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UNH 2024/2025 Goldberg Edition

deltabravo62 said:
If UNH is content with hanging on to that regressing number year after year, then by all means stay the course. If the vision of the people in charge (as it's written in their contracts) is to grow and improve the goodwill and vision of specifically the hockey program and UNH as a whole then they are failing... Miserably...

Offering a lesser product every year, offering no accountability, and expecting everyone to praise them for just showing up to the office everyday... No effing thanks. This forum certainly skews further negative but numbers that a college with a business school could look at would tell you that group who accept whatever the athletic department serves up is shrinking. I wager that is mostly a product of those fans being older and either unable to attend (health) or no longer inhibiting the planet. My point here, if the athletic department is hanging their hat on someone maintaining a ticket for their deceased spouse as anything of a success, they are more delusional than they seem. As a fan there is honor in sticking it out when the going gets tough (either the team or in your personal life), All we hear out of the athletic department are empty tropes about facilities, how tough it is, and how UNH will be back at the top one day. Notice there is never a plan beyond the next shiny toy that the boogeymen Boston schools have that we don't.

I gave up my season tickets 2 years ago, I had hope that the new AD would see beyond the one year Souza had with a bonfire under his rear (Witt as well). She didn't, she took the easy way out and here we are, cellar dwelling again.
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Post of the day. (y)

As someone who's lived through the permanent loss of my favorite MLB team ... the "Dead Wings Era", which eventually morphed into one of the NHL's greatest extended franchise runs of all time, receded for almost a decade now, and is finally threatening to be a force again ... the habitual ups and downs of the Fabulous NY Football Giants ... and of course UNH Hockey ... I don't need a how-to guide on sticking it out through thick and thin. But I DO expect the people running my teams to give a rat's a$$ and have some know-how on how to run a winning program/team. I somehow managed to do it myself coaching a sport I never played 'til age 41; I'm still coaching and playing 20+ years later.

I never said any of this was supposed to be easy. You set up a league, you pay coaches good salaries, and they envision success not only at their current station, but at the next stations, in the next leagues, etc. It is a recipe for the competitive freaks among us to do crazy things to get their program ahead ... endless hours practicing and preparing, endless travel, endless video review, hoping that all adds up to winning your next test, all for the prize of getting to do it all over again in two days, next weekend, next season, whenever.

As best as I can tell ... UNH currently has an AD who is in her position for reasons more closely related to compliance than to excellence in identifying coaches capable of winning at the D-1 level. In hindsight, the seemingly harsh decision to non-renew Coach Herrion a couple of Springs ago now almost seems to have been driven by other ... uh, "compliance measurables". Coach Hubbard's replacement seemed to be a "path of least resistance" exercise. The Souza/Witt decisions seem to have been a matter of wishful thinking, and lack of basic context on what had gone before with both coaches. But I'm positive the compliance stuff is buttoned down firmly. Hang a banner, right?? :rolleyes:

Souza seems to be a nice person, and I've never heard anyone say otherwise. How his path crossed with Luce, I'll never know, and I hope Mike never forgets the wisecrack Luce laid on him when he left, about him being "Umile's nephew". Hang out with pigs, you get dirty. QED.

I've just never gotten the impression Souza appreciates how lucky he is to have the job he now has, and when it came so easily to him, he's never come to terms with how hard you have to work to be competitive and successful at it. If that penny was ever gonna drop, it should've been this past offseason, with his narrow brush with professional "death", and how he at last had something approaching success that he could sell to the world. Instead ... he scrambled to fill goalie slots that he had to know at least one guy was leaving, and should have made it his business to know for certain that the other guy would be back too. He just assumed his returning veteran-laden squad would magically come back even better than they were last year. Heck, it even looked like that might work. And then the clock struck midnight (2025) and ...

... well, anyway, BC Weekend is almost upon us, I'll spring for one close loss, and one not-so-close loss. Two weeks 'til MBPBEGAM, folks!!
 
As an addition to my previous post:

Regarding this board being called an echo chamber. I could argue that the coaches/AD not actively participating in these "breakaway with the Cats" is them not wanting to hear dissenting opinions. By cutting off those opinions face to face where you can't drum up a well thought out PR style email days later, I could argue the offices at the TR@WCA@KAGC and the fieldhouse across the street are creating their own echo chamber. The difference between that one and this one, they are paid by the university to grow and expand the program, to fundraise, and to engage the fan base. Over the last few years several donors, fundraising organizers, and general fans have been shunned for daring speak blasphemy of change needing to happen. Hell, Marty Scarano got aggressive with me (verbally) in the lobby of the Whitt for daring to say they shouldn't have held us there for 2.5 hours the night the ice compressor failed. The entire attitude in the last several years from various sources has been "we know what we are doing so keep your ideas and opinions to yourself". Unless of course that idea is some marketing gimmick, "dollar dog night" or something else similar to used car lot marketing (kind of ironic given the new complex naming rights). I fully expect the wacky waving inflatable tube men to line main street next October (yes I'm exaggerating now)

So while we may be Waldorf and Statler over here (along with the Facebook/twitter/Instagram commenters). UNH Athletics should not be dismissing all of the commentary as just a bunch of bitter people who want to go torch and pitchfork for their heads. I think in some cases you will find a better analysis in this place of WHAT the issues are instead of "Souza sucks, fire him, everything sucks" crowd speak you find on other platforms. While the more thought out answers that do exist here are very much opinion, there is actual substance that is more than #firesouza on a Facebook post. I'll say I participate in both, here because it can lead to actual discussion that I know will never eek it's way into the walls of 145 Main St. I also post memes in the comment sections on social media because... Well... I'm a snarky SOB when I want to be. I don't think I'm actually changing anything, UNH Athletics are going to do what they do regardless of what I or anyone else says. The murmurs in the seats of the Whitt during games, or more telling on the way out the exits, is a good gauge of the temperature of this fan base.

The frustrating thing about it all is that there is a sleeping group of fans who are looking for a reason to come back. Say what you will about them not being "true fans" or whatever for wanting better than what they have gotten. Turn the team around and watch the seats and season ticket sales go back in the direction you want them to go...
 
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It's all about the money... STH have the money. Durham wants it. You want to get their attention? Its cliché but talk with your feet.
DiLorenzo has the money. Durham wants it. He should be demanding some level of improvement. Gotta believe he prefers to be associated with success and a path to a "return to prominence". If that is what MS7 sold him, well, this season ain't any of that. Maybe the ship has sailed on the $4mm nut, but I can't believe he's just OK with where things are at, nor are any of the additional donors he is theoretically inspiring.
 
Chuck Murray said:
As best as I can tell ... UNH currently has an AD who is in her position for reasons more closely related to compliance than to excellence in identifying coaches capable of winning at the D-1 level. In hindsight, the seemingly harsh decision to non-renew Coach Herrion a couple of Springs ago now almost seems to have been driven by other ... uh, "compliance measurables". Coach Hubbard's replacement seemed to be a "path of least resistance" exercise. The Souza/Witt decisions seem to have been a matter of wishful thinking, and lack of basic context on what had gone before with both coaches. But I'm positive the compliance stuff is buttoned down firmly. Hang a banner, right?? :rolleyes:

Souza seems to be a nice person, and I've never heard anyone say otherwise. How his path crossed with Luce, I'll never know, and I hope Mike never forgets the wisecrack Luce laid on him when he left, about him being "Umile's nephew". Hang out with pigs, you get dirty. QED.

I've just never gotten the impression Souza appreciates how lucky he is to have the job he now has, and when it came so easily to him, he's never come to terms with how hard you have to work to be competitive and successful at it. If that penny was ever gonna drop, it should've been this past offseason, with his narrow brush with professional "death", and how he at last had something approaching success that he could sell to the world. Instead ... he scrambled to fill goalie slots that he had to know at least one guy was leaving, and should have made it his business to know for certain that the other guy would be back too. He just assumed his returning veteran-laden squad would magically come back even better than they were last year. Heck, it even looked like that might work. And then the clock struck midnight (2025) and ...

... well, anyway, BC Weekend is almost upon us, I'll spring for one close loss, and one not-so-close loss. Two weeks 'til MBPBEGAM, folks!!
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Bureaucrats do what bureaucrats do.

Her initial press release addressed nothing about her ability to manage an athletic department delivering quality, winning teams year after year, but certainly highlighted a number of paper pushing responsibilities with a social agenda, including:

"As a licensed attorney, (she) provided oversight for the student-athlete experience in a department that excels nationally while maintaining the highest standards of academic excellence and student-athlete welfare. Her contributions to the Princeton Tiger Performance Program propelled student-athletes to success academically, athletically and socially by developing resources, identifying department core values, and eliminating barriers to physiological and psychological wellness. Further, she demonstrated a commitment to Diversity and Inclusion serving as a founding member and on the executive committee of Tigers Together, a program devoted to ensuring a sustainable culture of inclusion, mutual respect and unity for for Princeton Athletics and Beyond."

The irony, of course, is that while at Florida State she created:

A comprehensive branding, external relations and communications strategic plan for promoting Seminole Athletics in addition to implementing fundraising, marketing and sponsorship strategies, creating an outbound ticket sales staff, and negotiating television contracts and media/sponsorship rights deals."

Based on such a ROBUST track record of success, the fact none of those things have been implemented or communicated at UNH speaks volumes of her competency and ability to deliver the goods to the UNH community at large, let alone put quality, winning teams on the field or ice.
 
deltabravo62 said:
As an addition to my previous post:

Regarding this board being called an echo chamber. I could argue that the coaches/AD not actively participating in these "breakaway with the Cats" is them not wanting to hear dissenting opinions. By cutting off those opinions face to face where you can't drum up a well thought out PR style email days later, I could argue the offices at the TR@WCA@KAGC and the fieldhouse across the street are creating their own echo chamber. The difference between that one and this one, they are paid by the university to grow and expand the program, to fundraise, and to engage the fan base. Over the last few years several donors, fundraising organizers, and general fans have been shunned for daring speak blasphemy of change needing to happen. Hell, Marty Scarano got aggressive with me (verbally) in the lobby of the Whitt for daring to say they shouldn't have held us there for 2.5 hours the night the ice compressor failed. The entire attitude in the last several years from various sources has been "we know what we are doing so keep your ideas and opinions to yourself". Unless of course that idea is some marketing gimmick, "dollar dog night" or something else similar to used car lot marketing (kind of ironic given the new complex naming rights). I fully expect the wacky waving inflatable tube men to line main street next October (yes I'm exaggerating now)

So while we may be Waldorf and Statler over here (along with the Facebook/twitter/Instagram commenters). UNH Athletics should not be dismissing all of the commentary as just a bunch of bitter people who want to go torch and pitchfork for their heads. I think in some cases you will find a better analysis in this place of WHAT the issues are instead of "Souza sucks, fire him, everything sucks" crowd speak you find on other platforms. While the more thought out answers that do exist here are very much opinion, there is actual substance that is more than #firesouza on a Facebook post. I'll say I participate in both, here because it can lead to actual discussion that I know will never eek it's way into the walls of 145 Main St. I also post memes in the comment sections on social media because... Well... I'm a snarky SOB when I want to be. I don't think I'm actually changing anything, UNH Athletics are going to do what they do regardless of what I or anyone else says. The murmurs in the seats of the Whitt during games, or more telling on the way out the exits, is a good gauge of the temperature of this fan base.

The frustrating thing about it all is that there is a sleeping group of fans who are looking for a reason to come back. Say what you will about them not being "true fans" or whatever for wanting better than what they have gotten. Turn the team around and watch the seats and season ticket sales go back in the direction you want them to go...
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This is an important post.

The Athletic Department has reeked of institutional arrogance since the hiring of Scarano. Whether we call it an echo chamber or a bubble, these self important administrators are legends in their own mind and, certainly of their own fiefdoms, ignoring the hoi polloi in pursuit of securing their own legacy. One one think that establishing a legacy would include winning teams and conference and national championships.

Nope.

It's about erecting totems such as scoreboards, jumbotrons, football "stadium" and the appointments to fancy sounding NCAA Boards with biannual trips to Boca or Maui. UNH is nothing more than a singular stop on a career journey to bigger and better things. There is no loyalty to the school, just a stint and a springboard to a larger organization and a hefty paycheck.

Fans are nothing more than a nuisance.

To hell with them! They're just local yokels that are too dumb to know better.
 
TheGrouchyCat said:
How much time does he need? As I've said a million times, would his dismal track record of success be tolerated (and rewarded) in the private sector? Nope.
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The idea that underperformers lose their job in industry left and right for underperformance is complete fantasy of the looney libertarians. Anyone who has had a cup of coffee in corporate America knows dozens of folks who have no business keeping their jobs they've clung to for eternities.

Has the swinging axe of capitalism come for Don Sweeney + Cam Neely with their dismal performance at the helm of the team on Boylston?
 
2013hockeyfan said:
The idea that underperformers lose their job in industry left and right for underperformance is complete fantasy of the looney libertarians. Anyone who has had a cup of coffee in corporate America knows dozens of folks who have no business keeping their jobs they've clung to for eternities.

Has the swinging axe of capitalism come for Don Sweeney + Cam Neely with their dismal performance at the helm of the team on Boylston?
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As a C Level Executive who has worked all over the world, I can assure you the level of incompetence that MS7 has delivered over the last seven years would not be tolerated by any Board or Investor.

There is a big difference between a front line worker and the CEO (or Coach, in this case). Results matter.
 
TheGrouchyCat said:
As a C Level Executive who has worked all over the world, I can assure you the level of incompetence that MS7 has delivered over the last seven years would not be tolerated by any Board or Investor.

There is a big difference between a front line worker and the CEO (or Coach, in this case). Results matter.
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Fair distinction but incompetent CEOs and C-suites abound. Competent orgs push them but there are countless incompetent ones that do not. The incestuous side of corporate governance (CEOs serving as chair of the board) is not that dissimilar from folks like Souza taking advantage of apathy on the part of UNH athletics for an extension. You also don't need to look any further than the golden parachutes negotiated in the private sector deals to see the way failure is rewarded on that side.
 
I find it odd that so many here fail or choose not to acknowledge that the hockey program is a example of a much larger UNH problem - underfunding. UNH and NH for that matter have long prided themselves on doing more with less (i.e. frugality, Yankee ingenuity, blah blah....) The University currently has an admissions acceptance rate of 88%, which is a joke frankly. There's a systemic problem that is destroying the integrity of the University.

Most industries over time become more efficient. The cost of no doing so is bankruptcy. Public education and government have no need to improve efficiency and performance unless the public demands it AND is willing to pay for better productivity. The University is slipping. Obviously, it will never completely fail but it can consistently fall short of achieving its mission, which is to provide the opportunity for a student to obtain a strong education at a much lower cost than private colleges. NH really is not serious about higher education. I'll leave it to the residents of NH to discuss grammar and HS educations.

The fact that the NH citizens and legislature don't insist on better performance and provide the funding AND school management IS the problem. Little Michael Souza, the not so motivated coach of a poorly funded hockey team, is nothing more than an example and product of the problem. Firing him does very little, although it likely is necessary. The sugar high of a new coach in time will be swallowed up by the larger problem that is the way NH residents and politicians view higher public education.

NH has long chided Massachusetts as being a bastion of crazy liberalism in defending itself against accusations of frugality, cheapness, lack of innovation, etc... The reality is that over time well funded communities run by intelligent, forward thinking people thrive. I dare say Massachusetts innovation/business employs many (most) of the residents of southern NH with six figure incomes. The underfunded communities run by, well, mediocre people proud of being cheap simply stay the same, which in the real world means fall behind. Underfunded communities run by intelligent people tend to hang on and occasionally perform fine. But they always swim upstream. UNH and NH in general have too many mediocre people in positions of influence running an underfunded enterprise.
 
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As I wrote a few pages back, I do not think that anyone can expect the AD and the UNH admin to respond any differently than they have given that the Whitt has the third highest average home attendance in the HEA this season, despite the poor product on the ice over the past decade or more, with the exception of last season.

At the beginning of last season, I suggested that UNH men”s hockey had a chance of winning in only the single digits, and maybe even breaking the 1985/86 record of 5-29-3, which on the bright side I thought would be sufficient reason for a non-renewal of MS7’s contract. Then, Nodak transfer goalie Jakob Helsten saved MS7’s contract renewal by backstopping the team’s best record in over a decade with 20 wins.

So, even after I learned that Hellsten was forgoing his senior year at UNH and going pro back home in Sweden, I got some intel from my question posed on the Alaska Anchorage thread that we would be happy to have their transfer goalie Jared Whale in net this season and I predicted that the UNH would repeat with another 20-win season.

Looks like I got my two predictions the past two seasons reversed, and now we are stuck with MS7 for at least two more seasons. Now I sadly think that single digit wins are a strong likelihood for next season. But as long as UNH sells another 5000+ tickets per home game next season, even if many of the empty seats are apparently held by dead spouses, I do not see a head coach buyout on the horizon.
 
Potluck said:
I find it odd that so many here fail or choose not to acknowledge that the hockey program is a example of a much larger UNH problem - underfunding. UNH and NH for that matter have long prided themselves on doing more with less (i.e. frugality, Yankee ingenuity, blah blah....) The University currently has an admissions acceptance rate of 88%, which is a joke frankly. There's a systemic problem that is destroying the integrity of the University.

Most industries over time become more efficient. The cost of no doing so is bankruptcy. Public education and government have no need to improve efficiency and performance unless the public demands it AND is willing to pay for better productivity. The University is slipping. Obviously, it will never completely fail but it can consistently fall short of achieving its mission, which is to provide the opportunity for a student to obtain a strong education at a much lower cost than private colleges. NH really is not serious about higher education. I'll leave it to the residents of NH to discuss grammar and HS educations.

The fact that the NH citizens and legislature don't insist on better performance and provide the funding AND school management IS the problem. Little Michael Souza, the not so motivated coach of a poorly funded hockey team, is nothing more than an example and product of the problem. Firing him does very little, although it likely is necessary. The sugar high of a new coach in time will be swallowed up by the larger problem that is the way NH residents and politicians view higher public education.

NH has long chided Massachusetts as being a bastion of crazy liberalism in defending itself against accusations of frugality, cheapness, lack of innovation, etc... The reality is the over time well funded communities run be intelligent forward thinking people thrive. I dare say Massachusetts innovation/business employs many (most) of the residents of southern NH with six figure incomes. The underfunded communities run by, well, mediocre people proud of being cheap simply stay the same, which in the real world means fall behind. Underfunded communities run by intelligent people tend to hang on and occasionally perform fine. But they always swim upstream. UNH and NH in general have too many mediocre people in positions of influence running an underfunded enterprise.
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From about 20 pages back I looked at the funding gaps. First in NH the state ONLY pays for education. Housing, Dining, Athletics, Student Life all need to be funded outside of the states money. This would be why UNH has a mandatory athletics fee. UNH has the money it just doesn't choose to spend it on hockey like say UML (14% vs UNH's 7.6% of the Athletic Budget).

Additionally the State of NH generally will not let the University bond things. The State would need to back the bond and doesn't want to be on the hook. So things like renovations to the Whitt, more often than not, they need ALL the donations in hand.

Men's Ice Hockey:
Umaine - $2.2M
UVM - $2.3M
UNH - $2.4M
UConn - $3.13M
UML - $3.15M
Umass - $3.7M

Athletics Budget
UVM - $21.2M
UML - $22.2M
UMaine - $24.2M
UNH - $31.2
UMA - $43.8M
UConn - $92.5M

NOTE: all pulled from https://www.collegefactual.com/ I don't know if this data is correct or what year it is from, but at least it is from a consistent source. That means it is likely directionally accurate.

What is bothersome about the "college factual" data is all these programs are basically breaking even income vs expense. That could be because the data is crap or it could be the way the universities report all the money going into athletics: gate, concessions, mandatory athletics fees, etc., etc. are considered "income" to the program rather than splitting out the "subsidies" like the mandatory athletics fee from the true income.

The most extreme case of this is Uconn. Basketball, 15 players income $24M and expense $24M. Football, 103 players, income $18M and expense $18M.

NOTE 2: UMaine significantly benefits from the Alfond Foundation, and I don't know how this money is accounted. I am guessing gifts like the rink renovation money are in "CAPEX' and this is reporting "OPEX".
 
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