On Thu, 1 Aug 1996, Scott Quakkelaar~ wrote:
> it seems wrong that the coach involved with the violations can get off
> without any substantial penalty.  i can see where a one-year suspension
> to coach walsh might be considered a substantial penalty, but he could
> go elsewhere and not have to sit out, no?
 
Well, let's get one thing straight. Shawn Walsh probably *could* go
elsewhere, and have a better time of things (I am not sure how quickly he
would be hired by a Div I college hockey program, but...). I have a
growing respect for the fact that he seems to care enough about the
program at Maine to stay there.
 
But no one should be saying Walsh got of easy on this one. Besides having
his own school putting him on one year leave, despite being prohibited
from making recruiting trips (again by his own school), the NCAA just
gutted his program, which, i think, is punishment enough for a coach.
 
Even when Walsh gets back to Maine and starts again recruiting for his
team, how easy do you think it is going to be? No post season play, a loss
of *five* scholarships next year, no television coverage.... Why should
any prospect go there?
 
Over the next several years, it is going to be pretty hard to convince
good young kids to go to Maine. Walsh does have the reputation for getting
solid kids to overachieve (consider 1994-95), he has a very tall order
here to keep Maine afloat.
 
For a guy who obviously cares about the program (if not, he could
*certainly* go and coach pro hockey at some level), that has to be pretty
harsh. In fact, I am not sure of a worse penalty the NCAA could have
given him. Force him to resign, so he can get a higher paying job
elsewhere, where he is in demand?
 
It seems much tougher to stick it out. And for that, my respect for Shawn
Walsh has just risen a notch.
 
 
By the way, I find it hard to agree to Mike's comments about the upcoming
SA's being the ones to suffer the most. Next year, there will be five less
scholarships, and the year after that, 2 less. 7 full scholarships not
given to kids who ordinarily would have gotten them. Let's see, 44 Div I
schools, roughly 30 of them give on average four scholarships per year,
for two years, that's 30x4x2=160 scholarships. The loss of seven is almost
insignificant.
 
The question I have is, what happens next year if Maine does not have five
scholarship spots open up? Will someone's promised scholarship be taken
away? Now that really seems wrong, to promise someone money for school and
snatch away because of something that wasn't your fault. It seems
unlikely, but could happen (in theory), I believe.
 
 
                                -Lee-nerd
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"It is not written in the stars that I will always understand what is
going on - a truism that I often find damnably annoying."
                                -Robert Heinlein
 
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