RPI 2022-23: Return of the Schmidt and the Fans

[sk8tronthepond]

In addition, RPI has had a total of 8 winning seasons out of the last 21 under 3 different coaches--that points to some issues bigger than who is behind the bench.

Good point. There is one common denominator through all three coaches! SAJ. Coincidence? Time to keep moving forward.

[DavidNardolillo]

Longtime HFH operations manager Norris Pearson announced as new president/CEO of Rensselaer County Chamber of Commerce. https://www.renscochamber.com/news/c...-new-president

[tony/troy]

Longtime HFH operations manager Norris Pearson announced as new president/CEO of Rensselaer County Chamber of Commerce. https://www.renscochamber.com/news/c...-new-president

Good guy. Good manager. Will be missed every bit as much as some of the other really good people who have already skedaddled and no longer appear on the athletics' department website.

To the best of my knowledge, the ones who have taken their noteworthy skills and abilities elsewhere have done just fine thank you. I have no doubt that the latest departee will do same. Quite likely, another most definite step backwards for the athletics department.

[Ralph Baer]

Does anyone know if WRPI is going to stream the games this weekend?

[troyboy]

Hey Ralph define "very good" We are becoming excuse makers the justification for firing SA who btw attracted NHL caliber players to RPI under SAJ btw was to "rebuild the program" so we brought in a sub 500 coach from Atlantic Hockey and I never heard anyone utter a word about the program having a ceiling of hopefully 8Th place in the league or the goal is to be very good and the president sucks,the facility sucks covid did it. Harvard and Cornell shut down for covid they seem to be OK. We have already been thru 1 contract and have not reached the very good stage and I don't see that in sight we may well have some "very good" players in the pipeline but I submit that is debatable. I for 1 think this program can return as a national player we just need the right people in place and unfortunately we are losing good people. A total reevaluation is necessary because the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train !

[Ralph Baer]

Hey Ralph define "very good" We are becoming excuse makers the justification for firing SA who btw attracted NHL caliber players to RPI under SAJ btw was to "rebuild the program" so we brought in a sub 500 coach from Atlantic Hockey and I never heard anyone utter a word about the program having a ceiling of hopefully 8Th place in the league or the goal is to be very good and the president sucks,the facility sucks covid did it. Harvard and Cornell shut down for covid they seem to be OK. We have already been thru 1 contract and have not reached the very good stage and I don't see that in sight we may well have some "very good" players in the pipeline but I submit that is debatable. I for 1 think this program can return as a national player we just need the right people in place and unfortunately we are losing good people. A total reevaluation is necessary because the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train !

If you are referring to my comment about recruits, I mean 4.0 *'s. If you are referring to something else, please point me to the comment. There is no doubt that early in his tenure SA attracted better players, but IMO they were not as good later.

Edit: The only ECAC schools that are better in this regard are Cornell, Clarkson, and Harvard (not even QU).

[rpi82]

Hey Ralph define "very good" We are becoming excuse makers the justification for firing SA who btw attracted NHL caliber players to RPI under SAJ btw was to "rebuild the program" so we brought in a sub 500 coach from Atlantic Hockey and I never heard anyone utter a word about the program having a ceiling of hopefully 8Th place in the league or the goal is to be very good and the president sucks,the facility sucks covid did it. Harvard and Cornell shut down for covid they seem to be OK. We have already been thru 1 contract and have not reached the very good stage and I don't see that in sight we may well have some "very good" players in the pipeline but I submit that is debatable. I for 1 think this program can return as a national player we just need the right people in place and unfortunately we are losing good people. A total reevaluation is necessary because the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train !

Seth got screwed by the Chicago Blackhawks. If Pirri had been drafted by anyone other than the team that had to empty its farm system after pushing the bounds of the salary cap to win a Stanley Cup, he probably stays at least 2 and maybe 3 years. If he does, then D'Amigo might have as well. However, Seth didn't bring in NHL level talent after his first few years. Over his last 8 classes (including players he had committed for 2017) he didn't meet that standard unless you consider Zalewski's handful of games in Vancouver the standard for NHL level talent. Furthermore, while hardly sufficient, the Institute did do some facilities renovations during Seth's years, including the new face for HFH, new locker rooms, team lounges, the coaches offices/Shirley's throne on the west end and training facilities both within the field house and the modern workout facility next door in the ECAV project. Can anyone name a single facility upgrade (new popcorn machine?) during Smith's tenure? I hope that the new administration will be proposing some required infrastructure (ice plant?) and amenity improvements (east end?) to the field house in future capital plans.

[sk8tronthepond]

Furthermore, while hardly sufficient, the Institute did do some facilities renovations during Seth's years, including the new face for HFH, new locker rooms, team lounges, the coaches offices/Shirley's throne on the west end and training facilities both within the field house and the modern workout facility next door in the ECAV project.

That was all in the process prior to the hiring of a new coach, whether it was Appert or someone else. If you haven't been paying attention, there is so much for the new President to correct due to SAJ's lack of leadership in the athletic department, I don't think it can ever be rectified. The athletic department is sinking fast, and the current AD is a figure head who does nothing. When you have an athletic department that is sinking, it's only a matter of time before the programs within do the same.

[rpi82]

That was all in the process prior to the hiring of a new coach, whether it was Appert or someone else. If you haven't been paying attention, there is so much for the new President to correct due to SAJ's lack of leadership in the athletic department, I don't think it can ever be rectified. The athletic department is sinking fast, and the current AD is a figure head who does nothing. When you have an athletic department that is sinking, it's only a matter of time before the programs within do the same.

I have no knowledge on the internal workings of the Athletic Department and I'm not a fan of how our flagship sport has been supported, but is the overall attack on the quality of the department true? It seems that the overall department has been doing pretty well. In fact, my biggest complaint with ECAV was that too much was spent on other sports than hockey. Football has had one losing season (barely, at 4-5) in the last 20 years. That trend preceded SAJ and ECAV as we've only had two in 30 years (Joe King was a great coach). Men's BB has never been better. Lacrosse, soccer and baseball have all had some excellent seasons in recent years. It's obviously tougher on the women's side but, again with the exception of hockey, most of the sports have been competitive and even had a few strong seasons - which is pretty impressive at an engineering school with just a 30% female enrollment largely playing liberal arts schools.

P.S. To this date I still have no idea why we needed a 5,000 seat football stadium.

[engineerhockeyfan]

Seth got screwed by the Chicago Blackhawks. If Pirri had been drafted by anyone other than the team that had to empty its farm system after pushing the bounds of the salary cap to win a Stanley Cup, he probably stays at least 2 and maybe 3 years. If he does, then D'Amigo might have as well. However, Seth didn't bring in NHL level talent after his first few years. Over his last 8 classes (including players he had committed for 2017) he didn't meet that standard unless you consider Zalewski's handful of games in Vancouver the standard for NHL level talent. Furthermore, while hardly sufficient, the Institute did do some facilities renovations during Seth's years, including the new face for HFH, new locker rooms, team lounges, the coaches offices/Shirley's throne on the west end and training facilities both within the field house and the modern workout facility next door in the ECAV project. Can anyone name a single facility upgrade (new popcorn machine?) during Smith's tenure? I hope that the new administration will be proposing some required infrastructure (ice plant?) and amenity improvements (east end?) to the field house in future capital plans.

So we are going to blame the Chicago Blackhawks for bringing up one of their draft picks, but losing players to the transfer portal is not affecting the current coaching staff.
I am not as high on Smith as I once was, but neither he nor Appert was to blame for the loss of our best players.

[rpi82]

So we are going to blame the Chicago Blackhawks for bringing up one of their draft picks, but losing players to the transfer portal is not affecting the current coaching staff.
I am not as high on Smith as I once was, but neither he nor Appert was to blame for the loss of our best players.

Where did I say that? In fact, I have often stated that Smith's plan for developing the program has been set back by factors beyond his control and he is largely not responsible for the scope of the departures. I may not have repeated it here for the nth time but that doesn't somehow infer that I said just the opposite as you somehow concluded. All I did was acknowledge that, at least during his early years, Seth was also impacted by factors beyond his control. That wasn't the negative for him in my eyes - it's that he was given an additional half-dozen years to recover and he couldn't.

[DrDemento]

P.S. To this date I still have no idea why we needed a 5,000 seat football stadium.

The obesity epidemic? Some may need more than one seat to get comfortable?

Perhaps we could flood it in the winter and go back to playing some outdoor old time hockey!! You know, with 3 regular periods, perhaps a 5 minute OT while still 5 on 5 and no shoot outs!

[Engineers]

The obesity epidemic? Some may need more than one seat to get comfortable?

Perhaps we could flood it in the winter and go back to playing some outdoor old time hockey!! You know, with 3 regular periods, perhaps a 5 minute OT while still 5 on 5 and no shoot outs!

lol

[engineerhockeyfan]

Where did I say that? In fact, I have often stated that Smith's plan for developing the program has been set back by factors beyond his control and he is largely not responsible for the scope of the departures. I may not have repeated it here for the nth time but that doesn't somehow infer that I said just the opposite as you somehow concluded. All I did was acknowledge that, at least during his early years, Seth was also impacted by factors beyond his control. That wasn't the negative for him in my eyes - it's that he was given an additional half-dozen years to recover and he couldn't.

I am sorry for the misunderstanding. My bad.
After your explanation I have to agree with everything you wrote

[ServinisScores]

I have no knowledge on the internal workings of the Athletic Department and I'm not a fan of how our flagship sport has been supported, but is the overall attack on the quality of the department true? It seems that the overall department has been doing pretty well. In fact, my biggest complaint with ECAV was that too much was spent on other sports than hockey. Football has had one losing season (barely, at 4-5) in the last 20 years. That trend preceded SAJ and ECAV as we've only had two in 30 years (Joe King was a great coach). Men's BB has never been better. Lacrosse, soccer and baseball have all had some excellent seasons in recent years. It's obviously tougher on the women's side but, again with the exception of hockey, most of the sports have been competitive and even had a few strong seasons - which is pretty impressive at an engineering school with just a 30% female enrollment largely playing liberal arts schools.

P.S. To this date I still have no idea why we needed a 5,000 seat football stadium.

let the data speak….well said sir.