On Jan 18, 11:14, Mark Lewin wrote:
>I would imagine that this is far from over.
>I would guess that members of the Athletic Dept. who were charged  with
>carrying out the original investigation will undoubtably lose their jobs. I
>wouldn't be at all surprised to see Gilligan be fired as head coach on the
>grounds that it was on his watch that shame was brought to UVM's athletic
>program.
 
I've seen it suggested on several fora that Gilligan will (or should) be fired
in the wake of this delightful mess.
 
I should preface this by admitting that I do not have a high opinion of
Gilligan as a coach.  IMHO, save for the brilliant run to the '96 NCAA frozen
four, he has achieved less with more talent over his 16-year run than anybody
in the ECAC with the possible exception of Ronn Tomassoni.  So when the story
first broke a few months ago, in all its lurid detail, I figured that the
embarrassment would finally make the UVM administration wake up and pink-slip
him.  And now, with the rest of the season being canceled, I think Mark is
right; there are probably going to be some heads rolling.
 
But you know what?  I'm betting Gilligan wriggles off the hook on this one.  At
the press conference announcing the cancellation of the rest of the season, the
UVM president's statements pretty clearly put the blame on the players for the
situation ("a number of players were not completely truthful during our
investigation"), and I suspect Gilligan will be able to use the same line of
thinking to fend off those who call for him to be dumped.  ("Hey, they lied
during the investigation -- what makes you think they were going to let ME know
what was happening??")  He may very well have to share the blame for what has
happened -- it seems clear that he doesn't have quite the "control", for want
of a better word, over his charges that he probably should -- but given that
the focus has shifted to what the players did and said, it wouldn't surprise me
a bit to see Gilligan behind the bench for his 17th season.
 
One thing is for sure -- it'll be *very* interesting to see what kind of team
Vermont fields next year.  With only three seniors on this year's roster, it
looks like about 21 players will be coming back.  What will the relationship
between player and coach be like, given the cancellation of 15 games this year?
 What's going through the minds of the recruits who have signed on with
Vermont?
 
And I was all set for "Good goalie, ba-a-a-a-a-d goalie" at Lynah this
Saturday, *sigh* :-)
 
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95                                             DJF  5/27/94
LET'S GO RED!!                                                  JCF  12/2/97
"All right, yah rat.  I've got yah cornered, and now I'm gonna drill yah.
 Take that!  All right, now I'm REALLY gonna drill yah.  Take that!  On second
 thought, I'm gonna take this knife and slit your throat."  *BLAM* *BLAM*
-- Radio sound-effects screw-up, from Kermit Schafer's "Blooper" collection
 
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