UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

[Jim]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

Jim, it doesn't matter how bad UConn is this year (if they do have a bad year)...he's not getting fired after one year.

J.D., I'm expecting a good year, possibly an excellent one. So a major step back will be a huge disappointment. And even though its the final year in the AHA, a bad year will not bode well for the future. UConn cannot go into Hockey East and not be competitive very quickly or they run the risk of becoming a permanent part of the foundation. It is a tough position to be in, but its what they are in. And by competitive I don't mean a winning HE record, necessarily but something like Quinnipiac its first year in the ECAC. They were 8-13-1 I think, 20-18-1 overall. Or Vermont's First HEA year, which was somewhat similar 10-11-6, 18-14-6. If we come in like UMass did, 6-28-2 we could well be on our way to a UMass-like long term performance.

[Nick Papagiorgio]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

J.D., I'm expecting a good year, possibly an excellent one. So a major step back will be a huge disappointment. And even though its the final year in the AHA, a bad year will not bode well for the future. UConn cannot go into Hockey East and not be competitive very quickly or they run the risk of becoming a permanent part of the foundation. It is a tough position to be in, but its what they are in. And by competitive I don't mean a winning HE record, necessarily but something like Quinnipiac its first year in the ECAC. They were 8-13-1 I think, 20-18-1 overall. Or Vermont's First HEA year, which was somewhat similar 10-11-6, 18-14-6. If we come in like UMass did, 6-28-2 we could well be on our way to a UMass-like long term performance.

I think a Umass-like situation in the long term is exactly what Uconn is probably looking at here. Trip to the Garden one or two times a decade, maybe an NCAA tournament win every 20 years or so.

It is what it is.

[dover4345]

I think a Umass-like situation in the long term is exactly what Uconn is probably looking at here. Trip to the Garden one or two times a decade, maybe an NCAA tournament win every 20 years or so.

It is what it is.

The transition uconn is about to make is harder that what vermont and qpac have done---vermont especially. Uconn has no scholorships. Uvm had 18 and went to a league with 18. Qpac had 11 and got bumped up to 18...uconn has zero right now and will introduce the scholorships slowly, 5 this yr, up to 10 when they get to hockey east, then 14 in yr 2 of hockey east and finally 18in year 3...this means in yr 1 they will play bc, bu, unh, notre dame with 10 scholorship guys vs their 18 and u expect them to have a winning season? They will not be on par with the rest of the league until yr 3...so not only will they be playing in the worst building in the league, starting a new program, and have less scholorships---this will be a long process and one that camt be judged until yr 4 or 5 in hockey east...this is nothing like uvm or qpac...

[dover4345]

The transition uconn is about to make is harder that what vermont and qpac have done---vermont especially. Uconn has no scholorships. Uvm had 18 and went to a league with 18. Qpac had 11 and got bumped up to 18...uconn has zero right now and will introduce the scholorships slowly, 5 this yr, up to 10 when they get to hockey east, then 14 in yr 2 of hockey east and finally 18in year 3...this means in yr 1 they will play bc, bu, unh, notre dame with 10 scholorship guys vs their 18 and u expect them to have a winning season? They will not be on par with the rest of the league until yr 3...so not only will they be playing in the worst building in the league, starting a new program, and have less scholorships---this will be a long process and one that camt be judged until yr 4 or 5 in hockey east...this is nothing like uvm or qpac...

Also, the first 5 scholorship players introduced next year were picked by berard and mckenna and no offense, but none are considered blue chip guys. Can and his staff will not have 18 scholorship players of their liking until the fall of 2017...that is when u can begin the judge...

[Patman]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

Thanks for the tip. I find myself in a strange psotion for the 3rd time in 3 coaching hires. Pasqualoni, Ollie and Cavanaugh would not have been my choice for their respective positions. Each strikes me as the safe, or at least non-controvertial, choice. One has thus far been a flop. One thus far seems to have been the right choice. So Cav will be the one that tips the balance I guess. I hope he turns out to be excellent. But if he doesn't I hope he is a complete and utter flop out of the gate and goes 0-36 next season. Then they'll be no hesitation to replace him quickly and get on with it. I absolutely pray that he isn't a Pasqualoni...not so bad that you immediately can justifying replacing him, but not good enough that you want him here. I've heard people say he'll be great. I've heard a few question the choice. One BC friend says he is a great assistant but doesn't have head coaching personality and would never get the BC job when York steps aside. The majority are pro-Cavanaugh I'll have to say. I'm hopeful though I'll wait to see his team take the ice before making any predictions.

I wanted that charismatic SEC assistant... sigh, you get what you get.

Safe is not the way to do things, IMO. Now, that doesn't mean reckless and you get some sort of psychotic... but sports is a risk taking endeavor that will never be safely managed.

[Onion Man]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

I don't know if that's true. I hope not, but I also recognize that this is one of those situations which will be tough to evaluate in less than 5 years, maybe even longer than that. It might even be tough to evaluate next season since Cav wouldn't be the first coach to go with inexperienced "his guys" rather than the established players in order to build for the future and take some lumps doing so. He's said he is planning to play to win next year, but he can't very well say he is playing to lose! So it could well be 5-7 years before we know whether he'll be good, bad or indifferent as a head coach. If he gets next years team to the NCAAs, a not unrealistic possibility given the talent level of the returning players, the additions and the league, and then goes into Hockey east and finishes competitively, we'll know we have something. But if he doesn't, we really won't. having been through these building processes at UConn before, I know enough to wait before making a judgement on a coach. After all, Jim Calhoun finished 8th, 9th and 7th in his first 3 Big East seasons. Edsall's first 3 football seasons were 4-7, 3-8, 2-9 before running off some solid seasosns, too.

I say this because of recent track records of top assistants struggling as HC. Most recently Osiecki bombed out at OSU and obviously OSU has had a lot longer time to become respectable. UConn is a true start-up and they are "starting up" in the absolute worst possible conference. They should have gone to the ECAC first.

[Kenny]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

I say this because of recent track records of top assistants struggling as HC. Most recently Osiecki bombed out at OSU and obviously OSU has had a lot longer time to become respectable. UConn is a true start-up and they are "starting up" in the absolute worst possible conference. They should have gone to the ECAC first.

You could argue OSU should have offered Cavanaugh the job. He was a finalist.

[Jim]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

I say this because of recent track records of top assistants struggling as HC. Most recently Osiecki bombed out at OSU and obviously OSU has had a lot longer time to become respectable. UConn is a true start-up and they are "starting up" in the absolute worst possible conference. They should have gone to the ECAC first.

Your first point worries me a lot. And while I concede that hockey is a different beast than other sports given the limited number of teams and the difficulty to move up, a guy who has been an assistant at the same place for as long as Cavanaugh was at BC has career assistant written all over him. This is a serious concern. There are great assistants out there who are exactly that. to use examples from other sports, Charlie Weis comes to mind. Or pretty much any Jim Calhoun assistant (though Ollie might be the exception) in basketball. I think great head coaches, and York is one, tend to find assistants who fit the role. they fit the role they are given really well, but often times aren't suited for the head coach's role. Athletic directors, GMs and fans, though, assume that they had a larger role in building powerful programs than they in fact did. Mike Cavanaugh might have been a great recruiter recruiting guys to go to a storied program and play for an even more storied coach. Heck, Patman could recruit for BC and he would really want the guys to head up I-95 to Lowell.

Your second point doesn't concern me nearly so much. And here's why. Northeastern, UMass, Providence, Merrimack...Hockey East has really good teams at the top end, but it also has a bunch of ordinary ones, to be generous. And the AHA of 2013 isn't the AHA of 2004. The league has had 2 NCAA bids and was ****ed close to getting 3, something that would have been unthinkable even 4-5 years ago. Its had a team go to the Frozen four. The Top of the league is really good. The bottom is awful I'll grant you, but if you put last years UConn team, Robert Morris, Niagara, Holy Cross in the ECAC they'd compete. they wouldn't be comparable to the top teams, but they'd be mid level teams. Holy Cross beat Clarkson and Yale, Robert Morris beat Ohio State, Quinipiac and Miami, UConn beat Merrimack, tied Union, Niagara knocked off Clarkson and tied Michigan State, and Bowling Green. Bottom line is that they have limited opportunites to play teams from other leagues, but at least among the top teams, they are competitive. As a side note, AIC beat Quinnipiac too. So while its a jump for UConn, it isn't so much of a jump that they'll be incapable of playing with some teams from the first day. In fact, I expect them to finish ahead of 2 or 3 teams in their first year and progress from there.

[RSTuthill]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

Been away on business for awhile. We are still on Cav's assistants and how well (or not so well) UConn is likely to do in the next five years?

Wake me up a week before the season starts.

Sure is interesting to see how many people are posting on a UConn thread though. Almost bizarre. Did I return in the wrong decade?

[RSTuthill]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

The question today is, what number did he wear at UConn? Hint: there were three brothers and they had consecutive numbers. Second hint: it was not his Whalers number. Extra credit: name the numbers of the other two brothers, one of which holds the alltime UConn scoring record.

http://www.muskegonlumberjacks.com/n...p?news_id=1138

[cosmo46]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

I've posted this in a few other threads on the USCHO forum...I played at Uconn in the mid 70s and I've been writing about my hockey experience growing up in Connecticut and continuing into my hockey dad, coaching, playing and reffing days in California I hope you get a kick out of this. I've enjoyed writing it.

This is the first in a series of chapters I've posted:
http://oldtimehockeyfornow.blogspot....ockey-guy.html

[boblav1]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

According to USHR - The University of Connecticut has landed their first recruit under the Mike Cavanaugh regime. 6’1”, 180 lb. defenseman Derek Pratt of the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs (EJHL) has committed to the Huskies for the fall of ‘14.

[RSTuthill]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

I've posted this in a few other threads on the USCHO forum...I played at Uconn in the mid 70s and I've been writing about my hockey experience growing up in Connecticut and continuing into my hockey dad, coaching, playing and reffing days in California I hope you get a kick out of this. I've enjoyed writing it.

This is the first in a series of chapters I've posted:
http://oldtimehockeyfornow.blogspot....ockey-guy.html

Can't wait for the second chapter. You had to live in CT to understand the wrecking company reference. Not quite Whitey Bulger, but something along those lines.

[antioch1098]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

Lets not forget huskies that the state of Connecticut is dominated by Quinnipiac and Yale in hockey and that the ECAC has become the best college hockey league academically and athletically. Union destroyed Boston College and Yale defeated UMASS Lowell in the NCAA tournament. The Frozen Four ended up being the ECAC Invitational. There would have been three ECAC teams in the Frozen Four if Union did not have to play Quinnipiac in the East Regional. Also, Quinnipiac was 3-0 against Hockey East teams last season. They defeated Maine, Providence, and UMASS Amherst. QU was 4-0 if you count UCONN in that HE group.

However, I am happy that a new-and-improved Hockey East UCONN will hopefully provide improved competition for nationally elite Quinnipiac and Yale. Go Bobcats, Go Bulldogs, Go Dutchmen, Go ECAC Hockey League!!!

[RSTuthill]

Re: UConn 2013-2014: Let the Cavanaugh Era Begin

Lets not forget huskies that the state of Connecticut is dominated by Quinnipiac and Yale in hockey and that the ECAC has become the best college hockey league academically and athletically. Union destroyed Boston College and Yale defeated UMASS Lowell in the NCAA tournament. The Frozen Four ended up being the ECAC Invitational. There would have been three ECAC teams in the Frozen Four if Union did not have to play Quinnipiac in the East Regional. Also, Quinnipiac was 3-0 against Hockey East teams last season. They defeated Maine, Providence, and UMASS Amherst. QU was 4-0 if you count UCONN in that HE group.

However, I am happy that a new-and-improved Hockey East UCONN will hopefully provide improved competition for nationally elite Quinnipiac and Yale. Go Bobcats, Go Bulldogs, Go Dutchmen, Go ECAC Hockey League!!!

Hehehe. Trash talking is the sincerest form of flattery. Let's see how QU and Yale do this season after losing all the personnel.