Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

[fiqure8]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

He has a family and a contract, why would you give up 190,000 bucks? I doubt he gets fired after this year no matter what the record is.

Also he prides himself that his players are good academic citizens.........
Maine ranks quite high in graduating it's hockey players. I think this is the only area the team is excelling in right now....

[Runsub5]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Also he prides himself that his players are good academic citizens.........
Maine ranks quite high in graduating it's hockey players. I think this is the only area the team is excelling in right now....

Good point. With the exception of a recent goal tender, not only do the players do well academically, there haven't been any off ice issues (that we know about). These are young men who have character and represent what college athletics should be. Obviously, wins are important to generate money, but there is also the important academic component. We just need a little more talent to go along with these qualities.

[all bear]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Good point. With the exception of a recent goal tender, not only do the players do well academically, there haven't been any off ice issues (that we know about). These are young men who have character and represent what college athletics should be. Obviously, wins are important to generate money, but there is also the important academic component. We just need a little more talent to go along with these qualities.

More talent AND better coaching.

[Runsub5]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

More talent AND better coaching.

I 'll accept any standards or qualities that define a great coach. In my opinion, this coach will not win conference championships without talent.

[all bear]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

I 'll accept any standards or qualities that define a great coach. In my opinion, this coach will not win conference championships without talent.

IMO this coach will not win conference championships even with talent.

[CenMEBlackBearFan]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

I 'll accept any standards or qualities that define a great coach. In my opinion, this coach will not win conference championships without talent.

Who the hell's responsibility is that ???
Oh, that's right Tim as already said they need to recruit better. This has to end, I certainly will not renew my season tickets that I have had for 15 seasons if it is allowed to continue.

[BearNecessity]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Good point. With the exception of a recent goal tender, not only do the players do well academically, there haven't been any off ice issues (that we know about). These are young men who have character and represent what college athletics should be. Obviously, wins are important to generate money, but there is also the important academic component. We just need a little more talent to go along with these qualities.

There have been a number of Off ICe issues, which were addressed in house, and kept out of the blogosphere....Typical College student stuff ( ie partying, drinking...etc, nothing criminal to the best of my knowledge), but did lead to some players missing games due to " off ice injuries" Tim is like Bob Kraft All about Character...the Maine way, but a slightly different set of rules if you are a percieved talent, draft pick, flight risk...

[UncleRay]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

This coach will not win conference championships because he can neither recruit nor coach talent.

[KnowItAll]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Who the hell's responsibility is that ???
Oh, that's right Tim as already said they need to recruit better. This has to end, I certainly will not renew my season tickets that I have had for 15 seasons if it is allowed to continue.

the way I see it, anyone who kept buying season tickets after about 2007 was part of the problem.
There were a few of us who tried to tell ya that the canaries all died... some of us could see it.

kick em in the pocketbook and then MAYBE they will listen

[carltonbarrett]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Assuming that Maine wins 12 games this year (which if anything is being optimistic), that would mean that over the past 6 seasons, they have averaged 16 wins. Won't try to guess where BC, BU & Maine will finish this year as far as wins go, but using the previous 6 years for an average, it's: BC: 27 wins, BU: 22.3 wins & UNH: 21 wins. BC is clearly in a class by itself, while BU & UNH are bunched together fairly closely and Maine is quite a ways back. So I guess the bottom line is that it's really no longer the big 4, but instead the big 3.

[blackbearbandie]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/11/0...ine-ad-abbott/

By Larry Mahoney, BDN Staff
Posted Nov. 07, 2012, at 7:46 p.m.


Whitehead’s job is safe for time being, says UMaine AD Abbott

ORONO, Maine — Despite the University of Maine men’s hockey team’s 1-8 start, 12th-year head coach Tim Whitehead’s job is safe for the time being.

UMaine athletic director Steve Abbott said, “We are not on the verge of making any changes. We’re going to do what we can to get better and play more competitive hockey.”

The Black Bears’ first nine games include an 0-4 record in Hockey East, marking the program’s worst start in league play since the inception of Hockey East in 1984-85.

Whitehead has one year left on his contract after this season. He is the school’s highest-paid coach at $190,000 per season.

“Our focus right now is on supporting our coaches and players and trying to turn this season around. The season is still young,” said Abbott. “Everybody wants this team to get better. It’s a priority for all of us.”

Abbott refused to speculate on Whitehead’s future.

“We will evaluate the program at the end of the season just like we do with all of our programs,” said Abbott.

If Abbott decided not to bring Whitehead back for his final year, he would have to buy him out and that price tag would likely be his $190,000 salary.

Abbott has pulled the trigger in the past, terminating the contract of women’s basketball coach Cindy Blodgett with two years remaining after Blodgett went a program-worst 4-25 in the 2010-11 season to give her a four-year mark of 24-94.

Blodgett received a buyout of $109,772.

The hockey team is in the midst of a six-game losing streak and is 0-5 this season at Alfond Arena. Maine has been outscored 30-10 in its nine games.

The Black Bears are 34th or worse among 59 Division I teams in the four major categories: goals-per-game (1.11, 58th), power play (2.3 percent, 57th), goals allowed (3.33, 48th) and penalty killing (81.2 percent, 34th).

Maine, which has played only one game against a 2011-12 NCAA Tournament team (Boston College), has already been shut out four times and has scored one goal on two more occasions.

Despite the start, Maine has averaged 4,611 fans through its first five home games after averaging 4,454 through its first five last season.

The Black Bears lost players who produced 46.6 percent of their goals and 55 percent of their assists a year ago, and they have been hurt by injuries to returning forwards Kyle Beattie (concussion), Jon Swavely (torn quadriceps) and John Parker (broken foot).

Senior right wing and tri-captain Joey Diamond is the only player with more than 22 career goals and 47 points. He has 46 goals and 38 assists.

Maine had six freshmen and four sophomores in the lineup this past weekend in losses to Boston College (4-2) and New Hampshire (4-0).

The Black Bears are coming off a 23-14-5 season and an NCAA Tournament berth. Maine lost to Minnesota-Duluth 5-2 in the first round of the tourney.

Maine had missed the NCAA Tournament the previous four years after a string of nine consecutive NCAA berths.

Whitehead guided the fortunes of the Bears over the final six years of that nine-year stretch after taking over from Shawn Walsh, who died of complications from kidney cancer in September 2001.

During his first six seasons, Whitehead led the Black Bears to four Frozen Four appearances and a pair of NCAA championship game appearances.

Maine lost to Minnesota 4-3 in overtime in the 2001-02 title game in St. Paul, Minn., and to Denver 1-0 at the TD Garden in Boston in 2004.

Whitehead won the Spencer Penrose Trophy as the national coach of the year in Division I in 2002 and was a Penrose finalist in 2004. He has been a Penrose finalist six times in his 16 seasons as a head coach at UMass Lowell and Maine.

Maine reached the NCAA Tournament semifinals in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons before beginning its struggles with a 13-18-2 mark in 2007-08.

Whitehead piloted the Black Bears to an impressive 154-69-26 record in his first six years, but they are 86-91-20 since then.

Under Walsh, the Black Bears made 10 NCAA Tournament and seven Frozen Four appearances between 1987-2000. They won NCAA titles in 1993 and 1999.

“The hockey program is critically important to our university,” said Abbott. “It is a source of great pride to our students, alums and fans. It is a program known throughout the country.”

Maine will try to snap its losing streak with a pair of games at UMass Lowell this weekend.

[Runsub5]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

..........There were a few of us who tried to tell ya that the canaries all died... some of us could see it.

Congratulations, you called it. Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.

[KnowItAll]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

Congratulations, you called it. Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.

I was not the one who called it... a much wiser gray haired hockey guru from your neck of the woods told me... I did not want to listen... I was the one who thought that the Bellamy Tyler Ryan team would have no problems getting to the frozen four... it was right after that season that I started to listen

[KnowItAll]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

UMaine athletic director Steve Abbott said, “We are not on the verge of making any changes. We’re going to do what we can to get better and play more competitive hockey.”
.

huh?
whhuuuh?
wave a magic wand?

Hey steve... if they fans don't want to go to the Alfond, you can't make them stop.

[all bear]

Re: Maine 2012 - The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly??

You have to assume that when this guy is evaluated at the end of next year (more than likely the case), that they look at the downward spiral of his performance versus his pay scale. By no means has he earned what he has been paid. Highest paid coach, what a farce his performance has recently been when looking at that pay. He has milked the citizens of Maine way too long, we can only hope the admin can find a way to replace him at the end of this season. Not sure it can happen because state schools are notoriously wimpy when it comes to doing the tough tasks, but in reality it should be done. We all know it, even UML knew it when they made the small contract offer to him when he was at UML, and they had no where near the history or program we have had over the years. The longer this thing drags out, the more painful it is. Timmay deserves a job, but at a D3 college somewhere. Some people are D1 competitive coaches; he is not.