Mike Zak writes:
>and not leave early, just like the players do.  I agree with that, however
>there are cases of players leaving schools to go play for other ones.
 
Yes, this hypocrisy is one of the reasons I do not think coaches should be
bound to their contracts if they so choose to leave.  Perhaps ethically it
is not right for them to skip out at the last minute, but I am not prepared
to argue for or against that idea.  It might be nice if as a matter of
course coaches completed their contracts and it wouldn't cause any problems,
but it doesn't happen that way.  I wouldn't want a piece of paper forcing
a coach to remain at a school if he really wanted to be elsewhere.  Who
knows how much that might drag down the program, especially if this is made
public.
 
>                                                                      The
>first two that come to mind are the Lappin brothers now playing at SLU.
>They left either BU or BC to play at SLU, where their older brother played.
>They sat out last year because of the move and retained there remaining
>two years of eligibility.  Maybe they didn't get much ice time in Boston,
>but I doubt that since SLU is no slouch of a team needing talent badly.
 
The Lappins were 3rd-4th line players at BU.  I seem to remember that some
off-ice trouble may have landed one of them in Jack Parker's doghouse
permanently, and the other one stood up for him to Parker.  It was pretty
clear that they weren't going to play much again at BU, and no one in this
area seemed too surprised when they left for SLU.  Don't quote me on this,
I heard it second-hand several years ago.
 
The whole question of players transferring is an interesting one.  It wasn't
until very recently (about six years ago, I believe) that players transferring
within a division or up a division had to sit out a year after entering the
new school.  RPI in 1985-86 had two players that came in from HE - Bill
Kopecky from BC and John "Eddie Young" Tiano from BU, and neither had to sit,
plus goalie Tony Martino who came from the University of Ottawa.  I don't
recall that hockey had an epidemic of players transferring, at least not like
basketball or football, and I think this was one of those across the board
NCAA rules that hit everybody.  I happen to like the rule, but I wonder how
a federal court might rule on it if someone challenged it.  Any ideas?
 
 
- mike