Coaches at Dalhousie University are reminding their players about the importance of proper conduct, both on and off the field, after the men’s rugby club was suspended pending an investigation into allegations of hazing.

“Makes it pretty black and white. No hazing whatsoever is acceptable,” says football coach Alan Wetmore.

The school has released few details about the allegations but says it received a formal complaint from a university employee.

The club’s two teams, which play divisions 1 and 2 within Rugby Nova Scotia’s university league, have been suspended. The university officially informed the teams of its decision on Friday.

Wetmore watched a report about the hazing allegations on CTV News Monday evening and emailed a copy of the report to his players Tuesday morning, emphasizing the statement by Dalhousie’s director of communications about the school’s zero-tolerance approach to hazing.

“I highlighted that, and underlined it, and fonted it, and made it big and bold and sent it to them and said, ‘now that's enough said,’” says Wetmore.

Wetmore, a former Canadian Football League player, says he has experienced hazing at every level, from high school to the pros.

He recognizes the sports landscape has changed, so he brought the subject up early on with his players.

“Second practice and continually after that,” says Wetmore.

“I’ve been on this team for four years now, with three different coaches, and all three have come on at the beginning of the year and said that hazing is zero tolerance here and it's not something we are going to have on our team,” says Joseph Ghosn, co-captain of the Dalhousie Tigers football team.

The current hazing investigation has already sounded alarm bells, not only for the sports club coaches, but from the varsity athletics side as well.

Over the past 24 hours, several coaches have taken the initiative and held meetings with their players to go over what's acceptable and what's unacceptable conduct.

“We've been talked to by coaches and among ourselves, we know how to respect ourselves,” says basketball player Ainsley MacIntyre.

“There are emotional and psychological impacts of hazing and they don't necessarily build a team,” says Ghosn. “They can help to segregate them and lead to probably less performance on the field than improved ones really.”

While suspended, the players can no longer book school facilities to practice. They can no longer wear team colours, they have lost their funding, and they are no longer insured by the school.

The school has 60 days to investigate. If it concludes that hazing did take place, the teams and individuals may face further punishment.

Attempts to contact the Dalhousie Tigers Men’s Rugby Club executive have been unsuccessful.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jayson Baxter