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BU 2021-22: Albie's Great Adventure

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Section 6 said:
And it is "BS" because ... ? Your answer to that question was, "If he didn't have a degree, and he was not going to be considered because of it, then he never could have been the favorite."

Not necessarily. Tony Granato got the job at Wisconsin, which has a rule similar to BU's, without a degree. The arrangement was that he agreed to complete the requirements for his BA within a year. BU could have done something like that for Pandolfo. And the fact that a number of articles at the time, including one from WTBU, listed him as a candidate, suggests that he could have made it happen then.

BTW - I don't think it really matters too much at this point whether or not he was a leading candidate three years ago anyway.
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I've heard from multiple people that Bob Brown personally refused to hire anyone who did not have a college degree and was not open to a Granato-style plan. Pandolfo was never a candidate to begin with in 2018 for precisely this reason is what I heard. WTBU articles are speculative at best, those writers generally have little to no actual information.
 
The Pandolfo hire made me think back to how loaded that 95-96 team was on offense. As Bob Norton often said on the broadcasts of the earlier games "they have six legitimate All-American candidates": Chris O'Sullivan (coming off of his Final Four MVP), Mike Grier (who was either an All-American in that same season or the 95-96 year), Shawn Bates, Bob Lachance, Chris Drury, and Pandolfo (who would go on to finish as the runner-up to Brian Bonin for the Hobey). Three long-time NHLers, and three of the most skilled college players BU has had.

That team peaked too early, and missed out on post-season hardware (they did thump NU 12-3 I think, for the Beanpot).
 
brassbonanza said:
I've heard from multiple people that Bob Brown personally refused to hire anyone who did not have a college degree and was not open to a Granato-style plan. Pandolfo was never a candidate to begin with in 2018 for precisely this reason is what I heard. WTBU articles are speculative at best, those writers generally have little to no actual information.
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It wasn’t just WTBU. A number of credible articles said so at the time. But maybe your sources are correct - I have no idea.
And that’s the point. I don’t think it’s right to “call out BS” of a fellow BU poster who seems to be sharing information that he heard just because someone else here believes it didn’t happen that way or heard differently. If it turns out that he was correct and you were incorrect, that wouldn’t make what you just said “BS.” You shared what you heard.
 
Section 6 said:
It wasn’t just WTBU. A number of credible articles said so at the time.
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Pandolfo confirmed it himself in a recent press conference.

From the Boston Herald:

He did, however, interview for the open head coaching job at BU in 2018 after David Quinn left. That process ended quickly for him because at the time he was a few credits shy of his degree, a requirement for the job.

“I learned that lesson,” said Pandolfo with a chuckle. “The last couple of years I was able to finish online, so it’s a good lesson that I can talk to these new college recruits that are coming about the importance of getting your degree. You never know when it comes around when you need it. It’s a good lesson.”
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https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/07/02/boston-university-brings-jay-pandolfo-home/
 
brassbonanza said:
To Rover's point above - while I am happy that the program is not happy with continuous subpar seasons, I'm of the opinion that if Pandolfo was brought in as the "next coach in line in case Albie fails again" then they should've made the move now.
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Exactly. If that indeed is the case then BU should have just cut ties and made the move now. I don't at all see the logic in having someone on the staff who has any potential motivation to not see the team succeed.
 
ericredaxe said:
Exactly. If that indeed is the case then BU should have just cut ties and made the move now. I don't at all see the logic in having someone on the staff who has any potential motivation to not see the team succeed.
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Even if BU has a very successful 2021-22 season, I feel Albie is in a no-win situation professionally. Assuming he's the HC for the entirety of the 2021-22 season and BU has a great season, how much of the credit might be attributed to new staff members -- Pandolfo in particular? How might BU handle Albie's contract situation in such a scenario?
 
I wanted Albie canned already, but from the school's perspective I can see one reason why they would give him one more season.

If they program is perceived to have a quick hook with coaches, it might be tough to get any quality people to coach here. In this particular case Albie is being given a 4th year where everyone on the team is his recruit AND he got to coach the initial class through their senior year. At that point there's no more excuses and he's been given enough time to improve the program.

Say BU kicks ass next year and wins the HE title and a FF bid. Then Albie may have earned a couple of year extension in the eyes of the school and Pando can spend a couple more years as an assistant. I too want him gone but can see a different perspective than that of an annoyed fan.
 
Rover said:
I wanted Albie canned already, but from the school's perspective I can see one reason why they would give him one more season.

If they program is perceived to have a quick hook with coaches, it might be tough to get any quality people to coach here. In this particular case Albie is being given a 4th year where everyone on the team is his recruit AND he got to coach the initial class through their senior year. At that point there's no more excuses and he's been given enough time to improve the program.

Say BU kicks *** next year and wins the HE title and a FF bid. Then Albie may have earned a couple of year extension in the eyes of the school and Pando can spend a couple more years as an assistant. I too want him gone but can see a different perspective than that of an annoyed fan.
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I believe Cockerill & Amonte are the only players that hav3 been on the team for Albie's whole tenure. 0 players from the 2018 recruiting class are on the roster and only 1 of them signed an NHL contract (6 transferred). Not ideal.
 
hydrant said:
I believe Cockerill & Amonte are the only players that hav3 been on the team for Albie's whole tenure. 0 players from the 2018 recruiting class are on the roster and only 1 of them signed an NHL contract (6 transferred).
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That's correct. Quercia, DeBoer, and Wise were the last three who transferred out from the Class of 2022. There's no rising seniors who've played all four years here.
 
brassbonanza said:
That's correct. Quercia, DeBoer, and Wise were the last three who transferred out from the Class of 2022. There's no rising seniors who've played all four years here.
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I've wondered at times how differently the development of the Class of 2022 have materialized if they had played under Quinn at any point the past 3 seasons. They all committed with the expectation that they'd play under Quinn during at least part of their time at BU.

* Farabee - At the time of his departure, I was a bit surprised and felt it wasn't the best decision on his part. But he's certainly developed nicely the past 2 seasons in the NHL. I heard rumblings that the coaching situation @ BU was a contributing factor to him not wanting to return.

* Wise - The combo of injuries, loss of confidence, playing soft (perhaps attributed to injuries/confidence issues), and work ethic concerns resulted in Wise being one of the biggest busts in BU Hockey in quite some time. If he was healthy his Freshman year and/or if he played under Quinn during that season, would things have turned out differently?

* deBoer - I believe he was recruited to be a depth forward and frankly, I think being the son of a star NHL head coach was a contributing factor to him being recruited by BU (Quinn LOVED any/all ties BU has to the NHL). Not surprised that he was what he was on the ice @ BU, as he was in a similar role @ the USNDTP.

* Quercia - I'm really surprised he decided to transfer after this past season. By all accounts he seemed like a heart-and-soul, bleed scarlet-type of player who was an emerging leader for the program. And to leave BU for a program like Michigan Tech is a bit of a head-scratcher. Was it really attributed to him feeling he wanted/deserved more ice time?

* Blixt - I remember when he committed to BU, Quinn spoke quite glowingly about him being an older recruit who could step in right away and make an impact, and talked about how it was a "win" that Blixt chose BU over Denver. Again, would developing his game under Quinn have made a difference? Or was this an error in judgment from a recruiting standpoint?

* Vidoli - Late commit, expected to be depth D-man, showed up to BU injured, got re-injured and decided pretty quickly that BU wasn't the right place for him. But was it the injuries or something else that accelerated his decision to transfer?

* Purpura - Was brought in a semester early b/c of Prawdzik's issues backing up Oettinger. Even if he had come to BU as originally planned in Fall 2019, it seems this was a recruiting miss by the coaching staff.

Even though these players were recruited with the expectation they'd play for Quinn, Albie was responsible for the recruiting and subsequently their hockey development. Unfortunately it doesn't reflect very well on the program when 6 of the 7 players opted to transfer elsewhere for a variety of reasons.
 
Friend_of_BU_Hockey said:
* Wise - The combo of injuries, loss of confidence, playing soft (perhaps attributed to injuries/confidence issues), and work ethic concerns resulted in Wise being one of the biggest busts in BU Hockey in quite some time. If he was healthy his Freshman year and/or if he played under Quinn during that season, would things have turned out differently?

* deBoer - I believe he was recruited to be a depth forward and frankly, I think being the son of a star NHL head coach was a contributing factor to him being recruited by BU (Quinn LOVED any/all ties BU has to the NHL). Not surprised that he was what he was on the ice @ BU, as he was in a similar role @ the USNDTP.
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DeBoer was more than a depth forward when BU recruited him, although Quinn’s attraction to NHL ties applied. DeBoer, Wise and Tyler Weiss—also a 2022 class recruit until derailed by admissions—all made the US squad for the 2016 Youth Olympic Games and were all among the tournament’s top scorers. That was the winter before all three joined the NTDP U17s. Also on that YOG team was TJ Walsh, a BC recruit at the time. He and Wise were 1 and 1A among Massachusetts 2000s. Walsh played 3 USHL seasons, then 2 seasons for Northeastern (8 pts). Next stop is RPI.

Wise missed a few months of his U18 season with an injury, but still put up 43 points in 38 games and then was drafted in the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] round by Chicago. I recall reading he had a strong Blackhawks development camp. IIRC, he mostly played wing for BU until an injury after 12 games/2 points ended his freshman year.

At OSU, Wise will rejoin Vidoli and ex-Terrier Mark Cheremeta who was the Buckeyes’ 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] leading scorer last season.
 
defkit said:
The Pandolfo hire made me think back to how loaded that 95-96 team was on offense. As Bob Norton often said on the broadcasts of the earlier games "they have six legitimate All-American candidates": Chris O'Sullivan (coming off of his Final Four MVP), Mike Grier (who was either an All-American in that same season or the 95-96 year), Shawn Bates, Bob Lachance, Chris Drury, and Pandolfo (who would go on to finish as the runner-up to Brian Bonin for the Hobey). Three long-time NHLers, and three of the most skilled college players BU has had.

That team peaked too early, and missed out on post-season hardware (they did thump NU 12-3 I think, for the Beanpot).
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And yet they got shut-out in their last game. Playing in a swimming pool. (Yep, I was there.). Oh, and nobody left after 1 year back then. (Unless they flunked out.)
 
ericredaxe said:
Do I remember correctly, at least at one point, wasn't Wise touted to be the next coming of Jack Eichel?
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I asked Greeley at a summer roundtable if they were concerned that Wise was going to play his sophomore season at Central Catholic, versus playing against better competition in prep, and he said something to the effect of "he'll be fine". I know he got a lot of attention in the Super 8, with some highlight goals but I believe also a key giveaway that led to a big goal for the opponent. He was certainly a target for all the opponents.
 
Bomber said:
Oh, and nobody left after 1 year back then. (Unless they flunked out.)
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Yeah, if guys like Amonte (the original), McEachern, Drury, etc. can play 2-3 years of college and still do well in the NHL...well, it's just a shame how the game has changed. I never would have dreamed we'd have 5 straight seasons with a one-and-done.
 
A big thing keeping guys around back then was the Olympic team. Shawn and Keith wouldn’t have stayed if they weren’t dead set on playing for team USA in 92.
 
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