As many of you who read the newspaper already know, Merrily Dean Baker has
resigned her position as Michigan State University Athletic Director effective
at the end of March.  The speculation about who MSU President M. Peter
McPherson will pick to replace Baker has already begun.
 
According to today's Lansing State Journal, the list of candidates, "real and
imagined" to quote Jack Ebling, is quite long.  (Ebling puts it at at least
18.)  His list:
-Dave Bing, NBA Hall of Famer
-Bob Sutton, Hall of Fame Bowl director
-Gregory Kelser, former Spartan basketball player, currently working for Raycom
-Kirk Gibson, current Detroit Tiger
-Gene Washington, former NFL receiver
-Dean Look, NFL official
-Clarence Underwood, senior Assoc. AD at MSU
-Goerge Perles, former Spartan football coach (snowball's chance in Hell)
-Don Canham, current (?) AD at Michigan
-Charles Harris, current (?) AD at Arizona State
-Gene Smith, current (?) AD at Iowa State, former AD at Eastern Michigan
-Mike Kasavana, Spartan faculty representative, gymnastics coach
-RON MASON, SPARTAN HOCKEY COACH
-Robert Weiss, member of MSU Board of Trustees
-Peter Secchia, former US Ambassador to Italy
-Duane Vernon, local Lansing businessman
-Tim Staudt, local Lansing sportscaster, also does local Raycom broadcasts
-Barbara Hedges, current (?) AD at Washington
 
So, the question is, in the view of the esteemed (and some not-so-esteemed,
present company included, of course) members of the list, can a college hockey
coach (or should a college hockey coach) be appointed as AD at a school where
hockey is not THE major sport?  I personally can't recall an instance where
a hockey coach has been AD at a school which is DivI at all levels.
 
If you believe that a hockey coach can be AD, could said coach perform both
duties simultaneously?  And succeed?  Or would the pressures of both jobs be
too much?
 
G. M. Finniss
Michigan State University 12-4-3, 17-7-3
WVU '87, UTenn '92, MSU who the hell knows when?