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From [log in to unmask] Tue Apr 18 10:24:23 1995
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From: [log in to unmask] (Paul Ackerman)
Subject: Dispatch: OSU Hockey Coach Search
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1995 10:24:23
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By Bob Baptist
Dispatch Sports Reporter
Two candidates to be Ohio State's next ice hockey coach are
expected to be interviewed for a second time this week by athletic
director Andy Geiger, who said yesterday that he would like to fill
the job by the end of the week.
Geiger did not reveal the names of the two finalists, but they are
among five who were interviewed last week by an athletic
department search committee.
The five are Maine coach Shawn Walsh, whose team won the
NCAA title in 1993 and lost in the final this year, Northern Michigan
coach Rick Comley, Union (N.Y.) coach Bruce Delventhal, former
North Dakota coach John "Gino" Gasparini and OSU interim coach
John Markell.
Paul Pooley, Ohio State's career scoring leader and believed to be
a top candidate going into the interview process, is not in the
running. Providence College, where Pooley just completed his first
season as head coach, did not grant Ohio State permission to speak
with him.
Gasparini, Walsh and Comley have the most attractive resumes.
Gasparini was head coach at North Dakota for 16 seasons before
resigning in 1994 after three straight losing seasons. His teams won
NCAA titles in 1980, '82 and '87 and compiled an overall record of
392-248-24.
Walsh is 275-168-21 in 11 seasons at Maine, and his teams have
reached the final four five times in the last eight years. But Ohio
State may view him warily because of run-ins with the NCAA.
Use of ineligible players during the 1993-94 season resulted in
Maine forfeiting 14 games, the athletic director and compliance
officer losing their jobs and Walsh being suspended for five games.
The program remains under investigation by the university and
NCAA.
Comley has been at Northern Michigan 19 seasons and has a 411-
307-41 record there, including an NCAA title in 1991 and runner-up
finish in 1980. But he said yesterday that he is not interested in the
OSU job, possibly because, as both AD and hockey coach at
Northern, his salary exceeds $100,000 per year.
"If I thought they were legitimately going to make an effort to be
another Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan State when it comes to
hockey, all of us in coaching would be interested. From what I
gather, that's not the case," Comley said during an interview with
the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald. He did not return a call from The
Dispatch.
Geiger disputed Comley's statement.
"Why do you think we're going to play in an arena that's going to
hold 17,000 for hockey?" Geiger said. "Obviously, there's going to
be an effort to try to make the thing pay. We're going to do
everything we can to play with the big boys."
Geiger said OSU is ready to pay the going rate for a top-level
college hockey coach, which may be about $80,000 a year. Jerry
Welsh, who resigned in February, earned $43,000 this year, which
ranked him among the lowest-paid Division I coaches.
"If you're going to have a program like ice hockey and play in a
league like the CCHA, you've got to underwrite the program so it
has a chance to be successful," Geiger said.
Delventhal has been head coach since 1989 at Union, in
Schenectady, N.Y. He has a record there of 82-92-17 and a career
record of 169-131-19 that includes four years at Rochester Institute
of Technology. At RIT, his teams won an NCAA Division III title in
1985 and finished third the next season.
Markell, in his second season at Ohio State, is a dark horse but one
OSU may be willing to bet on. At 38, he is the youngest of the
candidates, won't command the salary of Gasparini, Walsh or
Comley, and established a strong rapport with Buckeye players
after taking over for Welsh the final four weeks of the season.
Markell played professionally for 15 years in the National, Central
and American hockey leagues and overseas. His only previous
experience as a head coach was as a player-coach for two years
in a German professional league. The international experience may
best suit him to coaching in OSU's new arena, which is expected to
have a larger ice surface than standard college rinks.
"Just because I'm young doesn't mean I don't have experience,"
Markell said. "When you make your living in the game, you learn
the game. You're not just sitting on the end of the bench."
Copyright 1995, The Dispatch Printing Company. ISSN 1074-097X
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