D1 Coaching Changes

[Timothy A]

• Molly Engstrom – Monday, May 9 – 1:30 PM
• Brian Idalski – Wednesday, May 11 – 9:15 AM
• Erik Strand – Wednesday, May 11 – 2:30 PM

interview dates and times

SLAM DUNK Idalski gets the job. Why couldn't he do with St. Cloud Watts he did with the Sue?

[Lindsay]

SLAM DUNK Idalski gets the job. Why couldn't he do with St. Cloud Watts he did with the Sue?

Interesting. We’ll see how it ends up.
Idalski has a great resume but at UND he had:
Lamoureuxs and Manitobans thanks to geography and Europeans thanks to Peter
Elander (also a world class coach in his own right).

So of Idalski gets the job he’ll have some challenges and now there’s 4 great teams not 3 plus UND, since the sleeping giant OSU is awake and winning National Championships. So we’ll see. First bit of interesting hockey news in ages.

[Timothy A]

Interesting. We’ll see how it ends up.
Idalski has a great resume but at UND he had:
Lamoureuxs and Manitobans thanks to geography and Europeans thanks to Peter
Elander (also a world class coach in his own right).

So of Idalski gets the job he’ll have some challenges and now there’s 4 great teams not 3 plus UND, since the sleeping giant OSU is awake and winning National Championships. So we’ll see. First bit of interesting hockey news in ages.

He could wake another sleeping giant. I'd guess he's try and re-unite with Elander. I just wonder if the gap is too long from the Sue days to now. Has it been 4-5 years?

[Scott_TG]

Erik Strand has really helped UW-Eau Claire to the next level as a contender at the DIII level in recent years. Mark Bolding was more accomplished at Norwich prior to his jump to Yale but Strand could make a case to St. Cloud that he could do for them what Bolding has done for the Bulldogs.

[Offsides Guy]

Idalski would need an assistant with a fun, friendly personality to be successful at recruiting here at home. He definitely would not win many recruits over on his own. It’d be great to have another woman HC in the WCHA so I’m hoping for Engstrom. And I say that because I also think she could build some success at SCSU, not solely because she’s a woman.

[osualum86]

Showing my age, I hear Coachella Valley, I think Bugs Bunny, and not music festival.

Haha, same! "I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque."

Ok, scrolled backwards and saw that Timothy A beat me to that famous Bugs Bunny punchline. We know what has happened with Zoe Hickel. I have no clue what is going on with Emily West. Looks like Coach Muzerall will need to bring in a couple of assistants this offseason. I wish we could keep assistants around longer, but when you have one of the top programs in the country, you're going to lose assistant coaches from time to time. I am looking forward to seeing who Coach brings in to replace Zoe and Emily.

[shelfit]

Idalski would need an assistant with a fun, friendly personality to be successful at recruiting here at home. He definitely would not win many recruits over on his own. It’d be great to have another woman HC in the WCHA so I’m hoping for Engstrom. And I say that because I also think she could build some success at SCSU, not solely because she’s a woman.

Idalski needs an assistant with a personality and a pulse, period. You know, the opposite of himself. Lol.

I'm hoping for Engstrom. The string of male head coaches at SCSU has to come to an end for them to truly turn this program around. If not, they will continue to struggle year after year. That's my prediction.

[Steamboat]

I'm hoping for Engstrom. The string of male head coaches at SCSU has to come to an end for them to truly turn this program around. If not, they will continue to struggle year after year. That's my prediction.

I agree. With two women in the NCAA final it is clear that women are able to coach hockey. In some idealistic future, maybe we will even see them coaching NFL teams. But for now, let's give some opportunities to the women who have worked their way through the crease. Engstrom, yeh!

[osualum86]

I am rooting for Molly Engstrom to get the coaching job at St. Cloud. If she does not get it, would love to see her down here working with our D's!

[Timothy A]

I'm hoping the best candidate gets the job. I'd go with Idalski.

[ARM]

... when you have one of the top programs in the country, you're going to lose assistant coaches from time to time.

Yeah, it's been a regular revolving door at Wisco. And BC, for that matter.

According to Brad Frost, Idalski's teams at UND were as good as anyone at making in-game adjustments. Apparently, the Whioux would run one set of systems in the first period, and then completely change it up for the second. Whether that was Idalski or Elander, Frost didn't say.

[shelfit]

Yeah, it's been a regular revolving door at Wisco. And BC, for that matter.

According to Brad Frost, Idalski's teams at UND were as good as anyone at making in-game adjustments. Apparently, the Whioux would run one set of systems in the first period, and then completely change it up for the second. Whether that was Idalski or Elander, Frost didn't say.

My 16U and 19U coaches ran a different forecheck with each line based on the different skillsets of each line, and a different power play with each of our two PP units, so changing "systems" from one period to the next seems less challenging for an opponent than different forechecking systems on three different lines. Just saying, what Idalski did doesn't sound like a big deal to me.

[Lindsay]

MacDonald was an assistant coach at St Cloud for 5 years, they won just under 50 games in those 5 years and they promoted him to head coach. underwhelming hire at the time and proved to be as much. From the outside looking in I don’t think promoting Engstrom to head coach makes sense given the past 3 year performance of the team but certainly there’s a precedent at St Cloud for doing as much. None of us will be surprised though if it turns out only guys get promotions like that. Good for Engstrom for putting her name in the hat.

I’m a little surprised at the OSU revolving door of coaches. I understand it’s a turnover type job but you’d think there would be one that would stick eventually, happy to grow into an associate head coach role.

[Lindsay]

I agree. With two women in the NCAA final it is clear that women are able to coach hockey. In some idealistic future, maybe we will even see them coaching NFL teams. But for now, let's give some opportunities to the women who have worked their way through the crease. Engstrom, yeh!

not sure if you meant NFL teams but the Browns did hire a woman as their AGM yesterday which was cool. (I’m assuming she was qualified, yes people should be qualified for the jobs they get.)

I share your enthusiasm though, it’s great to see more women in coaching roles. A lot of time’s the best coaching jobs don’t go to women until a scandal of some degree occurs. It’s nice when women earn a job and get it in a healthy way. Princeton is one of the best examples in women’s hockey right now for that. Kampersal had a healthy program, competent associate head coach who happened to be a woman, he got his next opportunity and advocated for her to take over.

[ARM]

Just saying, what Idalski did doesn't sound like a big deal to me.

Likely, the flaw lies in my retelling. In any case, Frost thought the UND teams of that era were the most challenging in terms of showing different looks to an opponent.

For example, it seems to be fairly common for teams to run different PP schemes for their 2nd and 3rd, if they have one, units. When that is done from game to game, the opponent can see it on film. When the change occurs within a unit during a game, the challenge isn't just for the opponent to adjust, but for the players implementing a different system. Whether working with something like computer software or business processes, nothing introduced more errors than change.