At 12:43 AM 5/10/97 -0400, Tony Biscardi wrote:
>Walsh is very good at working on set plays and at developing
>goalies, but is considered quite average at developing talent
>at any other position.
 
I believe Tony and I had this discussion in person this year!  :-)
 
I agree with Tony's point that Walsh and Parker are two different types of
coaches and stress different systems and have different strengths.
 
Parker's ability to develop forwards is great and look at the guys he's
sent to the NHL as proof.  However to say Walsh is "average" at developing
talent at other positions might be a bit too simplistic.
 
I would contend that Walsh does a good job with defensemen as well as
goalies.  Guys like Eric Weinrich and Keith Carney are perfect examples,
but even recently there is Jeff Libby.  This guy wasn't good enough to give
a scholarship to when he walked on, and just signed a pro contract.
Somebody had to make him a better player while he was here!  :-)
 
I'm not going to sit here and contend that Walsh is the best coach at
developing talent at any position, since that would be incredibly
subjective, but I also wouldn't call him average.  Keep reading.. :-)
 
>Remember, Walsh won the title with Karyia, Montgomery, the Ferraro's,
>Garth Snow, Mike Dunham, Chris Imes, and others.  Only Snow was not
>a "highly-touted draft pick."  Heck, Kariya (sp) and the Ferraro's
>were the three most highly-recruited players available that year!
 
Also remember that Walsh went to the title game in 1995 with what many
people thought was an average team.  They lost to a superior BU team that
year after that triple-OT thriller.  Many people still wonder how Walsh did
what he did that year, but it wasn't because he had the greatest players.
There was an NCAA investigation going on and the core of that team was the
same as the team that was around .500 the year before (on the ice).
 
What about the second half of this year as well?  Walsh directed a team
with only 14 scholarships (and two of those were redshirts.. so that's 12
scholarship players on the ice) to an incredible second half, and were
ranked in the top ten in the nation when the season ended, and most teams
were darn glad Maine wasn't eligible for the tournament this past season.
 
Walsh's title may have come with talent, but I think he has also proven he
can have success with less talent as well.
 
>Remember, Walsh was out of work for a year and not even an AHL
>team came knocking.
 
I was curious where you got this information?  I'm not 100 percent
positive, but I'm pretty sure either Walsh or someone close to him told me
that he got some attractive offers almost immediately after being suspended
and had a tough decision to make.  I know that it wasn't publicized either
way, but I'm curious to know your source on that.
 
>If I had a son that was a goalie, I would send him to either
>Wisconsin or Maine, but if he was a forward, especially a
>power-forward, I would send him to BU.
 
I think this is a fair comment as well.  You need only to look at the NHL
and AHL to see success BU power-forwards have had at the next level.
 
It also should be noted that Walsh and Parker build their teams
differently.  Parker looks for the big, talented players while Walsh
specifically builds his team with big defensemen and smaller, quick
forwards.  I think that if you are comparing the development of forwards in
a program this is something that must be accounted for.  The Maine system
is built more on quickness than on the size of the forwards, so it is no
surprise that there are not a lot of Maine power-forwards in the pros,
especially with size being so important to NHL teams.
 
But in saying that, I also want to point out that I'm not trying to refute
Tony's main point.  When he says a big forward will mature better at BU
than at Maine, he's right, but it isn't totally because Parker develops
them better (which he still might) but because the teams use different
systems and recruit different types of players.
 
---
Deron Treadwell ([log in to unmask])
 
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