In article <[log in to unmask]>, Dave Hendrickson
<[log in to unmask]> says:
>
>John H writes:
>
>> The implication was that they would return this season.  The article said
>> that "Walsh convinced them a return would ensure a second straight National
>> Collegiate Athletic Association championship".
>>
>> I've never met Shawn Walsh, and this particular comment isn't attributed to
>> Walsh, but to a "source close to the Black Bears".  However, this is the
>> kind of press that always paints Walsh as an arrogant jerk.
 
I don't see anything arrogant about believing your team will win a champion-
ship. If a coach doesn't believe in his team, this conveys a lack of confi-
dence to the players. I haven't heard actual quotes from Walsh, but his
style is more along the lines of, "Peter, Paul, Mary... Chris :-), if you
guys come back we'll have a good chance at getting a shot at the national
championship."
 
Coaches like Walsh are successful because they instill confidence in
their players, a confidence that says, "We can do it." Look at Dallas
Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson. Despite a two-game losing streak at
the beginning of the season and another two-game skid midway through
the season, Johnson believed the Cowboys would make it. Meanwhile,
everyone else was talking about the resurrection of the New York Giants.
 
>I guess I'm particularly willing to cut Walsh some slack based on his talk
>at the UMass-Lowell luncheon which I posted last week.  He was anything but
>arrogant.  He was charming, gracious, and I'd drive aways to hear him talk in
>the future.  If I didn't know better, I'd have expected to hear him announce
>his candidacy for the Presidency and start kissing babies.  :-)
 
I found Walsh to be very cordial in my only interaction I've had with him.
The other day I called his office for his thoughts on the two UMaine
students who were replacement officials for the Jan. 28 Northeastern vs.
Maine game, for a Maine Campus story. His secretary said he was on the
phone, but if I left my number he'd call me back. Ten minutes later he
called. He was right to the point. (I'll post the article after it runs
next week.) I don't know why, but I was impressed. A lot of coaches
convey a persona of being too important and too busy to call people back.
Usually when I call people for information and they're not in, a secretary
will tell me to call back. Then it becomes a game of cat and mouse.
 
>> I wonder.  If Walsh were to say something sincere and non-controversial,
>> would the media bother to print it?  It wouldn't fit the image (P.T.
>> Barnum?) that has been created for him.
 
Hm. I don't think it has so much to do with Walsh having an image. The
news media love to report on controversy, no matter who creates it.
Something that's controversial is more interesting than something that
isn't.
 
Ryan Robbins
Stodder Hall
University of Maine
 
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