Eeyore was passing along all that he knew about the Woog situation.  So
I'll try and add all *I* know, too;
 He wrote:
>The first is that a number of people (the estimate is five) within the
>athletic department knew of Woog's payment to Chris McAlpine some time ago
>and did not report it to the administration.  They signed the same statements
>about not knowing of any unreported violations that Woog did.  Bill Butters,
>former assistant coach, is that only one of these people who I have seen
>identified.
 
I've read the "five people" thing, too. I gather what happened is that a
reporter who is considered to have it in for Woog hinted to a couple people
about it, but wouldn't go on the record and give any concrete info.
Butters was basically a surrogate father to McAlpine, so I have no doubt he
knew of the matter.  I suspect, however, that the Strib considers anyone
that reporter hinted to to be among the five people.
 
>The other item uncovered is that Woog paid some of his players in cash when
>they worked at his summer camp.  This is not an NCAA violation and is far
>more likely to be a problem with tax authorities than anything else.
 
That one was new to me...
 
For completeness, I'll also mention a couple other accusations that have
turned up: supposedly Woog allowed players to drink alcohol on a road trip
(or two -- I've seen mention of beer on the bus back from Wisconsin and a
vague reference to players being served on an Alaska trip.)  Woog says that
no players under 21 were allowed to drink.  I'm not sure what's relevant
about that except as might pertain to University alcohol policy.  Perhaps
more of interest to the NCAA was the accusation that Woog (as well as
baseball coach John Anderson) steered players toward a local agent in
return for free advice on his contract.  (It would be perfectly okay, as
long as he received no compensation in return.)  Woog did admit to bringing
Chris McAlpine to visit that agent, but none of Woog's recent players
(including McAlpine) has signed with that agent.  Woog employs a different
(South St. Paul, of course) attorney for contract matters, but would still
be open to accusations that he also consulted the agent in question.
 
So they haven't really hit much "paydirt" beyond the McAlpine thing, and it
doesn't sound like there's any danger of it being for lack of trying, so
we're *hoping* that's all there is to it.
 
I was in the Twin Cities for the North Dakota series*, and on Saturday
night the arena was buzzing with talk of the Strib's story on Woog that was
already out in the early edition of the Sunday paper.  (We read it in the
bar after the game, and it consisted of the "five people" story and the
"agent" info.)  At the end of the game Saturday night, some fans did hand
Woog what looked like a big card or something.  I don't know if this is the
"gesture of support" Jason mentioned, though, as it was during the North
Dakota series, not the Tech series.
 
*With regard to lack of hockey-l posting, I was unable to post a report
because I was at a meeting in Chicago last week, and will be at a meeting
in DC tomorrow and an on-site meeting Wednesday and Thursday, so I don't
think it'll be very timely by the time I have time to write anything up.
:-)  And I think any reports of hockey-l's demise are premature, at best.
 
My info above comes from whatever places I've been looking to get caught up
on the situation since I got back, mainly the Star-Tribune, the St. Paul
Pioneer Press and the Minnesota Daily web sites.  This also gave me ample
opportunity to observe how the Twin Cities headline-writers took advantage
of the odd coincidence of an afternoon series and the double-shut-out debut
of a goalie named Erik Day...  Look out for incoming puns!
 
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!!!
 
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