Shutterstock
Pennsylvania’s attorney general filed felony hazing charges against a former Bucknell University strength coach on Monday, tied to the death of a freshman football player last summer.
Mark Kulbis turned himself in Monday morning. He was arraigned, and bail was set at $10,000. Beyond the felony aggravated hazing charge, he’s also facing misdemeanor counts: involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, and hazing. His preliminary hearing is set for July 28.
The case centers on Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr., an offensive lineman who collapsed during his very first practice with the team on July 10, 2024. He died two days later. He was just 18.
According to the medical examiner, Dickey died from exertional rhabdomyolysis (a breakdown of muscle tissue triggered by intense physical exertion). His body weight combined with his sickle cell trait made the condition especially dangerous, according to the attorney general’s office.
Here’s where things get troubling.
The criminal complaint lays out what happened during that July workout. Kulbis had the freshmen perform 100 “up-downs” (a drill where athletes drop to the ground and pop back up repeatedly) along with multiple full-body plank exercises. Other coaches had already warned him these drills were unsafe. He ran them anyways.
Investigators say Kulbis knew about Dickey’s sickle cell trait beforehand. He’d also completed training on the condition, plus NCAA and state anti-hazing rules. None of that stopped him.
What happened in the training room
Dickey struggled visibly throughout the session, per the complaint. Kulbis was the only coach in the room at the time. He didn’t call for help until Dickey lost consciousness.
Attorney General Dave Sunday didn’t hold back when describing the case.
“The facts show this was an intentional, deliberate hazing perpetrated by a coach who knew C.J.’s health condition made him vulnerable to extreme workouts,” Sunday said in a release. “The facts show this defendant received information about C.J.’s health condition, along with training about NCAA anti-hazing standards, and disregarded that information. This is an extraordinary tragedy, worsened by the fact that C.J.’s death was preventable.”
The felony hazing charge itself traces back to a law Pennsylvania passed after Penn State student Tim Piazza died in a 2017 hazing incident. Sunday pointed to that statute as proof of how seriously the state now treats hazing, whether it results in humiliation or, in cases like this one, death.
Kulbis is no longer with the program. His LinkedIn profile shows he left Bucknell in January 2025.
A lawsuit still working through the courts
Dickey’s parents already filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Bucknell last year. They allege the university knew about their son’s sickle cell trait diagnosis, cleared him to play anyway, and then failed to protect him once he was on the field. That civil case hasn’t been resolved yet.
Sickle cell trait testing is mandatory for all NCAA athletes, and for good reason. The NCAA has noted something specific about deaths linked to the condition: they happen almost exclusively during conditioning work, not during actual games or drills involving skill.
That detail alone should make every strength and conditioning program pay attention.
