BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

[Rogie21]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

Live-stream for today's press conference.
https://watchstadium.com/live/press-...lbie-oconnell/

[Scarlet]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

Where I will agree with Wodon is that BU shouldn't have eliminated candidates that didn't graduate. That is kind of silly IMO. People can coach NHL without graduating but not at BU? I know the response would be something like BU is a high-end University and should have a college graduate coaching. Well my response would be BU has been recruiting players for years that we know will never graduate before they even set foot on campus. Makes that point a bit hypocritical, no?

FYI - to be clear, I am completely supportive of hiring Albie. Not the exciting pick that Quinn was IMO, but likely the right pick.

I'm with you on that as well, but if that's a policy the University has put in place, than that's the policy the University has put in place. If those guys that left early chose not to actually get their degree, that's their choice but it's now also a consequence that they have to deal with. I don't think either Sacco or Donatelli were that many light years ahead of Albie as a coaching option to make an exception, in my opinion.

[brassbonanza]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

Where I will agree with Wodon is that BU shouldn't have eliminated candidates that didn't graduate. That is kind of silly IMO. People can coach NHL without graduating but not at BU? I know the response would be something like BU is a high-end University and should have a college graduate coaching. Well my response would be BU has been recruiting players for years that we know will never graduate before they even set foot on campus. Makes that point a bit hypocritical, no?

My read of the comments from these writers has been that they're chiding BU too narrowly focusing on candidates who would presumably not leave for the NHL and were from "in the family", not as much on the lack of degree thing.

[chickod]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

Best of luck to Albie. I echo the sentiments of most here, especially given that I have frequently emphasized the "continuity" component. I was glad to see that he was rewarded for his time, effort and commitment to the program. Regarding the Bennett talk, if they were going to hire an "outsider," he would have been about the last person I would have wanted to see. I don't feel as though it will have a negative impact on recruiting at all, and I wouldn't be surprised to see things move forward without missing a beat.

Starman and Nate Ewell. Both put in a good word earlier in the process about Bennett's coaching abilities and track record at Union. Neither were as staunchly advocating for Bennett the way the CHN duo have come across. But it's hard not to believe that Bennett or those in his camp have been talking to the media.

Regarding Starman, although it seems as though many people don't like him (I always assumed that was because he had somewhat of a "Western bias"), I thought he had always done a decent job when I have heard him. Therefore, it seems bizarre that just because someone would "reach out" to him that he would become an advocate. I'm guessing there must be a long-term relationship there somewhere (although I obviously have no knowledge of such).

[Tater]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

My read of the comments from these writers has been that they're chiding BU too narrowly focusing on candidates who would presumably not leave for the NHL and were from "in the family", not as much on the lack of degree thing.

OK, but Wodon mentioned the lack on considering someone without a degree specifically on one of his replies.

the "never graduated" issue is a significant part of what I'm talking about.

— Adam Wodon (@CHN_AdamWodon) June 6, 2018

[BU Fan 84]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

Okay, I have read through the tweets. I think they were very out of line. I also read through some of their other tweets that are not hockey related, and can definitely see that their tweets regarding BU probably are not out of the norm for their personalities. I do not think Albie O'Connell was the best person for the job, but I don't think it is going to cost the program "dearly." I don't think it will cost us much, I imagine things will stay pretty consistent and similar to the past four years.

I have no problem with requiring a college degree for the job. As someone posted the other day, isn't that a NCAA rule? Or at least something that is standard across the NCAA? I mean, come on - you want a job that pays several hundred thousand? Get a degree. It's not that tough. If Sacco couldn't get it done by September, then he shouldn't be eligible for the position. If Pandolfo could, then I think he should have been given strong consideration.

The aspect that I disagree with the most is the idea that we need a coach who is going to stick around for decades and decades. Our coaches don't all need to be Jack Parker. Yes, it isn't great that we had a coaching search again, five years later (can't blame Quinn at all - way too much money to pass up). It was probably sooner than most people expected - I figured more around the 10-year mark. But if you thought David Qiunn was going to coach at BU for 30 years, then you are insane. How many coaches have done that in the history of college hockey? Four or five? But I think you need to get the best coach available, even if he "might" leave after awhile for an NHL head coach position. There are way too many factors that go into that to be able to predict that a potential hire will ever get that call, let alone have it be the right situation with the right money offered. Not offering the job to someone like Pandolfo because he might want to be an NHL head coach someday? Sounds like a big mistake to me. Not talking to Hynes? I don't know ... that whole situation is weird, anyway. Rather than go for it and get a great coach, they got a guy who is one step down from that. Decent hire, but not great. Which is probably how we'll describe his career when it is over. I know we're going to be looking at a dysfunctional, underachieving power play. I just hope he recognizes his own weaknesses and gets a strong associate HC to do strategy, x's and o's, in-game adjustments. Who knows, maybe he was better at that stuff than Quinn and Quinn just never let him get his ideas out.

With that being said, I think anyone who thought BU would hire Bennett is an idiot. Including Bennett, if he actually thought that. Blow up the program and change to a completely different style of coaching, recruiting, and playing the game? No thanks. Bennett would know that, too. I am sure they brought him in (and probably considered other coaches, too) to get an outside idea of things. What are other coaches like, etc. Doing their due diligence. I don't think they strung him along at all. Do these writers really thing the AD and President and VP are going to waste their time interviewing candidates? The other thing to consider here is that these clowns at CHN were the ones who said Bennett was a candidate at BU. Everything started from them. Was he really a final candidate for the job?

My final thought is that, five or so years from now, we are going to be sitting here saying, "Man, we should've hired Freddy Meyer." He will end up being the Hynes of the last coaching search.

[Harry Cleverly]

I would be ecstatic to have Keefe on the staff. It'd also be nice to have another "outsider" coach on the staff as well, especially one with an established relationship with Albie and has proven himself to be a fantastic top assistant.

Len Quesnelle doesn't float your boat?

[Sean Pickett]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

I previously stated my opinion that BU should hire Albie, so I want to thank Drew and BU for doing so and to congratulate Albie on his promotion and wish him and BU great success. I do, however, have one request: bring back the traditional jerseys worn for most of the past 50 seasons.

As for Adam Wodon:

This is the main one:

@CHN_AdamWodon

BU's AD locked himself in a bubble during this process and it's going to cost this storied program dearly.

https://twitter.com/CHN_AdamWodon/st...56934590320641

This one is just as bad

Give a read here ... BU is stumbling through this hire this time around. They have unnecessarily narrowed their pool of candidates to try to find someone who will stay a while. These days, the NCAA/NHL bond is strong, so good people may leave. So what. Don't shoot self in foot.

https://twitter.com/CHN_AdamWodon/st...27747632123905

What I find most interesting about this is I didn't read anything like it when Denver hired David Carle as head coach. No talk about DU's AD costing their program dearly for hiring an assistant with no head coaching experience over Coach Bazin. And compare the two CHN articles. In the fourth paragraph of the article on Carle's hire, after a glowing paragraph of him being the youngest DI head coach since 1999 and a single sentence paragraph that he was he was offered the UAA position, it states "...but Denver went through with a lengthy interview process that included a long look at Massachusetts-Lowell's Norm Bazin.". Yet no knock on Carle for his lack of head coaching experince. In fact the article makes sure to let it be known that Carle had starting coaching as a freshman in college, so he had 4 more years of coaching experience than others his age. Now compare that to the article on BU hiring Coach O'Connell where, in the second paragraph it states "Though he has never been a head coach on any level, O'Connell has been an assistant at a variety of New England schools consistently since he started coaching in 2003." Pretty much a straight slap in the face.

I was also surprised by Joe Meloni's tweet

Hell of an ascent for Albie in the last few years. BU is in an interesting spot right now.

Albie has spent 15 seasons as an assistant coach in the college ranks and it's a "hell of an ascent"? Yet when I do a search for similar tweets about Coach Carle I don't find any. Which is strange because it would seem that Coach Carle had more of a "hell of an ascent". And I don't recall any such concern when North Dakota promoted Brad Berry within 24 hours of Dave Hakstol resigning and being named the Flyers head coach. No national search, no looking at top head coaches, and yet nothing about how UND made a mistake.

Oh, and I really like that the CHN article on Albie being named head coach states Coach Parker stayed for the next 30 years. They can't even get a simple and well known fact correct.

Sean

[Harry Cleverly]

Okay, I have read through the tweets. I think they were very out of line. I also read through some of their other tweets that are not hockey related, and can definitely see that their tweets regarding BU probably are not out of the norm for their personalities. I do not think Albie O'Connell was the best person for the job, but I don't think it is going to cost the program "dearly." I don't think it will cost us much, I imagine things will stay pretty consistent and similar to the past four years.

I have no problem with requiring a college degree for the job. As someone posted the other day, isn't that a NCAA rule? Or at least something that is standard across the NCAA? I mean, come on - you want a job that pays several hundred thousand? Get a degree. It's not that tough. If Sacco couldn't get it done by September, then he shouldn't be eligible for the position. If Pandolfo could, then I think he should have been given strong consideration.

The aspect that I disagree with the most is the idea that we need a coach who is going to stick around for decades and decades. Our coaches don't all need to be Jack Parker. Yes, it isn't great that we had a coaching search again, five years later (can't blame Quinn at all - way too much money to pass up). It was probably sooner than most people expected - I figured more around the 10-year mark. But if you thought David Qiunn was going to coach at BU for 30 years, then you are insane. How many coaches have done that in the history of college hockey? Four or five? But I think you need to get the best coach available, even if he "might" leave after awhile for an NHL head coach position. There are way too many factors that go into that to be able to predict that a potential hire will ever get that call, let alone have it be the right situation with the right money offered. Not offering the job to someone like Pandolfo because he might want to be an NHL head coach someday? Sounds like a big mistake to me. Not talking to Hynes? I don't know ... that whole situation is weird, anyway. Rather than go for it and get a great coach, they got a guy who is one step down from that. Decent hire, but not great. Which is probably how we'll describe his career when it is over. I know we're going to be looking at a dysfunctional, underachieving power play. I just hope he recognizes his own weaknesses and gets a strong associate HC to do strategy, x's and o's, in-game adjustments. Who knows, maybe he was better at that stuff than Quinn and Quinn just never let him get his ideas out.

With that being said, I think anyone who thought BU would hire Bennett is an idiot. Including Bennett, if he actually thought that. Blow up the program and change to a completely different style of coaching, recruiting, and playing the game? No thanks. Bennett would know that, too. I am sure they brought him in (and probably considered other coaches, too) to get an outside idea of things. What are other coaches like, etc. Doing their due diligence. I don't think they strung him along at all. Do these writers really thing the AD and President and VP are going to waste their time interviewing candidates? The other thing to consider here is that these clowns at CHN were the ones who said Bennett was a candidate at BU. Everything started from them. Was he really a final candidate for the job?

My final thought is that, five or so years from now, we are going to be sitting here saying, "Man, we should've hired Freddy Meyer." He will end up being the Hynes of the last coaching search.

In Albie's other coaching stops, the power play was good, and he often got credit for it.
Although it didn't always look like it, BU's PP was one of the more effective ones in the league.

It was the penalty killing this past year thst was pretty woeful. Who was in-charge of that unit?

Albie's assistant coaching hires will tell a lot about him. A solid head coach will hire strong assistants in areas that he recognizes his own weaknesses.

[BU Fan 84]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

Len Quesnelle doesn't float your boat?

I personally have wondered how much he was responsible for the ****ty first half of this past season. Just curious that he comes on and all of a sudden the quality of play plummets as compared to the past few seasons? I was told by some folks that no, I am wrong, he is really well-respected and highly regarded, but I don't know .... He certainly never had much success in wins and losses as a coach. Prior to Quinn leaving, I was hoping Len would not be back. Hopefully that is more likely now.

[BU Fan 84]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

In Albie's other coaching stops, the power play was good, and he often got credit for it.
Although it didn't always look like it, BU's PP was one of the more effective ones in the league.

It was the penalty killing this past year thst was pretty woeful. Who was in-charge of that unit?

Albie's assistant coaching hires will tell a lot about him. A solid head coach will hire strong assistants in areas that he recognizes his own weaknesses.

I know the numbers for this past season were not as bad as the two years prior to that, but the eye-test, man .... It was bad. I am more lenient on the PK. I think Hickey had a pretty bad year for most of the season, and I thought the freshmen struggled defensively all season. I think that was more the cause of the increased goals given up, on the PK or even-strength.

I am intrigued by O'Connell bring Keefe in, though. As you said, I would consider that to fulfill your last sentence in your post.

[BU Fan 84]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

I previously stated my opinion that BU should hire Albie, so I want to thank Drew and BU for doing so and to congratulate Albie on his promotion and wish him and BU great success. I do, however, have one request: bring back the traditional jerseys worn for most of the past 50 seasons.

As for Adam Wodon:
This one is just as bad
https://twitter.com/CHN_AdamWodon/st...27747632123905

What I find most interesting about this is I didn't read anything like it when Denver hired David Carle as head coach. No talk about DU's AD costing their program dearly for hiring an assistant with no head coaching experience over Coach Bazin. And compare the two CHN articles. In the fourth paragraph of the article on Carle's hire, after a glowing paragraph of him being the youngest DI head coach since 1999 and a single sentence paragraph that he was he was offered the UAA position, it states "...but Denver went through with a lengthy interview process that included a long look at Massachusetts-Lowell's Norm Bazin.". Yet no knock on Carle for his lack of head coaching experince. In fact the article makes sure to let it be known that Carle had starting coaching as a freshman in college, so he had 4 more years of coaching experience than others his age. Now compare that to the article on BU hiring Coach O'Connell where, in the second paragraph it states "Though he has never been a head coach on any level, O'Connell has been an assistant at a variety of New England schools consistently since he started coaching in 2003." Pretty much a straight slap in the face.

I was also surprised by Joe Meloni's tweet

Albie has spent 15 seasons as an assistant coach in the college ranks and it's a "hell of an ascent"? Yet when I do a search for similar tweets about Coach Carle I don't find any. Which is strange because it would seem that Coach Carle had more of a "hell of an ascent". And I don't recall any such concern when North Dakota promoted Brad Berry within 24 hours of Dave Hakstol resigning and being named the Flyers head coach. No national search, no looking at top head coaches, and yet nothing about how UND made a mistake.

Oh, and I really like that the CHN article on Albie being named head coach states Coach Parker stayed for the next 30 years. They can't even get a simple and well known fact correct.

Sean

Yes, I agree with you on all of this. "BU is in an interesting spot right now"??? How so? If anything, we are in a pretty boring spot right now. I think Albie was the boring, safe candidate. I expect very few changes to anything. I know you liked Quinn and thought the past five years were good, so it seems like you and most other people should be, and are, content with this. That does not put BU into an "interesting spot." It is literally more of the same, consistency, etc. Like I said before, I fail to see how this will "cost the program dearly." These two "writers" seem like idiots.

[Agganis]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

Pandolfo, Sacco, and Donatelli have the combined college hockey coaching experience of: 1 season as a volunteer assistant on a terrible team.

I wouldn't require a head coach candidate to have 10+ years of college coaching experience, but I would like more than that, regardless of the percentage of completion of their degree (which is an NCAA rule).

[Bomber]

Here's his twitter feed: https://twitter.com/CHN_AdamWodon/with_replies?lang=en

You'll have a hard time backing up the assertion that he was shilling for Bennett based on those tweets. FYI the BU fans in his mentions seem just as butt hurt about mildly critical comments about the BU hiring process as he does responding to them.

Looks like he deleted the tweet.

Great post from Sean. Lotta BU hate put there. Let’s wear black next year and goon it up!!!

[Sean Pickett]

Re: BU season thread volume 3.1 cause board/priceless/tippycanoe deleted ours

I do not think Albie O'Connell was the best person for the job, but I don't think it is going to cost the program "dearly." I don't think it will cost us much, I imagine things will stay pretty consistent and similar to the past four years.

So, who did you want? I don't recall if you stated it previously and I don't want to do a search.

I have no problem with requiring a college degree for the job. As someone posted the other day, isn't that a NCAA rule? Or at least something that is standard across the NCAA?

Yes, it was been stated it is an NCAA requirement, but I have searched the NCAA DI manual and the rest of the NCAA site and have found nothing that states this. And if it was an NCAA requirement you might think that Adam Wodon and the other college hockey reporters would know that fact and not use BU requiring a degree as a reason to attack AD Marrochello. I do think it is standard across the NCAA to want all coaches in all sports to have degrees, and it seems there are very few, if any, that don't.

The aspect that I disagree with the most is the idea that we need a coach who is going to stick around for decades and decades. Our coaches don't all need to be Jack Parker. Yes, it isn't great that we had a coaching search again, five years later (can't blame Quinn at all - way too much money to pass up). It was probably sooner than most people expected - I figured more around the 10-year mark. But if you thought David Qiunn was going to coach at BU for 30 years, then you are insane. How many coaches have done that in the history of college hockey? Four or five?

Well I don't have a definitive count, I know of 6 that remained head coach at one school for at least 30 years and another 30 that coached at one school for at least 20 years and 94 that coached one school for at least 10 years. So, well I don't expect another coach to stay for 40 years (Coach Parker was 28 when he was hired), yet I do expect a coach to stay at least 10 years and I would hope Albie is succssful and stays even longer.

But I think you need to get the best coach available, even if he "might" leave after awhile for an NHL head coach position. There are way too many factors that go into that to be able to predict that a potential hire will ever get that call, let alone have it be the right situation with the right money offered. Not offering the job to someone like Pandolfo because he might want to be an NHL head coach someday? Sounds like a big mistake to me. Not talking to Hynes? I don't know ... that whole situation is weird, anyway. Rather than go for it and get a great coach, they got a guy who is one step down from that. Decent hire, but not great. Which is probably how we'll describe his career when it is over. I know we're going to be looking at a dysfunctional, underachieving power play. I just hope he recognizes his own weaknesses and gets a strong associate HC to do strategy, x's and o's, in-game adjustments. Who knows, maybe he was better at that stuff than Quinn and Quinn just never let him get his ideas out.

I disagree with you and think BU did get a great coach.

My final thought is that, five or so years from now, we are going to be sitting here saying, "Man, we should've hired Freddy Meyer." He will end up being the Hynes of the last coaching search.

I don't think so, but you never know.

Sean