Brian McCutcheon, head coach of the Cornell men's hockey team for the past
eight years, resigned on Monday.  In announcing the resignation, athletic
director Charlie Moore said that, "based on conversations with Coach
McCutcheon over the past several months, we came to the conclusion that a
change in leadership was needed."
 
Moore also apparently alluded to some compliance concerns in his announce-
ment.  Cornell is currently conducting an internal review of all of its
varsity sports in preparation for re-certification by the NC$$, which I
believe is supposed to take place in 1997.  Hockey was one of the first
sports selected for review because of some past problems (for example, the
housing program, which was found to be in violation of a rules interpre-
tation two years ago and was discontinued).  Moore said that, while a
review of the hockey program revealed some concerns, they were "not solely
attributable to Coach McCutcheon."  He went on to add that "other factors
were used to reach our decision, including competitive issues."
 
McCutcheon leaves Cornell with an overall record of 108-105-21, 84-72-20 in
the ECAC.  During his tenure, the Big Red won no ECAC championships, but
they made four trips to the ECAC Phinal Phour, finishing second to St. Law-
rence in 1992.  Cornell also went to the NC$$ tournament in 1991.
 
Moore said that the search for a new coach would begin "immediately".
 
I believe that the resignation was of the forced variety, since either
Moore or one of the reporters also said something about a "severance
package" that was being worked out.
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95
LET'S GO RED!!                                                  DJF  5/27/94
"I thought with Nixon and Carter we had reached the bottom of the barrel, but
 then Dan Quayle came along and proved that if you lift up the barrel..."
-- Bill Maher