Shawn Walsh will coach the University of Maine hockey team tonight for the last time before he begins a one-year suspension Sunday for violations of NCAA rules discovered within his program.

In light of his actions during the last few years, including the 18-month investigation of NCAA violations discovered at UMaine, he appears to have skated often on thin ice.

“We’ve been through a thorough and complete investigation, and my goal was to have the team and our staff cooperate as completely as possible,” Walsh said Thursday. “I’m very satisfied that we’ve held up our end of the bargain.”

The evidence, however, indicates Walsh, in some cases, did not know the process and even willingly defied NCAA rules during the last two years. Maine’s 450-page self-report yielded several instances of violations by Walsh, his coaching staff and his players.

Walsh has been suspended for what the report called his failure to exercise appropriate control and monitoring of the hockey program.

Some observers have expressed surprise that the 12-year coach was not fired outright.

The suspension, recommended by athletic director Suzanne Tyler, appears to send a message that Walsh is still a valuable asset to the university, and that his actions, while imprudent, do not warrant his being fired.

“I believe it is a significant and severe penalty for what he did,” said UMaine President Frederick Hutchinson on Friday. “It was a judgment call.”

Tyler explained the report made it clear that Walsh made attempts to comply with and checked on NCAA rules involving his players and program. Furthermore, she said some of the infractions were inadvertant and occurred without Walsh’s knowledge.

“Some of it had to do with coach Walsh’s attitude, sense of responsibility, and caring about doing the right thing in the future and how he has, since that time, asked lots and lots of questions, filled out every form, dotted every i, crossed every t,” Tyler said of choosing the suspension instead of dismissal. “He knows what to do now. He knows the process.”

However, the report makes it clear that Walsh and others defied the NCAA and the university, including tampering with witnesses during the investigation.

The investigation, conducted by Bond, Schoeneck & King, a Kansas law firm, revealed that during the course of the investigation Walsh, his attorney Joe Ferris, and assistant coach Grant Standbrook contacted individuals involved with the probe and related matters without the prior authorization of the university or the NCAA enforcement staff.

Those contacts defied instructions by the university and the NCAA not to discuss the investigation with involved individuals during the preliminary inquiry phase of the investigation and contrary to NCAA Cooperative Principles.

In two instances people who either had expressed a willingness to cooperate with the investigation or who previously had cooperated, refused to do so after being contacted by Walsh, the report stated. Another refused to cooperate after talking to Standbrook.

In four other instances, individuals continued to cooperate with the investigation despite contacts with Walsh or Ferris.

Walsh has maintained he did not attempt to break NCAA rules when he allowed Jeff Tory to play three games early in the 1993-94 season. Walsh said even though he had heard Tory likely would not be eligible, he had other information that he believed would show Tory should have met the NCAA’s initial academic eligibility requirements.

However, Walsh did not check with anyone, including key members of the UMaine athletic department, and the NCAA declared Tory ineligible. As a result, Hutchinson suspended Walsh for three weeks without pay in December 1993, a loss of approximately $5,000.

Even though the NCAA had already looked into problems in the UMaine athletic department, including two violations involving the hockey program, Walsh immediately violated another NCAA rule. The report concluded he accepted $1,200 from members of The Friends of Maine Hockey booster group, even though the terms of his suspension prohibited accepting supplemental pay.

When interviewed in April 1994 by investigators, Walsh denied accepting any outside income. At his second interview six months later, he admitted getting $1,000 from a Bangor business. Walsh called it an end-of-year stipend for speaking engagements he made for customers of the business, not to cover income lost during his suspension.

Walsh did return a $500 check he had received from another booster after learning from a newspaper article that it would be against NCAA rules to keep it.

According to the report, Walsh allowed his teams to play a pregame practice contest for away games called “Showdown.” Each player contributed $1 from his meal money into a pot, with the winner of a scoring contest taking the total.

Since student-athletes are not allowed to accept money by using an athletic skill, the contest was a violation. Walsh told investigators he was not aware of the rule.