University of Prince Edward Island

By Kent Driscoll

In an eventful week of off-ice action, all 22 of the UPEI hockey Panthers re- quested the resignation of Head Coach Doug Currie three times during the week of January 13.

Team Captain Todd Walker cited irreconcilable differences between the team and the coach, as well as a fundamental lack of respect from Currietowards the players. The feelings of the team were summed up by one hockey Panther: “he doesn’t treat us like peo- ple.” The Panthers refused to comment on the specific nature of the problems.

The response of the university administration has been to back Coach Currie during his troubles with the team. According to UPEI Athletic Director Barb Mullally, “we have to respect due process, fairness to all sides and the contract we have with Coach Currie.” Mullally also stated in a later interview that “the players do not pick the coach.”

According to Mullally, this is the first discontent of which she has heard, and also went on to discuss Currie’s player evaluations. It is the practice of UPEI Athletics to have their play- ers evaluate the coach at the end of the season, much like students do for professors. Upon the onset of this cri- sis, Mullally looked over last year's evaluations of Currie, which were filled out by his players, and char- acterized them as “outstand-

Mutiny on the Bounty

Hockey Panthers Call for Currie to Quit

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Mullally and UPEI President Elizabeth Epperly stated on CBC’s Compass that they believe these prob- lems to be a response to rumours that Currie was considering applying for the head coach position at Acadia.

The players have stated that the problems go back as far as September 1995, when Doug Currie replaced Billy MacMillian as the head coach. Todd Walker stated on behalf of the team that “the Acadia situation was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

During the Compass interview, Epperly stated, “the players were upset at the possibility oflosing their coach.” This is inconsist- ent with statements made by the players, who had pre- viously asked Currie to re- sign three times. As one hockey fan put it, “when you are afraid of losing someone, you don’t try to make him quit.” Dr. Epperly was not available for rebut- tal nor comment at press time.

Another issue with the Acadia head coaching situ- ation is the validity of the rumour. According to Mullally, the rumour was “completely false,” and Currie himself added that he was quoted out of con- text. When questioned about the context of the quotes, and the truth of the rumour, John McNeil, Sports Writer for the Halifax Daily News

ing

and the author of the arti- cles in question responded, "what I wrote is what they said."

The quotes in question were made by Currie's wife, Stephanie, who, when asked about whether Currie was considering applying for the Acadia job, reportedly re- sponded, “it’s true. He’s ex- cited and I’m certainly ex- cited for him. You never know. We look forward to finding out.”

McNeil also reports that during a lengthy con- versation, the Panther coach mused about how simple it would be to switch his re- cruiting at this point, by quipping “that fax that I sent, throw it in the garbage. There’s a new one coming in. It’s not a P, it’s an A.” According to MacNeil,

Currie also added, “ I can pick up and leave... but it’s not exactly an easy deci- sion.”

Currie later stated to Charlottetown’s Guardian that “I’m not going any- where. It’s ridiculous. I haven’t applied.” Mullally confirms that statement by saying, “according to [Acadia Hockey Chair] Don Wells, Doug Currie never applied for the position, and the deadline was Friday the 17th."

The Panthers have taken a_ blast from the Charlottetown media for not revealing the facts surround- ing their displeasure with Currie. According to one local columnist, the Pan- thers were “a bunch of crybabies”. By not describ-