UM hockey may lose 1993 title> University was unaware of players’ ineligibility

BANGOR — The University of Maine is in danger of losing its 1993 national hockey championship because two ineligible players participated on the squad, Athletic Director Suzanne Tyler said Friday.

In a meeting with the Bangor Daily News, Tyler said she was not aware of a team that was discovered to have ineligible players being allowed to keep its national title.

She cited the example of Syracuse University, which was stripped of a 1990 national lacrosse title because an ineligible player participated on the team. A star player was ruled ineligible by the NCAA’s infractions committee because the coach’s wife co-signed a car loan for him.

Although two UM hockey players, Cal Ingraham and Mike Dunham, were technically ineligible during the championship season, Tyler said the university was not aware of the problem.

Dunham accepted payment for his participation on the U.S. Olympic hockey team. However, this week’s UMaine athletic department self-report stated Dunham was assured by officials of USA Hockey, which has no official connection with the NCAA, that accepting such payments did not violate NCAA rules.

“USA Hockey’s inappropriate information to those people could cost us the national championship,” Tyler said.

Ingraham began his college career at the Air Force Academy before transferring to the University of Maine, where he began by taking courses at University College in Bangor. Because of an error in the university registrar’s office, Ingraham was shown to have enough credits to play when, in fact, he did not.

Because the university was not aware that either player was ineligible, Tyler said it was up to the NCAA to decide whether Maine’s hockey title should be stripped.

“It’s a judgment call,” she said.

A decision from the NCAA will not be forthcoming anytime soon. At the earliest, the UM case will be on the association’s infractions division agenda in June. That division will issue its recommendations up to two months after it meets.

The university could then appeal that decision.

Tyler, President Frederick Hutchinson, compliance officer Tammy Light and university spokesman John Diamond met with the NEWS to shed further light on the school’s 450-page self-report that has resulted from an 18-month investigation into numerous NCAA violations.

During a press conference Thursday, Hutchinson and Tyler announced that hockey coach Shawn Walsh had been suspended for a year without pay. Both stood behind that decision Friday.

“It would have been a far easier thing to fire him than go through this,” Tyler said.

However, she stressed her belief that Walsh is a good coach and is not solely to blame for the raft of violations outlined in the self-report. She said there is documentation to show that Walsh did sometimes inquire about questionable situations and received incorrect information.

“I don’t think he can be held fully accountable,” Tyler said.

She said that under the terms of his contract and the terms of his suspension, it is possible that Walsh, whose contract expires Aug. 31, 1997, would return as coach.

There is nothing in Walsh’s contract which stipulates that he may be fired for violating NCAA rules. Tyler said all coaching contracts will be changed to include provisions that allow firing for rules violations.

Tyler said this and other coaching expectations were discussed during her interview before she was hired by the university. She said guidelines such as graduation rates and class attendance will be written into future coaching contracts.

In addition, she said, coaches will be evaluated more specifically and exit interviews will be conducted with all athletes who leave a program.

Hutchinson painted a picture of an athletic program that was out of control. He said the university now has reined it in.

“If you turn and let someone else tell you what to do … it certainly doesn’t look like you have control over athletics,” the president said.

To ensure that such situations don’t arise again, the university has, in the past two years, put in place corrective measures, Compliance Officer Light said.

The school has purchased NCAA compliance software that is used to connect the athletic department with the registrar’s and financial aid offices. With the touch of a button, the university can see if an athlete is eligible to play, Light said.