At 12:21 AM 5/11/97 -0400, Tony Biscardi wrote:
>Deron's point about Walsh developing defensemen indicates that
>my claim that Walsh is "average" at developing talent at
>positions other than goalie may be too harsh, but compared
>to Wisconsin's and Maine's abilities to consistently develop
>goalies and Parker's consistent ability to develop power-forwards,
>Walsh, *as a rule*, does not stand out and make me say "wow" in
>regards to his defensemen.  (Bob Johnson... now THERE'S a man
>who could develop defensemen!)
 
I agree here that Walsh's developmental record probably doesn't make a
person stand and take notice with some possible exceptions, and as Tony
says every school has them.
 
But every coach has to develop talent to some extend.  As we've already
seen, people criticize Parker for getting the pick of the Mass. prep lot in
the last few years, but that ignores past players he has developed.
 
I'm of the belief that every coach has to develop players to be successful.
 In few cases does a school have a recruiting class where all players are
ready to step in practically.  Maine had one in 1992-93 with Kariya, and
Peter and Chris Ferraro, along with other guys like Michael Latendresse all
ready to play immediately.  Those kind of classes are few and far in between.
 
A lot of coaches are probably average, but to be successful you have to be
able to develop players to some extend.
 
>Maine, however, has consistently made goalies better than expected
>and *extremely* rarely do any of them disapoint over the long
>haul.
 
As Tony says this is because of Walsh being a former goalie, but I would
give the credit here to Grant Standbrook.  Grant himself is a former goalie
and is well respected as a good goalie instructor.  Even goaltenders who
did not come to Maine, contact Grant and spend some time working with Grant
to improve.
 
Put the two of them together and it is hard not to have solid goaltending,
and is also an attractive reason for goalies to come to Maine.
 
Standbrook only teaches stand-up style goaltending, and this is a problem
for kids like Alfie Michaud who was a butterfly goalie when he came in.
Michaud struggled with the transition, but as Tony can attest Michaud was
at the very least "solid" when the season ended.  Maine expects him to be
very good in the future.
 
>From what I have been told, Walsh works a *LOT* at practice on
>set plays, especially the power-play.
 
.. and shorthand.  Very accurate statement.  Maine hockey has always been
strong on the special teams and struggled when they were not.  I know
Maine's power play finished this season with over 30 percent success-rate
on the power play, second to Michigan in the country.  It is also fair to
say that Maine isn't loaded with many snipers or talented finishers either.
 
>Which one is better???
 
[I snipped it but Tony was talking about developing systems versus
individual skills]
 
It depends on the situation.  I would contend that BU beat Michigan not
with individual skills and development but with a strong execution of a
system and good special teams play.
 
This was a good move by Parker to do this, and to recognize that to beat
Michigan this is what needed to be done.
 
A coach needs to evaluate the situation each year, each week, and decide
what approach is best.  Walsh used an extremely system-orientated ideals
this year and in 1995, but allowed for much more freedom when he had the
talent in 1993, just like Parker had to stress defense more this year
rather than the more free-flowing offensive style of BU teams gone by.
Part of what makes a coach good is to adapt his/her style to that of the
talent-level of the team.
 
Walsh and Parker are two different coaches no question about it.  I don't
want anyone to think that Tony or me are crapping on either Walsh or
Parker.  I know Tony respects Walsh's coaching ability and I think I've
made my feelings clear on the list regarding Jack Parker.  I think this is
an interesting conversation, I just don't want people to read into this as
either of us bashing one coach or another.
 
On another note, I'm glad to see Parker stay with BU.  I can't picture BU
without Parker, I'm sure many can't.
 
---
Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])
 
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