Red Berenson looked at a federal lawsuit alleging blowtorches near genitals, live goldfish in shot glasses, and razor handles used for anal penetration on his Michigan hockey teams, and his first public move was to call the “sexual” part a stretch.
That is the energy. Eighty-six years old. Eight hundred forty-eight wins. Two national titles. Thirty-three seasons as head coach. And the legend is telling MLive that seniors ran the initiation while the coaching staff “didn’t promote it” and “didn’t question it.”
I know what the alumni accounts are warming up in the replies. Different era. Tough room. Made men out of boys. Fine. Post it. The 74-page complaint from 16 former players covering 1984 to 2001 does not read like a couple of bag skates that got loud.
He Admitted He Knew. He Just Never Asked.
His own words undercut the clean-hands act before the second paragraph lands.
“We knew there was a certain element of initiation on our team, and it was usually orchestrated by the seniors. We didn’t promote it. We didn’t question it. We didn’t encourage it.”
We knew. We didn’t question it. For a coach who spent three decades selling the Michigan Man standard, that sentence is the whole problem. According to the lawsuit, Berenson allegedly instructed upperclassmen to shave freshmen “from the neck down” so nothing showed under clothes. The complaint alleges he told at least one player who resisted to be a “Michigan Man” and a “good teammate.” Then-assistant Mel Pearson allegedly called the rituals “awful traditions” and told a player to “just get through it.” Equipment staff and trainers are named in the same alleged pattern of knowledge and inaction.
Berenson denies any coaching-staff direction. He told MLive the coaches “weren’t involved at all.” He said no player ever came to him to complain. He framed most of it as kids feeling welcomed, with “mishaps” and “bad experiences” possible but never directed from the bench or the administration.
I am not a jury. These remain allegations. Nothing has been proven in court. The denial still lands soft. You do not get written into a filing 79 times as a bystander who never heard a whisper.
The 2012 “End of Hazing” Was Cosmetic
In 2012 Berenson publicly announced he was killing freshman hazing traditions—carrying gear, loading the bus, eating last. He described some of it as borderline humiliation and said certain captains “got too carried away.” The lawsuit argues that announcement understated the real conduct and that the university never investigated the sexualized abuse the plaintiffs now detail.
Sixteen anonymous John Does. Alleged ritual spanning nearly two decades. A university that adopted an anti-hazing policy in 1982—one of the earliest in the country—and still faces a Title IX suit claiming institutional betrayal. Spokesman Paul Corliss called the allegations “disturbing,” said many elements are “misleading,” and denied the university is “in any way responsible or liable for the claims alleged,” pointing to teammate conduct from more than 25 years ago.
College hockey runs on a toughness myth I have watched for years. Carry the pucks. Earn the letter. Survive the room. The complaint describes forced keg finishes, bottles of liquor, live goldfish swallowed in alcohol, pubic hair singed with blowtorches, genitals tied to helmets or buckets weighted with pucks, forced exposure, and sexual touching. The filing calls it “ritualized, meticulously planned, and sadistic.” That is a different sport from loading the bus.
Berenson is not a named defendant. He still sits at the center of the narrative because the plaintiffs allege the culture had a head coach who either directed the optics or never shut it down.
The “Stretch” Line Is Going to Haunt Him
“When they say sexual, I’m guessing they’re stretching this.”
That quote is already cooked. The plaintiffs allege genital shaving on training tables inside team facilities, anal penetration with disposable razor handles, forced nudity, and simulated acts. You can fight every fact in discovery. Calling the characterization a stretch while the complaint is still warm is the kind of L that follows a program for years.
Michigan hockey became a powerhouse under Berenson—two championships, eleven Frozen Fours, a pipeline that still produces. Plenty of former players will ride for him forever. None of that answers the filing. The university already settled roughly $490 million over the Robert Anderson sexual-misconduct claims involving more than a thousand former athletes. The institutional reflex to protect the brand first is the part every athletic department should study, not the win total.
The suit seeks damages for physical and psychological harm plus hazing-prevention training. Courts will decide liability. My read is simpler: when your opening response to allegations this graphic is that the sexual label is overcooked and that nobody ever complained to your face, you have already lost the only audience that matters now.
The goldfish and the blowtorch details are not walking back into the locker room. Neither is “we didn’t question it.”
