Public reaction in Maine has been mixed in the three weeks
since the University of Maine announced the suspension of Shawn
Walsh. Not only has Walsh taken heat from the media and the general
public, but UMaine President Frederick Hutchinson has as well.
     The state's two largest newspapers, the Bangor Daily News and
the Portland Newspapers, have both chastised Hutchinson's decision
not to fire Walsh.
     Portland Newspaper columnist Bill Nemitz said in his Dec. 27
column that if Hutchinson knew the true meaning of honor,
Hutchinson would return the school's 1993 hockey national
championship trophy.
     Nemitz said that "only a man of courage, leadership and deep
conviction" would be so bold as to return the 1993 trophy. "With
Hutchinson, we're stuck with a man of a thousand excuses."
     In its self-report to the NCAA, the university disclosed that
former goalie Mike Dunham and Cal Ingraham had played during the
1992-93 season while ineligible.
     While on the 1992 winter Olympics hockey team, Dunham had
accepted a stipend, violating NCAA rules prohibiting compensation
for playing.
     Ingraham had played during the first semester of the 1991-92
season despite not having enough credit hours to be eligible after
transferring from the Air Force Academy.
     Under NCAA rules, players are ineligible the moment they
commit an infraction. To regain eligibility, players must be
cleared by the NCAA. So, Dunham was never eligible and Ingraham's
eligibility wasn't restored until he sat out the first 14 games of
the 1993-94 season to make up for the 14 games he had played
illegally during the 1991-92 season.
     Pointing to Walsh's accepting more than $1,000 from boosters
during his five-game suspension in 1993 for playing the
academically ineligible Jeff Tory, Nemitz called Walsh a bum.
     Turning to Walsh's and his attorney's contacting witnesses
despite being told not to by the university and NCAA, Nemitz said,
"Worst of all, by ignoring the rules, he betrayed the one thing
truly great coaches place above all else the trust of the kids who
played for him."
     Nemitz belittled Hutchinson for not having the stomach to do
what was right: fire Walsh. Hutchinson reduced himself to nothing
more than pathetic babble, Nemitz said. He quoted Hutchinson from
the Dec. 21 press conference:
     "When people are under great tension, it creates a lot of
tension in people. I'm not defending what happened. But we have
some level of understanding."
     Taking a softer approach, the Bangor Daily News urged the
university and Walsh to quietly go their separate ways. Walsh's
contract expires in the summer of 1997, only months after he
returns from his suspension.
     No doubt, Walsh would want more money because of his success
with the 1994-95 team that went all the way to the NCAA
championship game. He would probably want more money anyway. And
how would the university be able to justify a salary increase for
a man who knowingly violated his profession's rules and who gets
paid more than the state's governor?
     "The relationship between the university and (Walsh) soured
two years ago and has curdled under the heat of the NCAA
investigation," the Bangor Daily said. "The two should make a
prompt, clean break. Neither will benefit by waiting a year to
discuss the obvious: a renewal of the contract. Each already knows
what lies at the end of that process. Waiting isn't good for the
program, the team, this coach or the institution."
     The Portland Newspapers have written two editorials urging
that Walsh be fired.
     The latest, which appeared in the Maine Sunday Telegram's Jan.
7 edition, reminded the university the NCAA may very well strip the
school of its only national championship because Walsh got off easy
for his misdeeds.
     Walsh's accepting money from boosters and then contacting
witnesses severely damaged the credibility of the university and
its hockey program, the editorial said.
     "Either one of those violations is sufficient to justify his
dismissal," the paper said. "Together they are a stain on the
university's honor that cannot be wiped out as long as (Walsh)
remains eligible to return to coaching next December."
     The editorial continued: "If athletics mean anything, they
exist to teach the joys of competition and the absolute necessity
of honesty and fairness on a level playing field."
     Using ineligible athletes and accepting money that shouldn't
be accepted violate those principles, the editorial said.
     The general public's reaction to the situation has been mixed.
     A weekly newspaper in Bangor asked people on the street what
they thought.
     One man interviewed, Al Sockebeson, said Walsh should be
allowed to return.
     "Sometimes you do what you have to do to win," he said.
     Bangor Daily columnist and former Maine hockey radio play-by-
play man Gary Thorne also urged the university to dump Walsh.
     Thorne said, "The university's findings that Walsh accepted
money from boosters during his previous suspension is a serious and
flagrant act. It is an example of the 'above it all' attitude that
came with success on the ice."
     "a rule is a rule."
     Precisely, said reader John M. Vogell in a letter to the
Bangor Daily Saturday.
     "If that's the case, then why is President Hutchinson still
employed by the University of Maine?" Vogell asked. "Let's throw
the real bum out: Fred Hutchinson."
     Cary F. Butterfield also criticized Hutchinson in a letter to
the Bangor Daily.
     "What about Hutchinson and his administration's lack of
control over all athletics?" Butterfield asked. "Maybe Hutchinson
should be sanctioned."
     Another reader, George Chebba, said in Saturday's edition:
"Why the coach wasn't fired is testimony to the lack of resolve by
the administrators and the (University of Maine System) board of
trustees. The obsession with athletics is widespread as witnessed
by the accolades still heaped upon this fallen angel by assorted
coaches and others."
 
     Geoffrey P. Goodin wrote to the Bangor Daily and said that
instead of crying at the press conference, UMaine Athletics
Director Suzanne Tyler "should be rejoicing that this unsavory
character is gone, and she should make every effort to keep him
gone."
     That's not likely. The Bangor Daily reported last week that
Tyler promised Walsh he would be able to come back to his job next
December.
     "It's not the university's role to provide entertainment for
the community," Gerald Murphy wrote. "The program has become more
important than the university."
     According to Bangor Daily columnist Kent Ward, mail to the
newspaper has been running 4-to-1 against Walsh.
     One supporter of Walsh, Rod Saunders, questioned the absence
of administrative oversight of the university's athletics
department's compliance with NCAA rules.
     Saunders said that as a coach, Walsh should not have been
expected to know NCAA rules.
     "Walsh's punishment was far too much and UM is pointing the
finger at him," Saunders said. "I say Maine hockey fans know where
to point the finger and it's not at Walsh."
     Eugene Conlogue wrote to the Bangor Daily and chastised the
university's administration for acting as judge, jury, and
executioner. She said she suspects that in the end Walsh will not
return to the hockey team.
     The day when that happens "will be a sad day for his team, the
fans, and those who enjoy and recognize hard work and
accomplishment," Conlogue said.
 
 
_____________________________________________________________________
Ryan Robbins               "Nothing in fine print is ever good news."
University of Maine                                  -- Andy Rooney
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