UNH Hockey Off Season Thread 2026

[Snively65]

Could we afford a Motzko type coach if MS7 would be let go? I'm sure he wouldn't leave the Minnesota area anyway but food for thought of who could right the ship when that time comes.

I doubt that we could afford him as Bob Motzko was making over three times MS7’s salary.

 

[JB]

I think the more important factor is that he was given due process and not kicked to the curb like DeSmith was by Umile. Guessing he might not be part of the 603 fundraising program.

Agreed due process is important. Accusations are easy, in the moment generally he who cries foul first gets the advantage, proof when the facts are all gathered and dispassionately considered is hard.

I will note, I am not a fan of "charge the felony first then down grade", those years when I spent some time wearing a uniform and badge I was a fan of deescalate first, arrest for what you had to at the time and then upgrade. You can always upgrade and then down grade working on plea deals. The big key for me in that google finding was "drop the felony charge but proceed with misdemeanor assault charges". You can basically get a misdemeanor assault charge for pushing somebody out of the way as you are trying to leave a bad situation. This is particularly true when the first charges included a felony, it can be hard to go from the news head line of felony to nothing without the jury doing it.

For anyone to truly judge this you need ALL the facts, which you don't get in a news report.

 

[Jellsville USA]

BTW, shouldn't we evaluate the quality of the hockey players Souza has brought in as people? Souza has consistenly recruited good people to play hockey at UNH. Sorry, but that's supposed to be part of college sports, no?

I like and respect Souza. I wish him well. He will have considerable success away from UNH when he leaves.

I had to weigh in on this as even Souza himself might find it insulting-
Recruiting “good people” shouldn’t be treated as a differentiator — it’s the baseline expectation for every Division I hockey coach. Character, accountability, and fit are part of the job, not a special accomplishment. Saying this sets Souza apart inadvertently lowers the standard rather than raises it.

The real evaluation should be about outcomes: the quality of the hockey players brought in, how they develop, and whether they make UNH more competitive on the ice. Being good people matters, but it’s assumed. Coaches separate themselves by results, not by meeting the minimum requirement.

 

[Chuck Murray]

I had to weigh in on this as even Souza himself might fine this insulting-
Recruiting “good people” shouldn’t be treated as a differentiator — it’s the baseline expectation for every Division I hockey coach. Character, accountability, and fit are part of the job, not a special accomplishment. Saying this sets Souza apart inadvertently lowers the standard rather than raises it.

The real evaluation should be about outcomes: the quality of the hockey players brought in, how they develop, and whether they make UNH more competitive on the ice. Being good people matters, but it’s assumed. Coaches separate themselves by results, not by meeting the minimum requirement.

As I said earlier ... it's the faintest of faint praise, and I agree 100% it's the baseline for a D-1 head coach.

The "good citizenship" standard is more applicable to HS level coaches, who get the athletes in more of their formative years, and who get paid stipends that are usually in the four-figure range, maybe (literally) a hundred times less that your typical D-1 hockey coach (or hoops or football, etc.).

To the poster who asked about prominent candidates to replace Souza, I would once again put forward Eric Boguniecki (UNH alum) and Andy Jones (Bentley).

 

[Potluck]

I would once again put forward Eric Boguniecki (UNH alum) and Andy Jones (Bentley).

Look at our beloved Red Sox. Breslow was about the 5th person they recruited to take the GM job. The experienced, far more attractive candidates said "not interested" when asked by the Sox. Why? After all, we're talking about the Boston Red Sox and all! Simple. Lousy unstable ownership and management, ever changing agendas and unstable levels of financial support for players.

Good people say "not interested" to what may seem to be a good opportunity but in reality is a trap. UNH currently is a career killer for any good prospective coach.

Any good candidate will want financial support at a mid tier hockey east program level, which means scholarships, staffing at all levels (ie 3rd assistant, nutritionist, recruiting budgets, back of the house facilities (weight room and shooting room) and NIL. I'm not saying BC, BU, UConn or Providence (never gonna happen) but certainly UMaine and ULowell and perhaps UMass. Otherwise, it's Joe Six Pack c'mon down!!!!

 

[Chuck Murray]

Look at our beloved Red Sox. Breslow was about the 5th person they recruited to take the GM job. The experienced, far more attractive candidates said "not interested" when asked by the Sox. Why? After all, we're talking about the Boston Red Sox and all! Simple. Lousy unstable ownership and management, ever changing agendas and unstable levels of financial support for players.

Good people say "not interested" to what may seem to be a good opportunity but in reality is a trap. UNH currently is a career killer for any good prospective coach.

I can't let that go ... not "our" Red Sox lol, I'm a former Expos fan. And for what it's worth, considering that (different) ownership issues were the primary reason they left Montreal, it's interesting to note that a fair few successful GM's (including Dave Dombrowski and Dan Duquette) managed to successfully navigate that sinking ship and keep their teams competitive, on their way to better paying jobs in bigger organizations. There's points to be taken by each of us on that lesson, I'm sure.

Any good candidate will want financial support at a mid tier hockey east program level, which means scholarships, staffing at all levels (ie 3rd assistant, nutritionist, recruiting budgets, back of the house facilities (weight room and shooting room) and NIL. I'm not saying BC, BU, UConn or Providence (never gonna happen) but certainly UMaine and ULowell and perhaps UMass. Otherwise, it's Joe Six Pack c'mon down!!!!

Couple of quick good faith questions while we're on civil terms ... (1) in light of UNH's perceived transfer portal coups, are you in agreement that there seems to be some level of NIL funding that has found its way into the UNH Men's Hockey program; and (2) what's up with the nutritionist thing? The latter seems to make its way into a lot of your posts on this topic, and to me it seems like a smallish, relatively unimportant thing, especially considering even the Gibbs Hall players are more likely to pay lip service to a nutritionist, and be more focused on the next kegger over at The Gables, or somewhere off campus. Just sayin'.

I don't see UConn and/or Providence (or Northeastern FWIW) to be beyond UNH's reach, the first two currently have better coaches, but even those two guys haven't been overwhelmingly successful (especially not Luce). But the longer UNH strays from their former prominence - and I will concede they are probably straining at, near or maybe beyond those limits as we speak - the less likely they can reconnect the dots with their former levels of success, and its abandoned fanbase.

 

[Potluck]

Don’t work about

I can't let that go ... not "our" Red Sox lol, I'm a former Expos fan. And for what it's worth, considering that (different) ownership issues were the primary reason they left Montreal, it's interesting to note that a fair few successful GM's (including Dave Dombrowski and Dan Duquette) managed to successfully navigate that sinking ship and keep their teams competitive, on their way to better paying jobs in bigger organizations. There's points to be taken by each of us on that lesson, I'm sure.


Couple of quick good faith questions while we're on civil terms ... (1) in light of UNH's perceived transfer portal coups, are you in agreement that there seems to be some level of NIL funding that has found its way into the UNH Men's Hockey program; and (2) what's up with the nutritionist thing? The latter seems to make its way into a lot of your posts on this topic, and to me it seems like a smallish, relatively unimportant thing, especially considering even the Gibbs Hall players are more likely to pay lip service to a nutritionist, and be more focused on the next kegger over at The Gables, or somewhere off campus. Just sayin'.

I don't see UConn and/or Providence (or Northeastern FWIW) to be beyond UNH's reach, the first two currently have better coaches, but even those two guys haven't been overwhelmingly successful (especially not Luce). But the longer UNH strays from their former prominence - and I will concede they are probably straining at, near or maybe beyond those limits as we speak - the less likely they can reconnect the dots with their former levels of success, and its abandoned fanbase.

Don’t worry about recent prominence. Can change quickly with $$$$ infusion. New world.

1. Something changed. Angel investors? Souza turning into Jerry Lewis on Labor Day weekend? There’s only two money guys UNH brought in . The BU kid was fourth line dman. Small minutes. No biggie. Same for Mr Alaska. Simpson and Svartstrom blue chip. Eye openers.

2. Nutritionist is something agents and parents love. Agent acquaintance told me it’s a tell. A bit like realtors love of granite countertops language circa 2000. It’s sort of thing that the blue chips like to see - with money of course. If you got a nutritionists that means the other stuff a given.

 

[Potluck]

Saying this sets Souza apart inadvertently lowers the standard rather than raises i

I never said that.

 

[JB]

Well it is a good thing UNH Athletics has a sport nutritionist on staff. Kaidy Wallace is going on 4 years.

Clearly she is the reason the hockey program has improved over the last 4 years... Oh wait.

 

[Snively65]

All fair comments, 100% You and I have our battles here but we are closely aligned in terms of identifying the root cause of the dysfunction. I am sure that over dinner or beers we could conduct our own analysis and built out a portfolio of solutions.

That said, this is a hockey board, not a local/state government board. As someone who deals with state (sometimes), federal and international governments daily, I would willingly go down that rabbit hole in the appropriate forum.

USCHO is not that place, however.

Are you serious? This thread being part of a hockey board has not stopped posters going down these “rabbit holes” over the past many pages. Why stop now?

 

[Snively65]

It's not an either/or proposition though, is it? Coach Umile consistently recruited good people AND managed to win a lot of games too.

Look at the awards that get given out, locally and nationally. There are some good citizenship awards, sure, but most apply to on-ice performance.

We all wish Souza well in his post-UNH career. But he's proven to be a mediocre at best hockey coach, and we'll be reminded of this again next Winter.

“ …… mediocre at best hockey coach ….. “ might be overly generous. We have discussed the term “mediocrity” at length on these threads and I believe that most agreed that if our team were mediocre, we would be finishing in the middle of the pack each season rather than at or one rung above the bottom.