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John Wallin

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John Wallin
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1977-1979Chicago State University
1979-1981New Trier High School (IL)
1984–1987Kent State
1987–1988Sudbury Wolves
Head coaching record
Overall104–56–9 (.642) (college)

John Wallin is an American former ice hockey head coach who previously headed the program at Kent State.[1]

Career

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Wallin arrived in Kent in the summer of 1984 and took over as head coach of the university's club team as well as becoming the director of the Kent State University Ice Arena. After a successful season the Golden Flashes jumped up to the Division I ranks, and won 21 games their first season of competition (though all were exhibition contests).[2] In his third year behind the bench Wallin saw Kent State join an informal conference (along with Notre Dame) and win an additional 19 games. With 51 wins under his belt in three seasons Wallin resigned suddenly in June 1987 and took over behind the bench for the Sudbury Wolves, a junior team in the OHL.

In his first season with the Wolves the team finished dead-last in their division with a 17-48-1 record but things soon became worse. Wallin, who had been called a flamboyant person, had told several of his players at both Kent State and Sudbury about his history as an Army Green Beret and the time he spent as a POW during the Vietnam War; the trouble was those stories were untrue. While he didn't have much focus on his yarns while at Kent State, his time in the Canadian Major Junior leagues brought increased attention and the stories reached the pages of The Hockey News before the Army disavowed his tales. Wallin was promptly dismissed from the club in March.[3] Further injury was dealt to Wallin's reputation when reports surfaced in the 1990s from his former staffers that he had committed numerous recruiting violations while at Kent State and, while they weren't reported to the NCAA, Wallin had been told about them and neglected to address the issues.[4]

Head coaching record

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College

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Kent State Golden Flashes Independent (1984–1987)
1984–85 Kent State 11–14–2
1985–86 Kent State 21–13–2
1986–87 Kent State 19–13–0
Kent State: 51–40–4
Total: 51–40–4

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

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  1. ^ "Wallin Resigns". Daily Kent Stater. 1987-06-17. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  2. ^ "Ice hockey team joins new league". Daily Kent Stater. 1986-07-16. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  3. ^ "Story telling closes book on ex-coach's job". Daily Kent Stater. 1988-03-01. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  4. ^ "He may not be JoePa, but he's a 'helluva' coach". Daily Collegian. 1995-02-02. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
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