UNH Men’s Hockey 22-23: the start of something new, or more of the same?

[Snively65]

4/30/2024

I will betcha that you know who influenced BS35+infinity on awarding that contract extension, which fortunately was not even longer, say five years. No way next year gets bought out.

[Felger]

Guess I was thinking in terms of W's thanks for the correction!

I knew what you meant...for the record I don't really care for the way points are doled out nowadays but it is what it is...

[deltabravo62]

I will betcha that you know who influenced BS35+infinity on awarding that contract extension, which fortunately was not even longer, say five years. No way next year gets bought out.

Oh I know, and I agree that while there is an "out" in the contract it will not be used. Here's to another 17 months of boldly going nowhere.

BSrandomnumbers signed the extension after announcing his retirement and at the end of last season. I guess he was telling us something when he said Souza was "the right man for the job". Funny no announcement from the U after last year that they "got their man" for the next two seasons.

[deltabravo62]

Souza was already under contract for this season. The extension that was signed only added on next year so it wasn't a situation where he was leaving the new AD in the lurch needing a new hockey coach upon walking in the door. This was just a "gift from the family" on Marty's way out the door...

[Chuck Murray]

Not to mention the total lack of coverage from the Union Leader and WMUR. You would think these outlets would have some interest in the current state of the program, but no, it's barely mentioned. I guess college sports in general has limited appeal in a small state like NH. Despite that, you'd think a story chronicling the complete downfall of the former flagship program in the state, and the apparent apathy of the current administration to fix it, should garner some interest. No?

I'm more annoyed by the UL, if only because I've totally given up on WMUR, which has basically stopped being a local NH TV station, and carries only approved narratives with slants coming straight out of ABC HQ on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The on-air personalities aren't from NH anymore, and are made up largely of unremarkable transplant MA-holes or anonymous mediocrities from further away, and based on some observations from a pair of former players of mine who were also recent interns at the station, it seems very intentional, and something the long time local on-air talent is keenly aware of. Try watching Channel 5 (Needham MA) and Channel 9 (Manchester NH) news back-to-back someday, and you'll see what I mean. Say what you will about Charlie Sherman back in the day, but he and his cohorts gave UNH Hockey tons of coverage. No more.

There is no reason why the UL shouldn't be all over the collapse of UNH Hockey already. It's a huge and uniquely NH story, and they still do some good long-form reporting on other NH stories from around the state on other non-sports topics. Maybe an extended piece during the upcoming Winter break would be well-placed, and anticipate the approaching crunch point where the new AD has to give some serious thought about pulling the plug on the current regime with one season left on their deals (based on db62's tireless efforts - kudos)? I would think both the UL and WMUR have compelling archival materials from the early '90's showing how the program was really the first of its kind in the State to break through - there's a strong argument that the now-SNHU Arena was only built after the Whittemore Center's massive success a few years earlier - and is now dying on the vine a generation later.

There's probably a huge story to be written at a certain point about how New Hampshire (as a separate identity within New England) has gotten washed over in the modern era of social media, as highlighted by Manchester Airport being re-labeled as Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, and other such incursions into the NH identity. Maybe someday, if I live that long and get to retirement bored and itchy, I'll even try to write it. :-)

[HockeyRef]

Souza was already under contract for this season. The extension that was signed only added on next year so it wasn't a situation where he was leaving the new AD in the lurch needing a new hockey coach upon walking in the door. This was just a "gift from the family" on Marty's way out the door...

oh, I was under the impression it was last year not this, so now I'm even more bummed about it.

[Chuck Murray]

Souza was already under contract for this season. The extension that was signed only added on next year so it wasn't a situation where he was leaving the new AD in the lurch needing a new hockey coach upon walking in the door. This was just a "gift from the family" on Marty's way out the door...

Yes, God forbid, the brand-new AD would have had almost a full year to plan for the renewal or replacement of the Men's head hockey coach, we wouldn't want to force her to actually, y'know ... like, do her job or something. Give Blue Skies an inch, and he'll take a year, especially if he can take care of a fellow paisan. Mamma mia indeed ...

So ... now that db62 has gotten to the bottom of the contractual situation, 'Watcher ... what's the solution now? Wait 'til 2024?? Heck, we can let this go on for a few more years after, and in no time, we'll be able to do that "NH Beanpot" thing I've been pushing on here for way too long, except instead of being embarrassed by some close calls against St. A's, SNHU or Plymouth State, we can avoid embarrassment by entering the competition as underdogs?!? I mean, Babson, UAH AND Holy frickin' Cross, guys ... we're practically almost there already, aren't we???

[HockeyRef]

Yes, God forbid, the brand-new AD would have had almost a full year to plan for the renewal or replacement of the Men's head hockey coach, we wouldn't want to force her to actually, y'know ... like, do her job or something. Give Blue Skies an inch, and he'll take a year, especially if he can take care of a fellow paisan. Mamma mia indeed ...

So ... now that db62 has gotten to the bottom of the contractual situation, 'Watcher ... what's the solution now? Wait 'til 2024?? Heck, we can let this go on for a few more years after, and in no time, we'll be able to do that "NH Beanpot" thing I've been pushing on here for way too long, except instead of being embarrassed by some close calls against St. A's, SNHU or Plymouth State, we can avoid embarrassment by entering the competition as underdogs?!? I mean, Babson, UAH AND Holy frickin' Cross, guys ... we're practically almost there already, aren't we???

Yep, that threashold I was referring to...just got alot worse? I guess I better get to the 'acceptance' phase, and right quick.

[Chuck Murray]

Yep, that threashold I was referring to...just got alot worse? I guess I better get to the 'acceptance' phase, and right quick.

Nope. UNH needs to press him to leave of his own accord, perhaps with a lesser negotiated buyout. Heck, this is the school that dug very deep to create some fictitious basis to can Coach McCloskey not all that long ago, and he was actually still winning some games back then, with a fresh renewal of his contract to boot. Maybe MS7 will ham-handedly misgender one of the UNH admins, and presto bingo - WE HAVE CAUSE!!! ;-)

For the record, the above comment is pointed at the previous AD and the other gutless high level UNH admins who let that farce happen, I would not wish that handling on my worst enemy. And MS7 isn't even close to my enemy, he's just in way over his head, and needs to be moved on. It can't be good for his health, to have his professional shortcomings exposed in public twice weekly, once on average in front of friends and family. He may even welcome it at this point, as there's no indication this is getting better any time soon ... unless I've missed CHC's latest about next year's incoming stud-laden Class of '27?!? I mean, don't we owe C-H-C the opportunity to actually do his recruiting beat hobby involving some top-notch prospects, like he used to experience regularly, and actually enjoy doing it with the idea some of these incoming kids can make a big difference in restoring a winning program? Making these portal "gets" from Babson and Alabama Huntsville seem compelling has to be a rough gig ... one can only wonder what college hockey netherlands will feature next if/when MS7 is allowed another dip into the portal. Rivier? Brandeis?? Emerson???

Resign, please.

[norbert]

We'll guessing here, but nobody felt they could take on Scarano, and it is difficult to confront the current coaches with questions when you still have to deal with them. Now with the new AD, she's not had a chance to actually make any changes, and would be very angry if she acknowledged the frank conversations taking place behind the scenes. I assume come March 9th, the story will highlight the elephant in the room, so that when an announcement is made on March 21st or so that UNH will not be renewing Souza and Kay, or, before that, that Mike Souza has chosen to take a wonderful opportunity at Milton Academy (or the like) as head coach and assistant admissions counsellor. Only then will we hear that UNH is forming a national search committee to find a successor.

From what I can find, the 2017 salary was $108,700 with him being announced in March 2018 that he was head coach. Thinking this through, it is likely the HC stuff began with the state fiscal year

2018-2019 Year 1
2019-2020 Year 2
2021-2022 Year 3 signs extension for 2 years
2022-2023 Year 1 extension
2023-2024 last year of extention

I would not be surprised he has a year left after this year. 2 contracts = 5 years

[norbert]

So with all the contract talk and how irrelevant the program has become in the state, we have 2 more league games this weekend. At this point is Libby's and hopes that the restocked my beer Friday night as expectations are low.

I do think UNH busts open the offense Friday, tying the season high with 2 goals in league play. The unfortunate part is they give up 6, losing 6-2 to extend the winless streak to 10 games.

Saturday the offensive woes continue, losing 4-1 as BU probably plays their back up goalie knowing Goldberg from the Mighty Ducks could win a game.

The question of the week though is, I can buy 3 tickets at $23 for a total of $69. But I can do the Me+3 getting 4 tickets for $69. May just go that route to prevent anyone sitting next to me.....

[Snively65]

So with all the contract talk and how irrelevant the program has become in the state, we have 2 more league games this weekend. At this point is Libby's and hopes that the restocked my beer Friday night as expectations are low.

I do think UNH busts open the offense Friday, tying the season high with 2 goals in league play. The unfortunate part is they give up 6, losing 6-2 to extend the winless streak to 10 games.

Saturday the offensive woes continue, losing 4-1 as BU probably plays their back up goalie knowing Goldberg from the Mighty Ducks could win a game.

The question of the week though is, I can buy 3 tickets at $23 for a total of $69. But I can do the Me+3 getting 4 tickets for $69. May just go that route to prevent anyone sitting next to me.....

So if the attendance is recorded as 6501, we will know that it was really only 6500 if you buy the four for price of three deal.

[Snively65]

Nope. UNH needs to press him to leave of his own accord, perhaps with a lesser negotiated buyout. Heck, this is the school that dug very deep to create some fictitious basis to can Coach McCloskey not all that long ago, and he was actually still winning some games back then, with a fresh renewal of his contract to boot. Maybe MS7 will ham-handedly misgender one of the UNH admins, and presto bingo - WE HAVE CAUSE!!! ;-)

For the record, the above comment is pointed at the previous AD and the other gutless high level UNH admins who let that farce happen, I would not wish that handling on my worst enemy. And MS7 isn't even close to my enemy, he's just in way over his head, and needs to be moved on. It can't be good for his health, to have his professional shortcomings exposed in public twice weekly, once on average in front of friends and family. He may even welcome it at this point, as there's no indication this is getting better any time soon ... unless I've missed CHC's latest about next year's incoming stud-laden Class of '27?!? I mean, don't we owe C-H-C the opportunity to actually do his recruiting beat hobby involving some top-notch prospects, like he used to experience regularly, and actually enjoy doing it with the idea some of these incoming kids can make a big difference in restoring a winning program? Making these portal "gets" from Babson and Alabama Huntsville seem compelling has to be a rough gig ... one can only wonder what college hockey netherlands will feature next if/when MS7 is allowed another dip into the portal. Rivier? Brandeis?? Emerson???

Resign, please.

And please do not slip a hyphen into ‘resign.’

[deltabravo62]

From what I can find, the 2017 salary was $108,700 with him being announced in March 2018 that he was head coach. Thinking this through, it is likely the HC stuff began with the state fiscal year

2018-2019 Year 1
2019-2020 Year 2
2021-2022 Year 3 signs extension for 2 years
2022-2023 Year 1 extension
2023-2024 last year of extention

I would not be surprised he has a year left after this year. 2 contracts = 5 years

In 2018 he signed for 5 years, after year 4 (last season) the extension was signed to add year 6.

Per the contract if UNH was to move on from him it would be more fiscally beneficial to UNH to do so now as opposed to after this season.

[NCAA watcher]

First and foremost, a huge thank you DeltaBravo for your work in getting answers.
Second, I assumed Marty was stupid and deferential, but this smacks of malice. Going out the door, saddling your successor with your mistake and handcuffing her from making her own decision. President Dean, did you know of this? It's kind of sad to say the President should have watched the AD on his way out the door because he couldn't be trusted, but that's what it looks like now. How does any person not motivated by greed look at the miserable results in 7 years, and say "I need to reward you with a two year extension"? That's like Dombrowski giving Pablo Sandoval a two year extension. I can certainly understand Borek's joy at beating UNH each year. I apologize for minimizing your gripes out the door about how screwed up the team and AD were and how you were the only competent one running the ship. Results have proven you far more right than we could have imagined.
Third, AD Rich is now mostly off the hook -- her hands are pretty much tied unless the outs in the contract provide some leeway.
The Granato discussion focused on buyout clauses allowing the school to offset their payout if the coach finds a new job. Souza, at 240K, won't find that again, but might be able to find a job at 50, so the buyout would be reduced to 190K or so. Can they structure the new coach so the actual yearly cash flow is minimally impacted -- lower in 2023-24, then higher in subsequent years. Not the greatest way to entice competent coaches. Let's hope AD Rich negotiated enough of a budget to do the needed buyout. If they can waste millions on narrowing the rink to "help" the program, shouldn't the $200K buyout be money far better spent?

And finally, this is on Souza, too. If he truly loves the University as he says, he should resign. But if this is all about money, then he'll hang on for every last cent. Or, more likely, he's a prime example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, in which incompetent people lack the ability to see their own incompetence:

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias whereby people with low ability, expertise, or experience regarding a certain type of task or area of knowledge tend to overestimate their ability or knowledge.

I wonder if AD Rich can help Souza see what's best by making it clear to Souza that he's never getting renewed after 2024, that the U will only minimally support him (is he contractually entitled to two assistants? If we're going to suck in 2023-24, maybe he should do it all because the U needs to save money for a real coach in 2024. And why recruit, if the players may well go elsewhere when the coaching change happens.)

And if Mike Souza hangs on just for the money, I'm all for making it clear to him what the community thinks. My prior pleas for compassion toward him during the fait acompli last 3 months has changed once I saw this is not the end.

And Scarano should never be permitted back on the campus without jeering at every moment. For all the talk about "loving the university," for him and Umile it was always about getting your's first at the expense of the University. Let's see if Souza is cut from the same cloth.