It seems to me that Shawn Walsh's name gets mentioned fairly often whenever
there's a coaching vacancy.  Wasn't he supposedly a candidate for the Den-
ver position last year?
 
No one's mentioned this yet, but I'm a little surprised to see Bruce Del-
venthal's name among the five interviewees for the Ohio State job.  Can
anyone at Union offer some insights into why he might be considering
another position?  I know that he had to jump through a lot of hoops to
bring the Union program up to Division I a few years ago (the Dutchmen were
restricted to only 25 regular-season games in their first two seasons, as
they had been while they were at the Div. III level).  Is there friction
between Delventhal and the administration over how "big-time" the hockey
program will be allowed to get?  Just curious, because I thought he was
rather well-respected at Union.
 
Despite AD Andy Geiger's claim that OSU wants "to play with the big boys"
and that they are willing to pay more or less top dollar for a big-time
coach, I find it hard to believe that Ohio State is all of a sudden com-
mitted to upgrading its hockey program.  Their choice of coach will be
interesting in this regard.  The OSU athletic department has to know that
if they bring in a big-name coach like Gasparini, Walsh, or Comley, that
person, in addition to commanding a big salary, is going to want a somewhat
bigger budget from the department than what they are putting into hockey
right now.  If Markell is the choice, it might not just be because he
already has a rapport with the team.  Ohio State knows they wouldn't have
to pay him as much, plus he would be less likely to rock the boat about the
attention paid to the hockey program (early on, anyway).
--
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 still remember sitting in a darkened theater with my arm around 17-year-
 old Mary Jo Rasmussen, trying to get to first base.  I can even remember
 the name of the film:  'The Lion King'."
-- Steve Martin, presenting an award at the Oscars