All the speculation came to an end yesterday at 2 pm when
 former Dartmouth head coach Ben Smith was named to succeed
 Don McKenney, who retired at the end of last season.
 
 Smith, a 1964 graduate of Gloucester High School (just north
 of Boston) and a 1968 graduate of Harvard, brings a solid
 background to Northeastern.
 
 Prior to accepting the Dartmouth position, where he was 1-23-3
 (the only win coming AGAINST NU), Smith was the top assistant
 for Jack Parker at BU from 1981-90.  He also was an assistant to
 Tim Taylor at Yale for five years.  Smith was also an assistant
 on the 1988 US Olympic team, three world junior teams (1985-87)
 and the 1987 world championships in Vienna.
 
 Jim Madigan, an assistant under McKenney, and who was also
 interviewed for the job, will stay on as an assistant to Smith.
 
 Smith said at the press conferance, "I'll be leaning on Jim for a while,
 but that's no problem.  Jim and I worked summer camps here and in
 Colorado and we're good friends."
 
 As for recruiting, Smith said, "We're all set right now.  But come
 next year, both Jim and I will recruit.  I've been recruiting for
 over 15 years and I don't think I can stop."
 
 I for one am glad to see them finally name a coach.  This was a long
 drawn out proccess with so many people being considered.  I know the
 AD, Irwin Cohen, is confident with Smith.  I talked to a couple of the
 players today and they are excited about the change but also expressed
 some relief that a decision was finally made.
 
 - kap