My final words on this topic:
 
Shawn Walsh and the UMaine athletic department, whether it was intentional
or unintentional, violated NCAA rules.  For those violations, the UMaine
hockey program was put on a  postseason probation and denied a certain
number of scholarships over a two year period.  Despite these violations
and the embarrassment they caused the school (and the sport of college
hockey), the UMaine administration saw fit to punish the coach, not by
firing him, but suspending him for one year.  These are the facts, correct.
Does anyone care to dispute them?
 
The FACT that the UMaine administration did not fire Coach Walsh for his
transgressions, led me (and several others) to the conclusion that the
UMaine administration was not as concerned with the ethical makeup of their
faculty as they were with the fact that the faculty member in question
coached a winning hockey team.  Since I would like to think that one of the
roles of a university and its educators is to lay an ethical groundwork
from which their faculty, staff and students can learn, it was with great
disappointment that I learned of UMaine's decision vis a vis Walsh.
 
When I read the article in the Globe last Sunday, it was comforting to me
to know (based on the reporting), that UMaine's failure to act sensibly and
responsibly in the Walsh affair was coming back to haunt them.  I never
said, and neither did the Globe, that the 25% drop in student enrollment
since 1989 was due to the Walsh fiasco.  I assumed all along, as did the
Globe, that several factors went into this substantial decrease in
enrollment.  I am glad that some folks pointed these other factors out to
me and readers of Hockey-L.
 
The bottom line in all this is that at least some prospective students and
their families did take the UMaine decision on Walsh into consideration
when choosing a school.  I don't think anyone can disagree that "some" is
the operative word here. It cannot be denied that the whole situation has
not helped UMaine's image.  Agreed?
 
As long as Shawn Walsh is at Maine, I will respect him as a coach but view
other parts of his coaching duties with a skeptical eye.  How can I not?
And as long he is at Maine, it says to me that UMaine - administration,
faculty and student body - cares more about a winning hockey program than
the moral and ethical makeup of members of its community.
 
Greg Ambrose, UNH '72
 
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