School Board Faces Decision on Lakeville North Hockey Coach

Trent Eigner may have been fully exonerated in Texas back in 2003, but the Lakeville North boys’ hockey head coach candidate is still finding it difficult to not be found guilty in present-day Minnesota.

The Lakeville School Board is expected to vote Tuesday night on whether or not Eigner will become the next head coach for the Lakeville North varsity boys’ hockey program. by administrators after an interview process last month but the School Board has yet to approve the contract.

The School Board tabled the hiring of winter sports coaches at the Sept. 28 meeting for further discussion and a closed session was held by the School Board on Oct. 4 concerning potential issues with Eigner’s hiring.

While school officials have still not confirmed the specifics of what those issues may be, several Lakeville parents and community members have raised concern about a previous drug-related arrest in Eigner’s past. Eigner was later fully exonerated in the case.

According to numerous media reports, Eigner turned himself in to face second-degree felony drug possession charges in April of 2002 after El Paso County Sheriff’s deputies found 96.5 pounds of marijuana inside an acquaintance’s vehicle parked in Eigner’s garage. The incident happened in January, 2002. Eigner maintained his innocence from the beginning of the ordeal but was fired from his head coaching position of the Central Hockey League’s El Paso Buzzards due to the charges even as team representatives also stated they believed Eigner to be innocent.

According to El Paso County court records, Eigner’s wife, Melissa, and Rodolfo Alarcon, the vehicle’s owner, both entered guilty pleas in the case and were sentenced to 10 years of probation and 600 hours of community service in May of 2003.

Eigner considers the incident a non-issue in his current coaching aspirations and was adamant in his defense of the issue during an interview with Lakeville Patch last week.

“I don’t think it’s fair to me to bring up something that never happened,” said Eigner. “If I felt it was pertinent to the job I would have the discussion, but that’s just not the case.”

Eigner said he has undergone multiple background checks for licensures for his businesses as well as for his recent hiring at Rosemount High School as the co-head coach of the Irish girls’ hockey team and the Lakeville North position. He said he has passed all without a hitch.

“I’ve had an impeccable record as a youth coach,” he added.

Rosemount administrators could not be reached for comment on their hiring process and Lakeville administrators have declined to comment on the issue, but in the age of the internet it’s hard to imagine either administration being blindsided about the previous media reports if they had done even a cursory search prior to Eigner’s hiring. That would seem to imply they also felt the incident was a non-issue. Even so, questions remain in Lakeville over when and how that information was discovered and the reports and/or community complaints appear to have given some Lakeville School Board members pause in rubber-stamping the contract.

But Eigner isn’t alone in thinking that the El Paso case is a non-issue with regard to coaching Lakeville North hockey.

“We are proud of the fact Trent Eigner will be the North Hockey Coach,” said Mark Brown, President of the Lakeville Hockey Association. “He brings (a) breath of fresh air to the hockey community in Lakeville.”

Brown said he strongly supports Eigner and his staff for the position and feels that the potential new coach has already brought a much-needed spark to the youth hockey community in Lakeville.

“(Trent) did an exceptional job motivating and exciting parents at our first meeting,” Brown said. “One of his biggest messages to parents was don’t be concerned for what team your kids make, be happy that your kid is out there competing.  Life itself is more important. It was a complete breath of fresh air to parents to hear that.”

Brown said that the Lakeville Hockey Association, one of the largest youth hockey associations in the state, had “zero interaction with the previous staff, so to get a new coach to a parent’s meeting was a giant message,” that youth development and involvement was important.

Previous head coach Randy Schmitz’s contract was not renewed by school administrators who also declined to comment on issues surrounding that decision. Schmitz is expected to air a grievance to the School Board regarding that decision Tuesday night during a closed session prior to the regularly scheduled 7 p.m. meeting.

As to whether concerns raised by some in the community about Eigner’s past are valid, Brown said as far as he was concerned it was completely a non-factor.

“My understanding is he was exonerated,” said Brown. “Unless I’m missing something, how can it be a factor in the School Board’s decision?”

An online petition at Change.org was also started in support of Eigner over the weekend by a group listed only as “Lakeville Hockey Community.” The petition automatically sends an email to the Lakeville School Board every time someone electronically signs their name in support of Eigner’s hiring. As of Monday evening, the petition had collected more than 200 digital signatures.

Brown said he was aware of the effort but that the Lakeville Hockey Association wasn’t responsible for creating it. He added, though, that there was overwhelming support for Eigner becoming the coach within his organization.

“I think if the school board doesn’t ratify Trent as the new coach it will cause a lot of ill will in the Lakeville hockey community,” said Brown.