Former Binghamton University men’s lacrosse coach Ed Stephenson resigned from his position last month, but the bigger story may be the reason behind his decision.

BU announced Stephenson’s resignation in a written statement on March 19, but the statement makes no mention of the reason Stephenson decided to leave in the middle of the season, saying only that Stephenson would be replaced by third-year assistant coach and former Bearcat Kevin McKeown.

However, the Press & Sun-Bulletin reported that it obtained an email sent by Stephenson to players, their families and members of the administration in which he explained the reasons for his resignation. In the email, Stephenson reportedly wrote that his resignation is in protest of the administration’s treatment of three men’s lacrosse players, who were suspended as a result of their alleged involvement in a fight with a fourth individual.

According to Interim Athletic Director James Norris, a physical altercation involving the three student-athletes and a fourth individual took place around 1:15 a.m. on March 2.

Norris said the fourth individual is “not a student-athlete now, never was,” but said he couldn’t comment on whether the individual was a BU student.

Norris confirmed that the three student-athletes were suspended for “alleged violations of the athletic department code of conduct,” including breaches of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug policy, as well as verbal abuse and fighting.

According to Norris, one of the student-athletes was either arrested or issued an appearance ticket for possession of a fake ID. Norris also said the other two student-athletes had not been charged, but they were also suspended because of department violations.

BU spokeswoman Gail Glover said the students face charges under the University’s code of conduct and that if they are found responsible, “sanctions could include various forms of probation up through and including suspension from the University.”

On the morning of the scheduled review board hearing, Norris said he received a phone call from campus police saying that the fourth individual had decided to press charges against all three of the student-athletes.

“If you’re arrested or that sort of thing, you can’t seek reinstatement [into the athletic department] until your legal situation has been resolved,” Norris said. “In addition, we also say that if campus judicial affairs is involved, then the athletic department reserves the right to postpone a review board hearing or a reinstatement hearing until the judicial affairs office has completed their piece of things.”

According to the report, Stephenson wrote that only one of the players fought the fourth individual, and one player was involved only because he tried to pull the fourth individual off his teammate. The third suspended player, Stephenson wrote in his email, was not involved in the incident at all.

However, following the initial incident Norris met with Stephenson, and Norris said the two agreed that the three should be suspended until an athletic department review board hearing could be arranged.

Stephenson was in his 10th season as head coach of the men’s lacrosse team. He led the team to a No. 16 national ranking back in 2006. While the Bearcats had not had a winning season since 2004, he leaves the team at 4-3 this year after the squad’s first four-game winning streak in five years. Off the field, Binghamton men’s lacrosse has led the America East Conference in GPA in each of the last five seasons.

McKeown is a former America East Player of the Year and AE Scholar-Athlete. He graduated in 2006 and joined the coaching staff in 2008. Norris said that assistant coach Rob Williams and volunteer assistant coach Larry Klein have agreed to continue working with the program as well. All three are Bearcats who played under Stephenson, but none have more than five years’ experience coaching.