RPI 2021-22: Picking Up Where We Left Off

[Engineers]

Sadly I think your right doc. Who knows what else is going on behind the scenes. The new president will have his hands full cleaning up.

[engineerhockeyfan]

Sorry ...

No problem, you are allowed your opinion.

[Engineers]

Not sure who they have in mind. I certainly hope they keep Dave smith. He’s a very good coach.

[Engineers]

Maybe Dave wants to find something else. Can you blame him. It’s a nightmare dealing with RPI

[engineerhockeyfan]

Does anyone get the sense Dave might be coaching for his job these last few weeks? Hard to tell when lee talks because everything is in riddles and secrets.

I think that we have to keep in mind that when next season starts, Shirley and Lee will not be here.
So Dave will have to impress his new bosses at that time.
I hope he stays, but you know what happens when a new boss takes over. He likes to have his own people on his staff.

[sezenack]

There's a single person who is the reason that Smith has not been extended yet. Take a guess.

Also, where has it been stated that McElroy will be gone too? Haven't seen that anywhere, so I'm curious

[sezenack]

New Talkin' Neers episode, forgot to post it here last night sorry
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5tb...89a70fd54b4954

[Engineers]

Yeah take a guess.

[jstadts]

I think that we have to keep in mind that when next season starts, Shirley and Lee will not be here.
So Dave will have to impress his new bosses at that time.
I hope he stays, but you know what happens when a new boss takes over. He likes to have his own people on his staff.

see what is happening at Union. Longtime hockey coach and swimming coach unceremoniously dumped.

[DrDemento]

Sadly I think your right doc. Who knows what else is going on behind the scenes. The new president will have his hands full cleaning up.

A lot will depend on how important he feels the hockey program and perhaps sports in general is to the Institute. The fact that he was at one time, an RPI boy, especially during the time when hockey was a central part of the activities promoted there. But we really cannot know in this very different time how that will play out. My gut tells me nothing can be as bad as the past regime. But things could be worse (doubtful). The important question is can the damage be repaired?

[Engineers]

My gut tells me it will get better. Time will tell. Can’t get much worse

[RPI fan 4 life]

A lot will depend on how important he feels the hockey program and perhaps sports in general is to the Institute. The fact that he was at one time, an RPI boy, especially during the time when hockey was a central part of the activities promoted there. But we really cannot know in this very different time how that will play out. My gut tells me nothing can be as bad as the past regime. But things could be worse (doubtful). The important question is can the damage be repaired?

Of course, this discussion is more suited for the off season thread (which hopefully won’t be for a while). Just remember that we are still in 5th place with 6 games to go, 4 of which are at HFH. There is still time to turn things around if they can find someone who can score some goals.

[rpi82]

If Smith isn't renewed I'm going to be unhappy. Although I'm not thrilled with this season, too many obstacles have been thrown in the team's path to blame it on the coach. Overall, I think he's done a solid job and, if it wasn't for the pandemic, he'd have been extended long ago. Frankly, pandemic or not, it should have been done after year 3. Give us back the second leading scorer for a ranked MTU team and the goaltender that has carried UM-L to the top of Hockey East (plus LIU's leading scorer and two solid defensemen) and we'd have been well-positioned to chase a berth in LP.

We've continued getting recruiting commitments, which has made me cautiously optimistic that Smith has been able give assurances that he will be re-upping (or has already done so) and be their coach when they enroll in Troy.

[engineerhockeyfan]

If Smith isn't renewed I'm going to be unhappy. Although I'm not thrilled with this season, too many obstacles have been thrown in the team's path to blame it on the coach. Overall, I think he's done a solid job and, if it wasn't for the pandemic, he'd have been extended long ago. Frankly, pandemic or not, it should have been done after year 3. Give us back the second leading scorer for a ranked MTU team and the goaltender that has carried UM-L to the top of Hockey East (plus LIU's leading scorer and two solid defensemen) and we'd have been well-positioned to chase a berth in LP.

We've continued getting recruiting commitments, which has made me cautiously optimistic that Smith has been able give assurances that he will be re-upping (or has already done so) and be their coach when they enroll in Troy.

I hope you are right. I would love to see him back next year.
I think that he has done a great job with the players he has.
His teams are playing the best team defense that I have seen in Troy in many many years.
His systems are very good and if we could only get a real goal scorer, we could challenge for a top four spot in the ECAC.

[Ralph Baer]

I agree that Smith should be rehired (and Vines too). He has definitely done a good job considering all of the obstacles he has been able to overcome. I also agree that the fact we have received recent commitments from recruits indicates that he has been told something.

It's hard to believe that we can get a commitment from any true goal scorers who don't have a glaring deficiency in another area in the current circumstances. Among the recruits whom we expect to arrive next fall, Brown and Muzzatti appear to have some talent for scoring goals, but to the extent that we really need.