Mitch Hannigan steps down as Saint Mary's University lacrosse coach

The lacrosse coach at Saint Mary's University in Halifax has resigned in what appears to be another case of inappropriate comments embarrassing the university.

Mitch Hannigan was the volunteer coach of the lacrosse team.

University officials started looking into his twitter account after The Chronicle Herald newspaper reported Hannigan retweeted a chewless tobacco advertisement featuring a woman's behind and encouraging users to "give your cheeks a pinch."

There was also concern about tweets that appear to condone heavy drinking according to Margaret Murphy, associate vice president of external affairs at SMU.

“We know that we need to take these matters very seriously,” she said. “We always tell all of our athletes, whether they're on a club team or a varsity team, they're held to a very high code of conduct, because they're representing the university.”

All coaches signed a code of conduct at the beginning of the academic year.

Murphy says the resignation concludes the university’s investigation into the postings. She says no one else from the team is under investigation and when Hannigan himself examined the tweets, he agreed it did not meet the standards of the university code of conduct, then agreed to step down.

In January, the university suspended nine members of its football team for publishing tweets described as sexist and racist.