Too many snafus for UM program

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“Fill the steins to dear old Maine, shout till the rafters ring …”

The rafters are ringing at dear old Maine, but not from the sounds of happy fans shouting and cheering for their favorite team.

Instead, the rafters are ringing with the moans and groans of thousands of University of Maine sports fans alternately shaking and scratching confused heads, slapping their foreheads in disbelief, shrugging their shoulders in the “whaaaaat?” mode, and looking behind their backs with a furtive “what’s next?”

The big news from the University of Maine on Monday – and it was BIG – hit the Maine sports world like a ton of bricks.

Just as life was beginning to settle down on the Orono campus, just when it looked like Murphy’s Law – anything that can go wrong, will – had moved on to haunt some other university community, life dumped its load on the women’s basketball team through yet another administrative screw-up.

Because the women were scheduled to play 27 regular-season games, they cannot compete in the North Atlantic Conference playoffs.

Make that Four for ’94.

Has a nice ring, don’t you think?

We will start with Cal Ingraham, a senior member of the hockey team.

Back in October, he was suspended for 14 games because of an error in his eligibility status when he transferred to Maine.

The country’s leading goal scorer for the defending NCAA Division I champions last year, Ingraham had enrolled at the University of Maine’s University College in 1990 after transferring from the Air Force Academy.

Under NCAA rules, transfers from Division I schools must be enrolled at the new school for 365 days and meet minimum academic standards prior to engaging in athletic competition. The NCAA ruled University College was equivalent to a junior college while UM officials considered UC to be part of the UM system. That was “ouch” No. 1.

December brought us the Jeff Tory incident.

Tory was academically ineligible to compete under the NCAA’s Proposition 48, which meant he did not meet Division I academic requirements. Unfortunately, Tory played in one exhibition game and three regular-season contests in October and November before the matter was brought to the attention of Hockey East.

When it was discovered that Maine coach Shawn Walsh had prior knowledge of Tory’s academic difficulties and did not divulge that information to university officials, he was suspended without pay for five games, and Maine forfeited the three games in which Tory played.

Later, Tory was declared ineligible for a second season because he played the three games. Those are “ouches” No. 2 and No. 3.

Now comes “ouch” No. 4. Up steps Maine women’s coach Joanne Palombo to boldly shoulder the responsibiity for this one.

The North Atlantic Conference announced Monday the Maine women will be ineligible to participate in the 1994 NAC Basketball Tournament because Maine included one game too many on its schedule.

Maine’s 27-game regular season schedule should have included the NAC tournament, which counts for one game. Unfortunately, Joanne Palombo did not understand that rule. Obviously, no one explained it to her.

Now, the NAC-leading Black Bears cannot compete in the tournament during this the first year an NAC champion receives an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Ouch, ouch, and double-ouch.

Maine’s only hope for post-season action is an NCAA at-large invitation or a bid from the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

Efforts to reach Maine players for their comments were unsuccessful since Plozek indicated after talking with the team that “Joanne and I will make the statements. The team … needs to get ready for Hartford and the rest of the season, and we want to give them the opportunity to do that….”

Regrouping and rebuilding courageously after a difficult 9-20 season under then first-year coach Palombo, the Maine women have their backs against the wall one more time, for no reason other than an administrative snafu.

The late President Harry Truman is a favorite quote for times like these: The buck stops here. Ultimately, university president Fred Hutchinson is responsible, but that’s pretty high for all of those bucks to go.

Something is amiss with the University of Maine athletic department when “mistakes” so easily follow one after another. It’s becoming a comedy of errors, or, more appropriately, a comedy of horrors.

The buck has to rest, for the moment, in the hands of Athletic Director Mike Ploszek.

The reins need to be tightened and, if nothing else, Mike and his coaches need to enroll in a remedial course – NCAA Rules 101 – to make sure a year like this never occurs again.