Walsh learns no coach is an island

ORONO – So what was the Big Conclusion to be drawn from Wednesday’s preliminary resolution of the Jeff Tory-Shawn Walsh eligibility hullabaloo at the University of Maine?

It would be easy to get bogged down in the emotional content.

Some folks undoubtedly couldn’t get past the idea Walsh got a raw deal in being slapped with a five-game suspension by his own administration. After all, after 10 years of coaching hockey at Maine and recruiting Canadian kids, who knows better than Walsh if Tory is eligible? UM officials should have backed him all the way based on Walsh’s expertise.

Other observers no doubt came away believing Walsh got off lightly. They might now consider him to be one of those college sports coaches who, despite saying all the right things, is out to win at any cost.

Either conclusion is, of course, flawed based on Wednesday’s outcome.

The only unassailable conclusion to come out of the dual press conferences that had UM President Fred Hutchinson chastising Walsh for “poor judgement” before relieving him without pay until Jan. 1, followed by Walsh admitting he “made an error in judgment,” can be summed up in one sentence.

No coach can be an island unto himself, even if he boasts a national championship on his resume.

Hutchinson drove home that message in one concise paragraph in his statement detailing Walsh’s transgressions:

The issue is not whether Coach Walsh accurately interpreted the eligibility rules of the NCAA. The issues are two: his failure to recognize – and acknowledge – the potential problems related to Mr. Tory’s eligibility, and his failure to let the administration know what he knew about the situation and when he knew it.

Walsh’s words at his own press conference 90 minutes later led listeners to believe Hutchinson’s message had been received.

“I think I did something wrong in I didn’t give them the information,” Walsh conceded at one point, adding he now realized it was NCAA compliance officer Woody Carville’s job to determine what information was relevant to Tory’s case.

“Certainly they’re making it clear to me that if I come across an NCAA interpretation, I’ve got to hand it right over to them… And I will,” Walsh also said.

“The problem I have is not giving someone on this campus information I should have… and I’ve got to take the fall for it,” he summed up.

Words alone, of course, can’t make things right. Walsh’s actions and a continued clean bill of health for his program from the NCAA will have to heal his reputation.

It will take time, but UM administrators were already aiding in the process before the president’s press conference broke up.

Dr. George Jacobson, the faculty representative to the NCAA, stressed the administration’s firm belief based on its investigation that Walsh never intended to break any rules by playing Tory.

“He knew he would have been caught because the other schools and the NCAA were aware of it,” Jacobson told the assembled media.

This makes sense. It would have been stupid for Walsh to play Tory in clear violation of the rules when both Alaska-Fairbanks and Northern Michigan believed the player ineligible. And no one has ever accused Shawn Walsh of being stupid.

What the UM spin control couldn’t address adequately, however, is the fact Walsh’s humbling lesson in protocol came ultimately at Tory’s expense.

While there are those who will cry for Walsh, Tory is clearly the only true victim in this situation. After being rejected by Alaska-Fairbanks and being told by Northern Michigan he’d have to be ruled a Proposition 48 – the NCAA’s method of enabling marginal high school students to get into college by sitting out their freshman seasons to study – his hopes were on the basis of Walsh’s interpretation of the rules.

And look what Tory got. A year-long suspension. And his name in the paper in stories about NCAA eligibility violations.

Those who wonder why the NCAA system is the way it is need look only at what’s happened to Tory. The system is designed to prevent situations where kids who haven’t proved they belong in college wind up being embarrassed.

This is why coaches MUST respect and adhere to the system. Even if they think it is flawed. Either that, or they must work to change the system through the proper channels.

This is why coaches cannot afford to be islands. Even coaches who have won national titles.

Has Shawn Walsh really learned this lesson? Only time will tell.