UNH Wildcats 2021/2022 - Return of the Champions of October?

[sonar]

Thanks .........

[Scott]

Im not invested enough in UNH Football to truly care - but this is such a Scarano hiring scenario; arranged to sneak one last favor through before parting ways. This is a Souza hire for football. Santos had a great UNH career, is well-liked and connected,but he's never even been a coordinator. Lets hope it works out better on the gridiron.

13-21 in four seasons since their last playoff appearance, on the heels of 14-straight tournament trips would give me succession plan PTSD if I was an AD...

Disagree. Read his bio and the on-field results at both UNH and Columbia when he was on the coaching staff at both schools (Columbia went from 3-7 in 2016 t0 8-2 in 2017 when he was their QB coach).

Comparing him to Souza is like comparing apples and oranges.

[Dan]

I've read his bio - it talks almost exclusively about him as a player. The comparison is on the money in that they are both former UNH standouts with limited experience getting the job because of their pedigree as Wildcat athletes, support from long time head coaches and (most importantly) because its an easy transition that eliminates any actual effort on the part of the AD...

It also mirrors the promotion of inexperienced assistants that recently occurred in women's basketball and gymnastics. Sometimes a promotion - or hiring a coach just because he grew up in your college town - works out, but many times it does not. The best thing that can happen with Scarano's retirement is him taking this pitiful combination of laziness/woefulness/cronyism in hiring with him when he packs up his office. Tell me, what would be the harm in conducting an actual search in which Santos is a candidate?

Santos' bio states that he coached RJ Harris (already a proven WR), then at Columbia and back to UNH. its honestly shocking how little it says about his coaching career. So, what exactly screams slam dunk hire?

Columbia went right back to mediocrity/dormancy after their one 8-2 season. After his first two seasons at UNH (when the train had long been humming along) it has been all downhill in terms of record/results. More indicatively the team was just 6-5 in his one season as interim coach and the QB play/recruitment has left a lot to be desired (including Brosmer pre-injury) in recent seasons...

A lot of people thought Souza was a slam dunk hire when UNH brought him on board for all of the same reasons. Young, charming, likeable, UNH great who despite a thin bio boasted a couple of sentences/seasons on which to hang an optimists' hat, including UConn's resurgent season with him on the bench and the presence of Husky recruits who specifically mentioned in press being recruited by Cavanaugh.

It's clear now Souza was entirely inexperienced/unproven and Santos' resume is every bit as lean. His teams have had ups and downs (with UNH trending down dramatically from 14-straight post-season trips) and, except for his .500 interim season he has never been more than a position coach! Not one year as a coordinator! If his name was Ricky Sanders and his resume said Albany instead of UNH how would this hire be received?

UNH has gotten out of their men's hockey search exactly what they put into the process - so let's hope things work out differently for football - but to pretend this is apples and oranges is revisionist history...

We could spend all night cherry picking pros and cons from Santos' resume - but this hire is ALL about him and his natural ability, because his experience and career tell us nothing. If the UNH AD didn't have a track record of just handing jobs to people he knows or at the bequest of the very coach being 'retired' (in lieu of any real search) - often to the program's severe detriment - I'd feel a lot better, and far less skeptical, about the choice...

[Chuck Murray]

Gotta admit, when I saw the reference to Santos being MacDonnell's likely successor as HC, many of the same thoughts Dan has aired here earlier today occurred to me. Don't get me wrong - Santos was a transformative player in his time as UNH QB, much more so than any other player (and a certain fellow UNH QB who has since done pretty darned well in Columbus OH). As good as MS7 was as a player, he walked into an established successful UNH Hockey program, and was probably never even the best player on his team. Santos was a level or two more prominent to his program as a player.

If MS7 turned out to be the next Charlie Holt or even *gulp* Dick Umile, his hire wouldn't have been an issue. Likewise, if we knew Santos would be the next Ryan Day or even Sean MacDonnell, I think we'd be OK with it. But MS7 hasn't lived up to his advance billing, so it's hard to think that Santos - with an eerily similar coaching career arc, perhaps slightly better - will turn out any better than MS7 has. And knowing what has gone before ... as Dan asks, what's the harm in asking Santos to participate as a candidate in a larger nationwide search process?

Anyone wanna bet Blue Skies' upcoming renovation work on some undisclosed farm property somewhere in between Colgate and Syracuse will vet far more candidates than his last several UNH coaching hires combined? One highly doubts he will just work with the relatives or the successors of the original contractor(s) who built the property a generation or two ago. Just sayin' ...

[Chuck Murray]

McDonnell says goodbye after 23 seasons as UNH's football coach | People | unionleader.com

Times have changed in college football and in the UNH program, he said. “There’s a lot of things you’re gonna have to put an enormous amount of energy into and effort into that I’m not used to.”

McDonnell, 66, missed the 2019 season while being treated for cancer.

“The challenges before I always attacked head-on,” he said. “I just feel like at this time there are better people to do that than Sean McDonnell.”

What an honest admission from a very humble yet accomplished man. Kudos.

Contrast that with how his former colleague from across the street handled things ...

[HockeyRef]

McDonnell says goodbye after 23 seasons as UNH's football coach | People | unionleader.com

Times have changed in college football and in the UNH program, he said. “There’s a lot of things you’re gonna have to put an enormous amount of energy into and effort into that I’m not used to.”

McDonnell, 66, missed the 2019 season while being treated for cancer.

“The challenges before I always attacked head-on,” he said. “I just feel like at this time there are better people to do that than Sean McDonnell.”

What an honest admission from a very humble yet accomplished man. Kudos.

Contrast that with how his former colleague from across the street handled things ...

Pretty admirable that he could come back and coach after his cancer treatments, and that he could honestly self assess where he is at as far as giving to the program that he so loved. In officiating (and teaching) I've seen lots of people hang on when they really needed to step back; myself included. It's not easy to do when you love something so much, but, so necessary for the program and the athletes. I imagine UNH will do some kind of send off for him? With Coach U they had a year to fete him (as did all HE schools). Would assume he will have some kind of send off...

[The Zlax45]

Azumah was drafted Spring of 1999, and McDonnell's first season as head coach was the subsequent Fall...

McDonnell was the OC though before being the HC so he coached him too.

[Chuck Murray]

Pretty admirable that he could come back and coach after his cancer treatments, and that he could honestly self assess where he is at as far as giving to the program that he so loved. In officiating (and teaching) I've seen lots of people hang on when they really needed to step back; myself included. It's not easy to do when you love something so much, but, so necessary for the program and the athletes. I imagine UNH will do some kind of send off for him? With Coach U they had three years to fete him (as did all HE schools). Would assume he will have some kind of send off...

Fixed your post :-)

[Jon]

Cool news for Mike Robinson:

The #HockeyEast Men’s Goaltender of the Week is Mike Robinson, who went 2-0-0 on the week for @UNHMHOCKEY
, picking up his second straight goaltender of the week. He allowed just 2 goals total over the two wins. Against #16 Harvard, he stopped 27 shots for his 8th career shutout.

I feel oddly vindicated by this award...

I just went to my first college hockey game in almost 2 years (the last one was Cole Caulfield and company thwomping UMD 6-2 in Madison). Watching the Badgers flail wildly at a hockey game against Clarkson and watching PC and Dartmouth score 12 goals the Coffin on Friday is like night and day. Neither looked particularly great, but the Gold Knights figured out how to score 3 goals and the Badgers looked like PC circa 2005. There was even some Gooning at the end of the first period!

[HockeyRef]

McDonnell was the OC though before being the HC so he coached him too.

Union Leader has story about what Coach Mac meant to this player...so obviously there was/is a strong connection between the two!

[HockeyRef]

Hr's predictions for BU:

Friday: BU 3 UNH 1
Saturday: UNH 2 BU 1

A split would be great! Without looking and I could be wrong (gasp) the last time we won at Agganis was 2014. Have seen us tie there once.. We have beaten them at UNH twice in my tenure ...surely since 2015????

Regardless....let's go 'Cats!

[Felger]

At least we are actually seeing the Terriers this season....

As good as Souza has been against BC, BU has been the tougher out during his tenure ....

Fascinated by the goaltender matchup for tangible and less tangible reasons....

[HockeyRef]

At least we are actually seeing the Terriers this season....

As good as Souza has been against BC, BU has been the tougher out during his tenure ....

Fascinated by the goaltender matchup for tangible and less tangible reasons....

Would agree 100% they are a tough team for UNH...esp. at the Aggainis. And, am glad we're playing them. Love going; haven't missed a game there since 2013. (Of course, they do deserve major props for being the first arena serving alcohol in HE until Yukon came along, that is...I think anyway :-)

[HockeyRef]

Fixed your post :-)

Well you got a point there, I must say! Am seeing a ton of adulation on twitter from former players to Coach Mac. He made a huge impact on his teams!

[Felger]

Of course, they do deserve major props for being the first arena serving alcohol in HE until Yukon came along, that is...I think anyway :-)

Pretty sure that they sold beer at WBA but my memory could be playing tricks on me.

I preferred games there but I am a dinosaur. (Kind of like the program is.)