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Duluth East athletic director Shawn Roed, who has been conspicuous by his absence throughout the “investigation” and decision to not renew hockey coach Mike Randolph’s contract, has had a good reason for being noncommittal.

He was not involved in any of the procedures, presumably at the command of the school administration and superintendent John Magas.

“An independent investigation was conducted at the request of the district, for which I was not involved,” Roed said in a message.

“I was not present at any meetings regarding this investigation and I was, and am still, unable to address specifics about this issue.”

Roed was responding to a message sent to him by this reporter, because a previous story included his name as being in attendance at the meeting at which Randolph, after 32 years, had been informed his contract would not be renewed. This reporter sent a note of apology to Roed, saying that his name was included because of insufficient evidence to the contrary, and because of being unable to reach Roed, but we had subsequently learned he was not at the meeting.

The protocol for filing a complaint about coaching lists contacting the athletic director and the coach together with a player filing the complaint as a “Level One” method of communication, leading to the assumption that Roed had been involved.

However, while seeming to ignore all levels of the protocol, the administration appears to have excluded Roed from any involvement in meetings or action leading up to the decision. His silence has undoubtedly caused much of the criticism that has been aimed at Roed by hockey fans, boosters, players, and coaches from other programs for not coming to Randolph’s defense. But perhaps nobody has ever had better reason for having “no comment,” because he has not been involved at any level of the action.