Investigative report on Duluth East coach Mike Randolph released – Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH After more than three years and two more coaching stops, the saga of Mike Randolph's final years of coaching at Duluth East High School came into clearer focus following the conclusion of a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigation.

Randolph led the Greyhounds' boys hockey program for 31 years but resigned abruptly in 2021, citing parental interference and a lack of administrative support. One of the most successful high school coaches ever in Minnesota, Randolph led East to 18 state tournament appearances, two state titles and six runner-up finishes.

At the time of his dismissal, Randolph was under investigation by Duluth Public Schools for possible misconduct. The results of that report remained confidential until last week, when they were released publicly at the end of the BCA investigation.

Randolph coached two seasons at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, Minn., before his contract was not renewed last spring. He was later hired to lead the Northern Lakes hockey program, a collaborative team between Pequot Lakes, Aitkin, Crosby-Ironton and Pine River-Backus high schools.

Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group

In May 2022, Sean McGee, a parent of a former Duluth East player, reported to Duluth police that he had been defrauded out of $6,000 over three years. The report led to a search warrant for the county's independent investigation into Randolph, conducted by the Duluth firm Terch and Associates, and ultimately to the BCA's investigation.

The BCA investigation focused primarily on the financial practices of East End Hockey Boosters and its president, Jen LaMaster. Although the investigator found ample evidence of unusual financial practices, including misrepresenting to parents the use of at least some of the money they paid, the investigation could not find any evidence to support that the money was used to Randolph to enrich.

The BCA investigation was recently referred to the St. Louis County attorney, who declined to file any charges in the case, according to BCA spokesperson Jill Oliveira. The BCA investigator said costs associated with playing hockey at East, including Randolph summer camps, cost more than $3,000 per year, but parents felt obligated to pay for their children to play for the Greyhounds.

Randolph said he felt frustrated that despite an ongoing investigation, McGee has worked to keep the story in the news for the past three years while remaining publicly anonymous until now. Meanwhile, others quoted in the report, including himself, have moved on, Randolph said.

McGee declined to comment for this story.

With the conclusion of the investigation, the report prepared by Terch became publicly available and shed light on the complaints about Randolph's coaching and allegations of abuse during his tenure.

Similar to the BCA investigation, the Terch investigation found insufficient evidence to conclude that Randolph received direct or indirect payments from the East End Hockey Boosters. However, it found that Randolph had violated district policy regarding:

• General harassment through his behavior toward student-athletes and their parents.
• Using his authority and influence in recruiting and managing his high school hockey camp, which led to players and parents feeling obligated to attend as a condition of playing for the team.
• Giving adult staff direct access to student-athletes without providing proper supervision or required background checks.

The investigation uses a secret recording from a parent in which Randolph threatened legal action against those who filed complaints or requested his removal as coach.

“I go out on my own terms,” Randolph said in the recording. I go out when I want to go out, not when you want me to go out.

The report found that Randolph had made similar statements to players and the result was a chilling effect on athletes and their parents. According to the report, his behavior in this specific regard was objectively inappropriate and caused a sense of fear and intimidation among students and parents.

Another parent said that when they tried to file a complaint about Randolph with school administrators, they were only left with voicemails because of concerns about the impact of any documentation.

Terch also reported that Randolph engaged in the use of intimidating, hostile and offensive language towards players.

Multiple players reported that the coach humiliated players in front of their peers and repeatedly shared details of private conversations with the team as a whole.

One parent even said that allowing their son to continue playing was tantamount to condoning child abuse.

However, the report also addressed allegations of physical violence, saying that not enough evidence was found to support Randolph's allegations of physical inappropriateness or physical abuse toward students.

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

The report also found many examples of players who were positive about their time at Randolph and felt he helped them.

The second violation involved Randolph's summer camps, which parents often felt obliged to pay for to be part of the Greyhounds hockey program.

I get it. Every coach has his own way of coaching, one parent told the researchers. There's just so many little things (like) You gotta come to my camp. If you don't come to my camp, you're not going to play.

Finally, Randolph allowed a fitness trainer to have unsupervised access to students without the required background check. The report also said that there were absolutely no allegations of misconduct by the trainer, but that it was also Randolph's responsibility to ensure that the relevant background check was completed.

“I will continue coaching my 40th year of high school hockey,” he said. This is behind me and in the past, but there is one person who can't let it go and we all know who that is.

Jamey Malcomb has been a high school sports reporter for the Duluth News Tribune since October 2021. For the past six years, he covered news and sports for the Lake County News-Chronicle in Two Harbors and the Cloquet Pine Journal. He graduated from George Washington University in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in history and literature and also earned a master's degree in secondary English education from George Mason University.