The argument for Welsh, as Patrick pointed out, is that he has had to deal with
a lot less than anyone else in div I.  However, one must remember how long he
has been coach here.  I think it is 19 seasons...and only just now has there
been any outward evidence that he has done anything to improve the team's lot
in life in terms of support.  The facilities here have been bad for 15
years+...essentially all throughout his tenure...the only he has to show for it
is a successful drive and marketing campaign for two games in the Fairgrounds
Coliseum...anemic at best in my opinion.
 
And...we haven't even begun to talk about Welsh as a strategist/player
development coach.  Team discipline has been a consistent problem at OSU as the
same players who cost the team games with dumb penalties as freshmen, commit
the same mistakes as seniors. Despite any other flaws, it made me appreciate
Brian McCutcheon at Cornell...while Cornell has had its problems of late, they
are still are more disciplined team with a better sense of their roles on the
ice.
 
OSU was a power in the early 70's and again in the early 80's.  I would imagine
that the disparity in facilities was not as marked at either time and thus not
as big a disadvantage to OSU recruiting.  The teams in the early 80's, the ones
that won 30 games and even held a number one ranking (although they never did
win the CCHA) can be summed up with three words...The Pooley Twins.  Paul and
Perry Pooley (both from Ohio I believe) came to OSU and pulled the team up.
Paul was a Hobey finalist (OSU's only finalist I think) and both of them are
still among the top scorers in school history, Paul being #1 in most
categories.  They also had a good goaltender (a lefty I believe) and
apparently, at least a passable supporting cast.  If you took the 91-92 OSU
team (beat eventual champ LSSU twice at home 7-4,8-2 and beat Clarkson for the
Syracuse Inv) and put any kind of a defense in front of Mike Bales (they
allowed over 5 GPG...maybe even close to 6 if I remember correctly), that team
could have made some noise.  The point being that the difference between then
and now is not the level of support from the university...it has always been
low.  The difference is that in the early 80's, a couple of phenoms decided to
stay in Ohio at a time when enough decent players were at OSU to be competitive
(like in 91-92). It was luck of the draw in some ways...about the only way OSU
will rise again without some serious support as every year nothing is done in
Columbus, the less likely it is that a Paul or Perry Pooley will come to OSU
ever again.
 
At the start of 92-93 season, I had a talk with an administrator in the
athletic department here (low-level admin.).  I asked him about the possibility
of getting a new rink..his reponse was "not in my lifetime."
 
We'll see....
 
 
        ****************************************************************
        *        Dave [log in to unmask]         *
        *                  Cornell '91 OSU Med '95                     *
        *       Nothing good ever comes of a conversation that         *
        *        starts with the words, "Remember the patient          *
        *                 you sent home last night?"                   *
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