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

[Felger]

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/new...ay/9283589002/

Must have had a bonfire scheduled

[HockeyRef]

View of the weekend from TNH

[Scott]

Eff Valentine's Day. That is all.

[wildcatdc]

Folks - sorry for the late notice, but I have the opportunity to provide some very direct feedback on the national search this Wednesday. I obviously have my own thoughts and ideas, but would love your honest and constructive input as well. It would help provide a balanced perspective and a set of themes regarding what this selection means for athletics broadly, and hockey more directly. Thanks in advance.

[Chuck Murray]

Folks - sorry for the late notice, but I have the opportunity to provide some very direct feedback on the national search this Wednesday. I obviously have my own thoughts and ideas, but would love your honest and constructive input as well. It would help provide a balanced perspective and a set of themes regarding what this selection means for athletics broadly, and hockey more directly. Thanks in advance.

If only I thought any feedback from here would be taken into consideration, 'dc. Not a shot at you BTW. I'm too cynical, after watching the Friends get put down by the current outgoing regime, "nepotism" in the Umile/MS7 transition, poor handling of loyal season ticket holders, etc. Since it's academia, I'm sure there will be a lengthy discussion of intersectionality before anything that will truly matter to getting UNH Athletics going back in the right direction, especially with Hockey.

Just for kicks, I'd say an apology to the Friends (and also Coach McCloskey) at some point would be a strong signal that UNH understands where the insular previous AD messed up. UNH could do a lot worse than hire Coach Hubbard as the full-time AD in addition to his coaching duties, as it seems he currently stands alone as being someone who can make chicken salad out of chicken crap. And stop making excuses for Hoops, get them back across the street at The Whitt, and if the current coaches can't make it fly with higher expectations, get new blood in ASAP.

And please understand that hiring back Commish Nigel won't be viewed favorably in this corner, just as a continuation of the steadily mediocre trending already set in place by BS+infinity.

[d.gerry]

Folks - sorry for the late notice, but I have the opportunity to provide some very direct feedback on the national search this Wednesday. I obviously have my own thoughts and ideas, but would love your honest and constructive input as well. It would help provide a balanced perspective and a set of themes regarding what this selection means for athletics broadly, and hockey more directly. Thanks in advance.

Not sure what your role with the search process is, but I can only hope that someone will listen to a fan/supporter perspective. My take, just as UNH is the flagship for the state’s university system, hockey should be the “flagship” sport at UNH. No disrespect to the other sport, football and basketball specifically however, they realistically have zero chance of becoming national powerhouses. We’ve already seen that hockey can compete at the highest levels of college hockey, and the success and exposure that brought to the athletic department and university as a whole. To allow the program to fall to irrelevance should not have been allowed nor should it be acceptable. We need an outsider with “big school” experience who can seen the importance of having a “flagship” sport which will only elevate the entire department. Whoever this person is, they should state a desire to return hockey to a legitimate NCAA title threat year in and year out. Again, no disrespect to the other programs, but someone has to be top dog, and the hockey program has shown they can and should be that sport.

[Darius]

UNH faculty demand fair contract as negotiations stall:
https://tnhdigital.com/20778/news/un...iations-stall/

"...the university proposed base salary freezes, reductions in salary minima, increased costs borne by employees for medical benefits, as well as cuts to retirement and parental leave... Union members held a small rally outside Thompson Hall... carried signs expressing their frustration with slogans such as “Hands off our Benefits” and “Pay Us like Hockey Coaches.” "

[Chuck Murray]

UNH faculty demand fair contract as negotiations stall:
https://tnhdigital.com/20778/news/un...iations-stall/

"...the university proposed base salary freezes, reductions in salary minima, increased costs borne by employees for medical benefits, as well as cuts to retirement and parental leave... Union members held a small rally outside Thompson Hall... carried signs expressing their frustration with slogans such as “Hands off our Benefits” and “Pay Us like Hockey Coaches.” "

Can't even imagine the uproar if the Feds began to pull back funding of colleges, or even redirected some of it towards trade schools. As the old saying goes ... pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.

[NCAA watcher]

Folks - sorry for the late notice, but I have the opportunity to provide some very direct feedback on the national search this Wednesday. I obviously have my own thoughts and ideas, but would love your honest and constructive input as well. It would help provide a balanced perspective and a set of themes regarding what this selection means for athletics broadly, and hockey more directly. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for soliciting the input, and pretty neat that they are including some community.
On the broadest level, I would be curious to hear their thoughts on the metrics for evaluating an A.D. The present A.D. has focused to the largest extent on physical infrastructure, and his resume essentially consists of the fundraising projects. The competitiveness of the teams has been secondary, with the profile of the team

Significantly less effort, if any, has been placed on the management of the teams themselves. What role does the new A.D. envision for ensuring that coaches are not only ensuring proper mentoring and attention to the student part of the student athlete, but also ensuring that the teams are successful. For the past few years, UNH has seen itself as a community with the other metrics being sufficient to overcome performance issues.

All of which brings to the second set of big-picture questions. The programs fall into two distinct areas. The first are quaint outlets for students, and this is reflected in fairly standard wages for the coaches. There are, however, a few programs of higher visibility (football, hockey, basketball, soccer?) where UNH wants to play on the national scene. The coaches are compensated based on this, earning more than colleges where academics are important (NESCA schools). For these special programs, what are the performance metrics, even if they are good players in the community and likeable? For these programs, does someone from the community, or is it on par with other highly-compensated positions (like the new AD himself/herself, or the President) for which achievement is important regardless of UNH connection.

The answer to the above will then inform the last area -- if the programs do aspire to succeed on the field/pitch/ice, does the AD have the belief that an investment in a known quantity have a return of investment (i.e., the manager is the driver)? Or does he/she view UNH as the product that will take care of itself, so many managers could fulfill the duty. Said another way, will the new AD be requiring/asking for a sufficient budget to hire known outsiders and hope that the increased performance pays itself back, or is the new AD being asked to be moneyball where they can invest at or below market rates for taking a chance on a less proven manager.

***********

I think you can steer clear of the "do you have authority to ignore the old former power brokers who completely f'''d up the performance by hiring unqualified friends?"

[HockeyRef]

I know there are other FOH people that have/had been members longer than me so, if they wanna come in and give some feed back, I hope they would. I will say that after a meeting with the fan group in the Spring of 2017 (or whenever the FOH 'went away') I spoke up about how awful it was to see things dissolve with no real notice from the University (and more specifically, the Athletic Department/AD). A couple of weeks after that I (and I'm guessing other FOH) members did receive a letter stating all that we did for the team, etc . Not really an apology of sorts but more of an acknowledgement of the good deeds the group did, which, were too numerous to name. Like I said, I was kind of a newbie to that group and its workings. There were a lot of hard feelings that I'm sure still reverberate to this day. And the women's team group no doubt, but, I cannot speak to that.

Fans of course are an integral part of any athletic operation, I don't care what sport or what level. Perhaps the powers that be felt we were getting too close to the situation and asking for too much input/feedback or to answer to how the team was doing. The FOH had a very warm relationship with Coach Umile; most likely he kept it going but after he retired, it was def out. Maybe there were NCAA ramifications I do not know. Obviously due to Covid the past two years getting any kind of real fan access to the team in 'meet and greets' have been curtailed and that is not the fault of the AD. Hopefully in the future as things ease up this can return.

Naturally, there are two sides to every story. I'm not sure I ever really heard the Universities side of it. The new AD should know that hockey is as d.gerry states, a very important sport at the U. We are not looking for favoritism over other sports but, there is growing discontent among the fan base about how the team has fared in the past few seasons. We fully understand that to play competitive D1 hockey that fans at UNH had grown accustomed to takes both excellence in recruiting and coaching. Hopefully whomever the University entrusts in this / these positions will take a hard look at how this is going and create a timeline for improvement. If no marked improvement is seen then its only course of action is to change who is running the program. This would not be an unusual move; happens in everyday life and not just in athletics!

I do not kid myself that I know the ins and out of how a hockey team should be recruited or coached and this is not meant as a slam to our current and most recent past players. The bottom line is they are student athletes and that fact should not be forgotten in the process. But to see UNH hockey become (?) 'just another sport' at UNH is not acceptable to those fans who continue to fill those seats and pay the $$ to be STH's and just every game participants.

[Dan]

I don't have time to dive into too much right now - maybe later - but for now I just hope that UNH avoids taking the easy route to an AD hire. They should remember there are still many fans, and countless current and future student-athletes, who take or will take great pride in the program and have a vested connection to future success. UNH has all it needs to be successful across multiple sports - with hockey being the primary obligation - and the hiring committee needs to match the belief, expectation and pride of its primary stakeholders throughout this process...

No peripheral tent posts. Yes, we all want good student-athletes (and coaches) who are well rounded, get good grades, participate in the UNH community and behave. None of that needs to be sacrificed for success. Don't pretend to be limited in building a winner by these objectives and no more lifetime appointments for coaches who stay out of trouble. Winning counts too!

Finally, and most importantly, don't fear hiring a young, hungry and talented AD who may grow UNH Athletics to the point they are hired away. The best possible outcome would be huge success for the hockeys, basketballs and football - and continued success for the soccers - to the point someone poaches the AD. UNH can then use the same process to make another AD hire from a notably better starting point. Don't settle because its easy or because you think someone will stay long term (lack the success to be poached)...

[wildcatdc]

Thanks for all of your input so far - keep it coming.

[HockeyRef]

I don't have time to dive into too much right now - maybe later - but for now I just hope that UNH avoids taking the easy route to an AD hire. They should remember there are still many fans, and countless current and future student-athletes, who take or will take great pride in the program and have a vested connection to future success. UNH has all it needs to be successful across multiple sports - with hockey being the primary obligation - and the hiring committee needs to match the belief, expectation and pride of its primary stakeholders throughout this process...

No peripheral tent posts. Yes, we all want good student-athletes (and coaches) who are well rounded, get good grades, participate in the UNH community and behave. None of that needs to be sacrificed for success. Don't pretend to be limited in building a winner by these objectives and no more lifetime appointments for coaches who stay out of trouble. Winning counts too!

Finally, and most importantly, don't fear hiring a young, hungry and talented AD who may grow UNH Athletics to the point they are hired away. The best possible outcome would be huge success for the hockeys, basketballs and football - and continued success for the soccers - to the point someone poaches the AD. UNH can then use the same process to make another AD hire from a notably better starting point. Don't settle because its easy or because you think someone will stay long term (lack the success to be poached)...

Dan love the last point you make about hiring someone who others want to have; I think of Ryan Bamford at UMass. Of course I don't know diddly about how he's actually doing but he saw a need to bring that hockey program from the depths of despair and hired Greg Carvel and Co...just saying. That's just an example that comes to mind...and no 'dc I am not a Carvel fangirl!

[ClOuD 9]

I was running late today so listened to the pregame. Souza was interviewed and said they had a short practice Saturday. Also said the Gutt is a tough place to play but whatever. Anyway definitely they played as well as I've ever seen them play today and the worst I've seen them play Friday.

Happy for Robinson getting the shutout. Onto the Blackbears should be interesting!

Maybe in terms of the bus ride and facilities, but it's hardly Yost Arena or Lynah Rink...

[HockeyRef]

Maybe in terms of the bus ride and facilities, but it's hardly Yost Arena or Lynah Rink...

Hey there nice to see you here! I'd think you'd have plenty to give to wildcatdc being a long time fan!