Fire Mike Eaves?

[GB Puck Fan]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

A few observations that are likely random and not particularly connected...

* If you follow Bill Simmons' rule that you can't complain for 5 years after a title, UW is now in that window to allow criticism. That said, the 2010 title appearance is close enough it may extend the window a bit.

* Maybe it isn't Eaves' presence as much as it is the absence of Mark Osiecki and Kevin Patrick. Since those two - the primary recruiters - left, there has been the dropoff in talent. And maybe the loss of Bill Howard is being underestimated. Yes, Eaves need to find the right permanent replacement for Butters.

* There are many state players on this roster and while as a native Wisconsinite I like that, I'm not sure that several of them of the elite-level player that 'belong' at UW.

* I think a reasonable expectation for this program is home ice for the WCHA, making the NCAA 3 of 4 years, and a deep playoff run once or twice every four years. So, with that not being met, I understand the complaints.

* That said, being outside of Madison I have this observation about Badger fans (and not just hockey fans). They like to complain. Dick Bennett got them to the Final Four for the first time in 50+ years, but they complained the defensive style was boring. Well, get a grip, Bennett's formula worked a helluva lot better than anything his predecessors did. Hockey fans like to complain about Alvarez and maybe deservedly so. But Wisconsin hockey still has better facilities and support than most programs. Is the current record unacceptable? Yes. But I doubt Eaves has suddenly forgotten what he knows about the game.

* While I'm not a fan of BTH, maybe the revamped conference will be a good thing. With a shorter conference post-season it could be easier to get on a roll, etc.

Fire Eaves? I still lean towards "no" but obviously the situation needs to improve.

[mnstate0fhockey]

Ok but asking them what has happened since the 2010 title game seems legitimate to me...

No worries man. It is a legit question. I didn't intend my comment to be snarky.

[mnstate0fhockey]

What are you, their caretaker?

No. Are you J.D.'s caretaker?

[Gurtholfin]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

* That said, being outside of Madison I have this observation about Badger fans (and not just hockey fans). They like to complain. Dick Bennett got them to the Final Four for the first time in 50+ years, but they complained the defensive style was boring. Well, get a grip, Bennett's formula worked a helluva lot better than anything his predecessors did. Hockey fans like to complain about Alvarez and maybe deservedly so. But Wisconsin hockey still has better facilities and support than most programs. Is the current record unacceptable? Yes. But I doubt Eaves has suddenly forgotten what he knows about the game.

Being inside the bubble since '93 (although a Badger fan since '80 when I was first aware of sports), I can say that most fans just want us to take the next step in all three of the major sports. I moved here on New Year's Eve '93, the day before the first Rose Bowl. My first full day in Madison was spent at the Regent Street Retreat watching that game - pretty cool to drop right in for that scene! I digress...


Basketball - At some point you need to get to the Final Four (at least) again. You also need to find a way to not go cold for 10 minutes at a time shooting brick after brick after brick after complete miss. Have a few plays where you get inside and get fouled for ****'s sake. Gotta generate offense in other ways when the outside shot after 5 passes isn't falling. Have Shooter draw something up!

Every year our tournament ends against either a red-headed coach's son who can't miss, or ends when we don't score for the final 15 minutes of regulation and lose 48-37. It's been almost 20 years of this. I remember the days before '93 and I appreciate that we have it better than those who came before, but eventually you gotta take that next step. 20 years of the same story gets old.


Football - Good Parise, where to start!?! Same place really. A bowl berth isn't as exciting as it was in the mid 90's. Not good enough anymore. At some point you have to get yourself to a title game. Do that and bowl berths in between those years are nice accents. Can't live solely on accents though, which is what we're doing.

Sure, this season, we can potentially go to a Rose Bowl for a third straight year (and lose). Yes, I'd rather watch us in the Rose Bowl than the Outback Bowl, but since the BCS Championship game came about, the Rose Bowl has the exact same importance as the Outback Bowl, or Music City Bowl or Papa John's Thumb In My *** Bowl. Just another exhibition.

20 years of various bowl appearances. No apparent ability to elevate the program above an apex set at the Rose Bowl which we only get to by winning the B1G. Is this better than what came before '93? Sure. Is it enough to keep my attention until the Rapture? Not so much.


Hockey - We've been over and over this in our own threads. Historically, we are one of the elite programs. Towards the end of Sauer's tenure, things were off and everyone could see that he was just running on fumes. We all thought that all that was needed to put us back amongst the top 5-7 programs, our birthright, was to bring in a solid coach with the passion and fire that Sauer had lost.

I still believe that should have been enough when you look at all that a UW coach has to work with. Almost NHL size arena, great academics, great small city to live in, a historically elite program, hookers & cocaine, etc, etc, etc...

Without the title that Burish, Els, Gilbert and the rest willed them to, Eaves' ten seasons are just as bad if not worse than Sauer's last several years.

Simply not good enough and I'm not willing to settle for a mediocre hockey program. I don't see football or basketball ever getting to the next level, so for my hometown teams, hockey is the only one with a legit chance to win titles. I'd like to see them positioned so that it can happen every once in a while. IMO, feast or famine is not the way to go.

Fire Eaves.



EDIT (final thought)

If the three programs cannot ever elevate themselves and if the Athletic Department is okay with that, then they are simply treating those programs as cash cows. I get that. I understand the economics of all this.

I'm not interested in donating my money to the Athletic Department. I want something in return. Being competitive and giving me hope is what I want in exchange for a portion of my disposable income. You don't have to give me an actual title, but you have to make me believe that it's attainable, that we're working towards it.

Giving me a reason to wear something red and allowing me to sing Varsity isn't enough any more when I have so many other things that require my money.

[Pigfarmer]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

It's not like Eaves is Rick Comley......errr maybe he is.... Never mind

[solovsfett]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Simply not good enough and I'm not willing to settle for a mediocre hockey program. I don't see football or basketball ever getting to the next level, so for my hometown teams, hockey is the only one with a legit chance to win titles. I'd like to see them positioned so that it can happen every once in a while. IMO, feast or famine is not the way to go.

Fire Eaves.



EDIT (final thought)

If the three programs cannot ever elevate themselves and if the Athletic Department is okay with that, then they are simply treating those programs as cash cows. I get that. I understand the economics of all this.

I'm not interested in donating my money to the Athletic Department. I want something in return. Being competitive and giving me hope is what I want in exchange for a portion of my disposable income. You don't have to give me an actual title, but you have to make me believe that it's attainable, that we're working towards it.

Giving me a reason to wear something red and allowing me to sing Varsity isn't enough any more when I have so many other things that require my money.

right on!

GB - I'm coming from a similar position as Gurt...My parents moved us from Chicago to brookfield in about 1980. my dad immediately got season tickets to UW football then in 1984 UW basketball and hockey. HOCKEY was king for numerous reasons but the main one is the obvious one they had talent out the wazoo, won consistently 20+ games per year and they never EVER rebuilt. they re-loaded annually. Mike Richter goes PRO? no biggie we got a kid named Dean Anderson and another kid signed up named Curtis Joseph for the following year. Tony Granato and Steve Tuttle are gone? no problem we've got Gary Shuchuk and Johnny Byce coming in. oh, Shuey and Byce win the title and graduate? no problem we've got Jason Zent, Andrew Schier and Blaine Moore coming in.

point is we expect consistent NCAA appearances. you can't be elite if you're not *at least* in the top 25% of the country (NCAA 16-team tourney). Eaves hasn't done that, nowhere close in fact. and with a **** recruiting class next season (due in part to his inability to even out classes), a roster filled w/Wisconsin kids who cannot score or skate w/the best, and a high likelihood Zengerle leaves after this season where are the bright spots?

As 28-year season ticket holders (my Dad and I), we're fed up w/this non-sense. You could hear it in Andringa's voice last night too, he couldn't find positives about the team. it's foolish to say they can turn it around. 2 guys can't do that (Zengerle and Kerdiles) as they have even less talent around them now than Heatley and Rhino did when they carried the team on their backs to the NCAA's.

I think of this like Indiana Basketball or Alabama football. Winning and getting to the NCAA's should be the bare minimum required for a UW hockey coach. Badger Bob set the standard and they need to honor and respect that legacy.

Barry Alvarez, you are on notice buddy, pay attention or some badger boosters will stop kicking in all the thousands they donate to UW annually.

[Jimjamesak]

Poor recruiting of forwards and centers - worst offensive team in the league and maybe college hockey.

I was gonna dispute this but I looked it up and it's true.

/UAA'snotlastinsomething

[GB Puck Fan]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

solovsfett and Gurtholfin:

Good points and I get where you are coming from. Other than the NMU games up here in GB - whcih were not impressive efforts - I have only seen them on tv.

Maybe I am too willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The 2010 title game was not that long ago. And I guess I'm not that he can't right the ship. Will it be this season? I agree that's not likely. So, then the question becomes are you willing to let him hire a new assistant/recruiter - which means 2 years to have that pay off (or not).

Getting to the NCAA should be the expectation, I agree. One of the previous posts had a good point - if you fire Eaves, will you get someone better? That may take 3-4 years to find out.

I'm not 100% on keeping, btw, it's more of a 60-40 lean - but I think some of the issues are fixable.

[tbodin23]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Unquestionable underachieving.

How come nobody is bringing up the obvious solution. Fire Eaves and offer Gwozdecky a huge amount of money. I wonder if he would think about it...

[bucky15]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Some thing needs to change and it isn't going to improve next year. The recruiting class next year is a joke and Beese will take a year or two at least to adjust to the college speed and size. Eaves needs to find a asst coach that has strong connections in Canada and start opening that pipeline back up or he will have his reputation flushed down the drain. Barry isn't going to let him go with the years and $$$ left on his contract unless it gets extremely bad for multiple years. As a fan, I guess all we can do is sit back and watch either the ship sink or get changed north to Canada and some talent. We also need to stop having the local high end talent leave the state...condon and butcher. I would be shocked if he is fired after this year even if we finish with 10 or less W's. Barry doesn't want to have to pay for two head coaches for the next 3 years or whatever is left on his contract.

[4four4]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Keep Mike Eaves!

+1

[Dirty]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Unquestionable underachieving.

How come nobody is bringing up the obvious solution. Fire Eaves and offer Gwozdecky a huge amount of money. I wonder if he would think about it...

I support this wholeheartedly. Get one of the best coaches in the country out of UND's and into Minnesota's conference. Plus it would hopefully lead to DU going back to sucking. Wonderful!

Fire Eaves! Hire the Dasher Dancer!

[burd]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Eaves has had a slow start, but he is just two years removed from a trip to the final and won a ring in 2006. Two trips to the NCAA title game in 6 years and with a championship? I think UW could do worse.

There's the point Badger fans are making. "Could do worse" is not the tradition they have or want to have. Not by a long shot.

The rest of us who are not Badger fans can't claim to experience the pain, we do all have a similar stake in Wisconsin returning to its elite status. The way I see it, all our teams are diminished by an underperforming Wisconsin program we do not recognize.

[solovsfett]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

solovsfett and Gurtholfin:

Good points and I get where you are coming from. Other than the NMU games up here in GB - whcih were not impressive efforts - I have only seen them on tv.

Maybe I am too willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. The 2010 title game was not that long ago. And I guess I'm not that he can't right the ship. Will it be this season? I agree that's not likely. So, then the question becomes are you willing to let him hire a new assistant/recruiter - which means 2 years to have that pay off (or not).

Getting to the NCAA should be the expectation, I agree. One of the previous posts had a good point - if you fire Eaves, will you get someone better? That may take 3-4 years to find out.

I'm not 100% on keeping, btw, it's more of a 60-40 lean - but I think some of the issues are fixable.

the problem of 2010 is look at the 2 years prior and now the 3 years post 2010. that is THE STORY. we rightly want and expect a lot more. Given next season's recruiting class, Zengerle possibly leaving, Kerdiles being a 2 and done (likely) Besse taking 2 years to adjust and no-one else of that caliber lined up it appears a major power outage is in the offing here.

imo this ship ain't righting itself until or unless Eaves is replaced or he can get 3 consecutive recruiting classes that match the Suter/Earl class or the Zent/Schier/Fairchild class, or the Byce/Tancill/Shuchuk class, or the Ford/Tuttle/Ranheim/Mellanby class

that puts us *IF* that happens at minimum 4 years away from competing for conference or national hardware.

the question as to who to replace him with is easier imo.

#1 Enrico Blasi
#2 Don Granato
#3 Mike Hastings
#4 Mark Osiecki
EDIT - #5 Tony Granato

George Gwodecky is an alum but years ago he stated "Wisconsin has had their time" when asked if he'd entertain offers. Maybe he had a bad experience in Madison, who knows who cares.

[SanTropez]

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

the question as to who to replace him with is easier imo.
#1 John Hill


#10 Enrico Blasi
#11 Don Granato
#12 Mike Hastings
#13 Mark Osiecki

fyp