From the 1/31/92 THN, p. 31, by CCHA correspondent Matt Carlson.
 
NC$$'s Coaching Policy Sparks Bitter Controversy
 
Break away from the NC$$?
 
It sounds drastic, but that's what some CCHA coaches are considering after
the NC$$ denied their appeal to keep a second full-time assistant coach and
graduate assistant next season.
 
"It's ignorance," Michigan State coach Ron Mason said.  "The frustrating part
is it's over dollars and cents."
 
Most CCHA teams - and many Division I programs - rely on two assistant coaches
and a graduate assistant to cover on-ice, administrative and recruiting needs.
 
But next season, the NC$$ will limit teams to one head coach, one full-time
assistant and a second assistant who can earn no more than $16,000 per year
from athletic department funds.
 
The NC$$ is also reducing games (to 34) and scholarships (from 20 to 18) in
the hopes of trimming its budget.  But CCHA pilots see the coaching reductions
as the unkindest cut of all.  Most feel the move will cripple recruiting and
hinder instruction.
 
"Maybe in the future, the NC$$ will allow schools to vote on hockey-related
issues," Mason said.  "What happens is more than 300 schools in the NC$$ don't
play hockey and don't understand it.  But at the 50-some schools that do (at
the Division I level), it's a revenue sport.  Hopefully, this can be rectified.
But hockey, as usual, was overlooked."
 
Illinois-Chicago coach Larry Pedrie said the move could destroy teams in
transition.
 
"I think it's one of the worst things that could have happened to college
hockey," Pedrie said.  "We're understaffed right now.  I don't see how this
is going to help academics.  All you're doing is leaving people unemployed."
 
ANOTHER OPINION: Ohio State coach Jerry Welsh may be the only CCHA coach who
isn't completely opposed to the coaching reductions.
 
"I'm ambivalent," the 17-year Buckeye veteran said.  "As an administrator,
it doesn't make much sense to me.  You're taking away our feeder system.
 
"But on the other side, that's what I've been dealing with for years.  I've
only had one full-time assistant and half of another assistant here for years.
This will bring the rest of the world down to what Ohio State has had to work
with."
 
Welsh didn't have a full-time assistant coach for almost a decade.  He managed
to get that concession in 1984.
(END)
 
Comments:
 
This article, combined with some of the comments I posted over the last two
weeks from Maine's Shawn Walsh and HE Asst. Commissioner Nonni Daly, will
hopefully give people an idea of what a serious problem college hockey faces.
It also shows that like I said, there is definitely a strong grassroots
feeling that it may be time to leave the NC$$.  Shawn and Nonni have not
officially expressed agreement with such a move, but we know BU's Jack Parker
has.  I still believe it is necessary for the representatives from the DivI
hockey schools to get together and seriously study whether they can gain
adequate representation in the NC$$, and if not, look into establishing their
programs outside the NC$$.  This is an issue that the schools badly need to
work together on.
 
I disagree strongly with Welsh's comments.  I understand where he is coming
from, but the answer is not to bring everyone else down to the level of OSU,
when Keith has already documented that the athletic department there has a
low regard for hockey anyway.  Of course it will likely help Welsh and OSU,
but the way to help him should not be to bring everyone else down - it should
be to bring him and programs like his up.  In the end, I think it would be
beneficial for him to support such a cause.  If for some reason OSU should
decide it is not prepared to work as hard to field a DivI hockey team as many
other schools, then so be it, but don't try to field such a team by bringing
everyone else down.
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Mike Machnik        [log in to unmask]       [log in to unmask]