I think the reason the comparison with Shawn Walsh comes up every year is 
because he was a tremendous coach and that will be the standard that Tim 
Whitehead and every other coach (for the forseeable future) will be held to 
(and should be held to) in Orono.

Whether that is fair or not is a different debate, but until Tim wins two 
national titles and garners the kind of respect and admiration from his 
players (past and present) that Walsh did, he will not be in the same class.

Do you think the next coach of Duke will not be constantly compared and 
contrasted with Coach K?  C'mon.. it will become sport in N.C.

We seem to be constantly lowering our expectations for this team and this 
program.  Shawn Walsh set the bar high and we should continue to strive to 
reach those same lofty goals.  When Maine doesn't play with passion and 
can't seem to "get up" to play that deserves to be commented on and must be 
corrected.

-Deron

P.S. - Our (un)motivated Black Bears dropped another one tonight, 4-2 to 
Providence that by the account I heard on the radio sounded pretty darn 
ugly.

--- Original Message ---
From: "Adam Parker" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 9:51 PM
Subject: Re: Is Maine too distracted?


>I would say this:  It comes down to motivating the team.  Some coaches
> motivate by being vocal on the bench, yelling during the games, etc.  But, 
> I
> think the fact that one coach yells and the other doesn't is completely
> irrelevant.  Mike Krzyzewski is a fantastic college basketball coach, and 
> he
> rarely yells while he's on the court coaching a game.  He tries to coach 
> and
> motivate the kids in other ways, and he's successful.  On the other hand,
> Bob Knight is another very successful college basketball coach.  Like him 
> or
> hate him, he yells, motivates his kids that way and gets results.  Two
> different philosophies, two great coaches.  Sometimes, one coach would 
> have
> to use different strategies to motivate different players/teams.
>
> Also, I think we can all agree that it's frustrating to see a team with so
> much talent go through what seems to be the same funk every year.  They
> always hit a stretch where they seem to play slow and sloppy hockey.
> They'll lose a few games they probably shouldn't and it hurts them later 
> in
> the year (lower seeds, lots of travel, etc.).  However, it's not like this
> team has been at the bottom of the division.  It's not like we 
> consistently
> have to struggle to be above .500 for the season, or fight to make the HE 
> &
> NCAA tournaments.  We've been a top-tier program for years, and we expect
> the best.  Even the best teams have growing pains for one reason or 
> another.
> This year, we have a pretty young team, and I'm sure the growing pains 
> will
> be tougher than years past.  We just have to continue to cheer for and
> support our team.
>
> And, I know that I can speak for at least a few other people on this list
> when I say this, but I'm tired of hearing the same comment year after year
> about the "yelling" and the difference between Coach Whitehead and Coach
> Walsh.  They are different coaching styles, and even though he doesn't 
> have
> a national title yet, Coach Whitehead helps this team win games.  But,
> regardless of what he does, it seems that once a year for the past few
> years, the same type of comment comes out.  "Shawn would be [insert action
> here, such as yelling, throwing things, etc.] but Tim doesn't do that. 
> I'm
> not saying he should, but..."  I'm not trying to point out anyone in
> particular or start a fight with anyone else on the list, but I just can't
> understand why we get the same comparison year after year.  I'm sure that
> someone will say that "CoachWalsh's teams never had the same pattern of a
> mid-season slide..." or something to that effect.  But, the bottom line is
> that they are different coaches, and they coached different teams.  There 
> is
> no way of knowing what Coach Walsh would do with the current team, or how
> successful he'd be.  On the same lines, there is now way of knowing how
> great Coach Whitehead would have been with the '92-93 team or the '98-99
> team.  They can't be compared, and continuing to do so doesn't make sense 
> to
> me.
>
> Adam Parker - Class of 2003
> Section U Season Ticket Holder