investigation commissioned by BG suggested that neither head coach Ty Eigner nor any of his assistants had “any direct or indirect knowledge, role in the planning, preparation, or execution of Rookie Day.”
Of course, what the report doesn’t address is the other elephant in the ice arena.
If Eigner and his staff didn’t know about the unofficial initiation event — and the behavior at it — why not? Coaches might not be omniscient, but they know their programs like Shakespeare knew English.
Either way, it’s an unfortunate look.
I asked Bowling Green athletic director Derek van der Merwe about that Thursday, shortly after the university released the findings of the investigation and reinstated Eigner from administrative leave. (The three suspended players remain out, pending a review by the university.)
He wishes Eigner had known, but said: “What student-athletes and teams do, to sit there and say [coaches] have complete knowledge of every activity that occurs outside of practice and competition would not be a fair statement.”
No, it’s not, but there’s a difference between knowing about your third-line left wing’s lunch order at Arby’s and a milepost event on the team’s social calendar.
Too harsh? Maybe, maybe not.
My hot take is … I don’t have one.
Truth is, I still have an open mind and a lot of questions, with who knew or should have known what just the start of them.
First, we need more of what BG promised in the wake of the tragic death of Stone Foltz just two years ago, which is complete transparency.
As much as many want to rush to assign institutional blame — and others want to question the motivations of the complainant (we’re not going there) — there remains much we don’t know.
Unfortunately, the 10-page report offers little clarity — just a lot of words, many redactions, and a few contradictions (Eigner, for instance, knew about some drinking allegations, but not others, and he might have been told about Rookie Day, but there’s no corroborating evidence.)
Rendered by the law firm, Barnes & Thornburg, the report lays out a troubling big picture absent key details.
It concludes: “Investigation revealed that Rookie Day involved underage binge drinking and provision of alcohol to those underage by unidentified older members of the BGSU Hockey Team. Other events of the day included conduct with the potential to cause humiliation, physical harm, or emotional harm, thus invoking the BGSU Student Code of Conduct and related Anti-Hazing Policy.”
What were these other events? Boys-will-be-boys behavior gone too far? Or something more sinister?
We don’t know. Maybe it’s included in the redacted portion of the report, or in other documents, including student statements, which BG declined to provide, citing privacy laws. Either way, given Bowling Green’s past, the students and public have a right to know. This is not the time to say, just trust us.
As for Eigner — who could not be reached for comment — van der Merwe believes in him, and I want to, too. I’ve always thought a lot of the fifth-year coach, a BG grad who cried with joy when he got the top job at his alma mater in 2019. I believe he’s in it for the right reasons, and the report makes clear his intent on running his program the right way.
“All players and staff interviewed agree that Coach Eigner was explicit about a no-tolerance policy against hazing and underage drinking,” the report said. “Coach Eigner would encourage the team at the end of each week’s last practice to be smart, not do anything they do not want to do, and to look out for each other.”
How much responsibility should Eigner bear? By the end of the meandering report, it’s hard to know what to believe.
Give Bowling Green credit for having an outside firm investigate the alleged hazing. But it can’t then keep everyone hanging, suggesting troubling things happened at Rookie Day and leave the details to our imagination and rumor and speculation to fill the hollow.
The BG community deserves more.
First Published October 20, 2023, 1:06 a.m.
