COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Bill Peters is out as head coach of the Flames, general manager Brad Treliving announced on Friday.
"This morning, I received a letter of resignation from Bill Peters, which I accepted," Treliving told reporters in a press conference. "Effective immediately, Bill Peters is no longer a member of the Calgary Flames organization."
Assistant head coach Geoff Ward was named interim head coach.
When the Flames were in Pittsburgh on Monday, former player Akim Aliu accused Peters of using a racial slur in the Rockford IceHogs locker room 10 years ago, an allegation that was corroborated by two players from that team and later admitted to by Peters.
On Tuesday, former Hurricanes defenseman Michal Jordan accused Peters of physically assaulting players in Carolina, an allegation that was corroborated by another Hurricanes player and head coach Rod Brind'Amour. Then-Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis was reportedly made aware of the altercations and addressed the issue with Peters at the time, but did not report the issue to then-Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos, who told the Seattle Times he would have fired Peters "in a nanosecond" had he been told.
Peters on Thursday responded to the allegations by Aliu – but not the allegations of assault — in a statement that took the form of a letter to Treliving, and was emailed to the media. In the letter, Peters admitted to using the slur, and apologized to Treliving and the Flames organization, but not Aliu.
Treliving said the team was not aware of the allegations against Peters before hiring him in 2018.
"Were we aware of any of these types of allegations? Categorically no," said Treliving. "In terms of due diligence, we do do due diligence. We do a full scrub on any hire and I did speak to previous employers of Bill."
Peters had not been around the Flames since the Flames' loss in Pittsburgh, and Ward had led practices and coached the Flames in their win over the Sabres on Wednesday. In that time, Treliving spoke with Peters, as well as Aliu and other former players as part of an investigation.
"It's been a difficult time, but we're going to move forward," Treliving said in Friday's press conference.