Dave Smith writes:
>OSU was a power in the early 70's and again in the early 80's. I would imagine
>that the disparity in facilities was not as marked at either time and thus not
>as big a disadvantage to OSU recruiting. The teams in the early 80's, the ones
>that won 30 games and even held a number one ranking (although they never did
>win the CCHA) can be summed up with three words...The Pooley Twins.  Paul and
>Perry Pooley (both from Ohio I believe) came to OSU and pulled the team up.
 
I'm not sure I buy this.  From what I can tell, Paul Pooley did not
arrive at OSU until 1980 - after two consecutive seasons in which OSU
won 25 games (25-13-2, 25-10-3). And both seasons, they finished 2nd
in the CCHA.
 
Paul Tilley was third in the league in scoring in 1978-79 and had 77
points overall.  The next season, OSU had the #4-5-6 scorers in the
CCHA - Jim Mroszak, Tom Scanlon, and Larry Marson.
 
Welsh was the coach both years.  He had to convince not only the
Pooleys but also these other fine players to come to OSU.  The Pooleys
undoubtedly helped continue the success of the program, but it *was*
successful before them.
 
The Buckeyes also went 23-19-1 in 1985-86, without any Pooleys and
with some tough teams in the league like MSU, BG, WMU and LSSU.
 
>The argument for Welsh, as Patrick pointed out, is that he has had to deal with
>a lot less than anyone else in div I.  However, one must remember how long he
>has been coach here.  I think it is 19 seasons...and only just now has there
>been any outward evidence that he has done anything to improve the team's lot
>in life in terms of support.
 
It seems that either Welsh has not improved as a coach/recruiter, or
he has stayed the same and other programs have passed his by (in terms
of hiring better people and also upgrading their programs/facilities).
Either way, it doesn't seem fair to not credit him for OSU's success
10-15 years ago while simultaneously giving him some of the blame for
their problems now.  It should go both ways.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
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