A shake-up at the Windsor Minor Hockey Association.
Following a special board meeting Sunday night, Executive Vice-President Rick Pare was voted out and then Dean LaPierre, who had been president since 1999, stepped down.
It follows the controversy surrounding volunteer assistant coach with the WMHA's Peewee Minor AA team, Trent Norris, who has a criminal record dating back to 2001 when he was convicted of aggravated assault in Florida.
Speaking on AM800's the Morning Drive, LaPierre says the board didn't like the way the issue was handled and so when the board voted out Pare, LaPierre says he knew he was next, so he stepped down.
LaPierre says Norris was very honest about his past when he became a volunteer assistant coach.
"At the time when we looked at his record, we met with him, there was nothing against children or he would have been removed immediately, we told him that and it was 20 years ago and he was very outgoing and told us everything he did, as far as we knew he didn't hide any of his past," he says.
After learning about the conviction, some association board members wanted Norris to be suspended pending an investigation and then some board members resigned when the request was ignored.
Since then, the Ontario Minor Hockey Association has since asked Norris to step down as it conducts its investigation.
LaPierre says there was a lot of division on the board.
"Investigation was still ongoing and unfortunately some people didn't let us finish the investigation before it went to the media, and then it blew up like that and looking back, maybe we would have done things a little differently," he says.
LaPierre says there will be a void in his life.
"First morning I woke up since I was 17 that I wasn't a volunteer with Windsor Minor so I'm going to have to find something to do with my free time," he says. "I just hope that the remaining members realize the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes, that people don't see, so they can still keep Windsor Minor running."
According to LaPierre, five other board members also resigned after he stepped down as president.
There used to be a total of 17 board members — now there are eight.