While many of us Maine fans are still feeling the sting of being "close but
no cigar" to the national title, today we have good news to smile about.

Monday evening at a rally for the Black Bears, athletic director Suzanne
Tyler announced that Maine has appointed Tim Whitehead as head ice hockey
coach.  The university received a waiver from the guidelines requiring a
national search, by the UMaine System, and removed the 'interim' tag from
Whitehead's title.

Tim Whitehead proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he deserved the
opportunity to be the head coach of this program after the simply amazing
job he did this season.  Many coaches would be the first to tell you that
*they* could not have done what Whitehead did under the difficult
circumstances.  As ESPN pointed out over and over again, you don't want to
be the coach to follow the legend, you want to be the guy who follows that
guy.

Ironically, Whitehead is the anti-Shawn Walsh in many ways (ironic
especially because he was essentially Shawn's hand-picked successor).  He
appears to have no ego.  He is quiet, unassuming and reserved most of the
time.  He appears comfortable and laid back.  But he is the right guy for
this program at this time.  He will never give himself enough credit, but he
is a large reason Maine made it to the national title game.  He never let
all the talk about Walsh get to him and he righted the ship faster than
anyone could have ever dreamed.

Whitehead is a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award, and he is a deserving
candidate.  IMHO he should have been Hockey East Coach of the Year.  It is
hard for many to fathom the job he had to do.  Yes, he was following Shawn
Walsh, but Whitehead wasn't even a year removed from coaching league-rival
UMass-Lowell.  It was said during the Frozen Four that he had to earn the
respect of the players at the onset of the season because the players didn't
necessarily respect what he did at Lowell.

Few people expected Maine to make the national title game back in October.
But under Tim Whitehead's leadership, the Black Bears made a great run and
we are tremendously proud of our team this season!

If there was ever a time when such a waiver should be sought and granted, it
was this time.  I am overjoyed at the decision and I want to thank the
athletic department, President Peter Hoff and the UMaine System for making
this move.  Maine got it right this time.

-Deron