Good report. No gloating about return to playing a BiG10 team?
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UNH 2025 Offseason: Where in the World is MS7?
- Thread starter TheGrouchyCat
- Start date
Sparkee
Blackbear
What is your realistic prediction?
12-18-4 would be on the higher side for the year
HockeyRef
Well-known member
Well...he almost seemed (and this isn't a direct reflection of him as I know he hates talking in public) 'cautious' in his optimism? He is obviously looking forward to the rennovations.
If I could use the term mea culpa about the results of the past..that might sum it up. He gave kudos to his asst coaches and included the work of Jim T Who was not there due to illness.
Like I said...it was really a different feel when those Canadians introduced themselves...I mean we have a Felix on the team y'all!!
Robert Balin
Active member
And we have an Oscar too Ref...
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
He really is in the wrong business then. If he doesn't embrace the PR aspect of his job, then he should go back to being an anonymous assistant.
HockeyRef
Well-known member
I think he is well aware of the fan sentiment of how things have been going I mean how could he not be? We talked to him 1 on 1...hes very comfortable in that mode.
I guess he deserves kudos for acknowledging publicly how things have been going. Beats total arrogance and complete denial...Which isn't a river in Egypt last I looked
HockeyRef
Well-known member
Love it!! Haha Felix and Oscar....isn't lost on me ha!And we have an Oscar too Ref...
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Assistant coaches major in having fantastic 1-on-1 discussions. D-1 head coaches need to be able to communicate on a higher level. It's not an optional skill.I think he is well aware of the fan sentiment of how things have been going I mean how could he not be? We talked to him 1 on 1...hes very comfortable in that mode.
I guess he deserves kudos for acknowledging publicly how things have been going. Beats total arrogance and complete denial...Which isn't a river in Egypt last I looked
Souza may not even realize it, but he's been pretty lucky to be in his current job so long. Where we used to have local press who did regular interviews and asked challenging questions, now all we have is glorified stenographers who lob unoffensive and unchallenging creampuffs at a coach a few times a season. So the target guy at the top goes unchallenged too often, and the emperor can rule his kingdom without any clothes a little longer, if their AD lacks vision.
Just the standard of what qualifies as an effective UNH head coach has dropped precipitously. Look at it this way ... the three seasons before Blue Skies gave Coach Umile the "Long Goodbye", Umile's record was 61-49-10 (roughly) including two out of three winning seasons, a .500 season in the 3rd season, and a trip to the 2014 HEA Tourney Finals in between. If MS7 were ever to replicate that level of three year success, he'd be on "Easy Street" with many folks on here.
Some guys are just more comfortable as assistant coaches. As I often raise in discussions like this, consider the great Grant Standbrook. Mediocre early in his D-1 coaching career as Head Coach at Dartmouth, then after a stint with the 1976 US Olympic team assisting "Badger Bob" Johnson, he followed him to Wisconsin for a decade of glory there, and then hopped onto the Walshy train at UMaine for two more decades of excellence. That was never a coincidence. And even if Walshy picked up a ton of knowledge from his former father-in-law Ron Mason at MSU when he was a bench-warming goalie, there's no way Standbrook wasn't more knowledgeable than Walshy at his time of hire. Walshy was there to be the ringmaster of the circus, the human lightning rod as I used to call him, and he was absolutely in his element. Standbrook was incredibly proficient in his element as well, and knew enough to stay in that role when Walshy went out on suspension, avoiding the potential awkwardness when the ringmaster eventually returned to the big top. Even when ringmaster Walshy left for good, Standbrook propped up his earnest-yet-limited successor for a few years, earning the gratitude of UMaine fans, and the respect of fans all across D-1 when he eventually retired.
Like many sports/professions, D-1 hockey in general (and HEA more specifically) is loaded with former assistants trying to lead programs to some level of success, and for every Ben Barr or Nate Leaman, there are several long-standing assistants like MS7, Luce, Scotty Borek, Jerry Keefe and the like, who want badly (some more badly than others; looking at you, Luce) to succeed, and don't quite make it up to the levels attained by their more famous mentors. You can't blame any of them for trying, although in some cases it's more *entertaining* when a former assistant thinks he was better at that post than he really was. Rounding back to HR's point ... I'm sure at this point, MS7 is under no illusions about his job, and how far he has fallen short of his personal goals to seamlessly continue his original mentor's success at their alma mater. But like the guy at the craps table who's been on a long losing streak, he convinces himself that he's been unlucky, and his luck is about to turn any time now. At least until someone turns out the lights, and it's time to go home, short of glory.
I think that's kind of where MS7 is right now, and his last throw of the dice is the "Canadian Major Junior" strategy that's about to hit the ice in a few months ...
Jellsville USA
Registered User
https://youtu.be/ul-OieU9ESI?si=3VQqJMPU2x_o_sAM
Gotta love this story of incoming player Jacob Newcombe
Gotta love this story of incoming player Jacob Newcombe
Sparkee
Blackbear
I have them at 15-15-4. But last year I thought you were pessimistic but you ended up being right.
Jellsville probably has them at 28-4-2.
Chuck will predict a trip to the garden after they start out ok. Even go so far as standing behind a long term Souza extension after a split with MSU. But then by the end of the season claim he was right when they only get 12 wins. And calling for Souza to fall on his sword.
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Jellsville USA
Registered User
fan2
/fan/
noun
noun: fan; plural noun: fans
- a person who has a strong interest in or admiration for a particular person or thing.
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Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
Honest to God, stop being such a d!ck. It's tiresome, it's old, and it's unimaginative. Your schtick has gotten super boring. Come up with something new.
You can't possibly be so stupid as to be "confused" by someone who can write from the perspective of (1) a fan, (2) a prognosticator, and (3) an objective analyst with a rooting interest. No one else on here is "confused" by this ability to communicate on different levels. Setting aside the low-hanging fruit of taking shots at UMaine-iacs, most of your fellow UMaine fans seem to have figured it out long ago. A generation ago, I could be an absolutely devout UNH fan, root for them unabashedly against every opponent, and then step back after and assess the situation objectively, win or lose, and admire some of the great things Walshy accomplished in Orono, while criticizing him for other things. I'm sure you do the same things in favor of UMaine ... not sure about the other part?
The idea that I change my opinions as often as a teenage girl changes her clothes is laughable. The idea that I don't admit when I'm wrong is f'ing hilarious.
As a dedicated UNH fan, I root for UNH to win, every time they play, no matter against whom. I'm sure you feel the same about UMaine. So I've rooted for MS7 to be successful since Day One, and I still root for his team to be successful. If his team is successful, he is successful, and I'm happy. Not complicated, right??
As a prognosticator, I enjoy the challenge of trying to accurately guess what the future holds - for one game, one season (or sometimes one career). Here, I make a prediction based on what I know, not what I want to happen. So (for example), if I predict MSU is gonna beat UNH 4-2 in their season opener, that's what I think is gonna happen. I'm still rooting for UNH, and if UNH wins, I'm happy. If MSU wins, I'm NOT happy, even if my prediction turns out to be right. Not even if MSU goalie Trey Augustine posts a shutout, since Trey is a Detroit Red Wings high draft pick. That bit would fall into the "silver lining" category;
As an objective analyst, I'll criticize UNH players and/or coaches if they deserve criticism, and I'll praise opponents if they've earned it. I might even make a suggestion or two on how a coach might approach a situation. I've coached almost 1,500 games (different sport/different level) and won about 70% of those games, and at times I've even gotten paid to do it (never enough to "give up the day job", so to speak!), and I've been involved in the recruitment process for dozens of players over the last 20+ seasons. One of my players (brief time only TBF) even continues to draw a professional paycheck in our sport, for which I claim less than zero credit. But I do have all this parallel experience to draw upon and form opinions, or make predictions. Sometimes it works, other times not.
How does this all apply to one Mike Souza, current UNH Men's Hockey Head Coach? As stated above, as a fan of UNH Hockey, I've rooted for MS7's success since Day One. I still root for him and his teams now, despite his overall lack of success. It would make a wonderful story if he were to somehow reverse the course of his HC career at UNH, becomes a highly successful HC of a habitually winning UNH program, and earns himself a lifetime contract.
Looking at the first few games of the upcoming season, and then the rest of the 2025/2026 UNH Hockey season as a prognosticator ... UNH has always had this annoying but endearing habit of winning games early in the season, and often against really strong opposition. It hasn't just been Quinnipiac these last two seasons, this goes back a LONG time, and has hatched derisive nicknames like "Champions of October" and "Champions of November" in the past. Will UNH take a chunk out of MSU in their season-opening weekend at East Lansing? Based on past history, the chances are pretty good UNH wins at least one of those games against MSU. Picking them to do so isn't a "genius" call, it's actually based on a long history of winning unimportant games against tough teams early in the season. Some folks may become more optimistic about the rest of the season as a result BUT ...
... if I'm looking at it as an objective analyst, then "I've seen this movie before". It's an illusion, or a mirage. We have 10 seasons now (with 7 of those fully in charge at UNH) to gauge how an MS7 team will perform over the course of a given season. There is only one (1) big potential difference this season, and it's the Canadian Juniors kids/men who will be suiting up for UNH this season. To his credit, MS7 has been on this issue from the outset, and probably (correctly) sees this as his last chance to turn things around. So, he gets credit for being on the ball and acting accordingly. But these changes are available to all of his coaching rivals too, and it remains to be seen which program adapts best to these changes. Objectively, do I think this turns the tide for MS7? Sadly, I doubt it.
To recap your silly little bit ... if UNH gets off to a decent start, as a fan, I will hope they make the Garden this March, but I've seen enough of these false starts to know NOT to objectively predict or expect them to make it there, Canadian Juniors and all. I've never, ever vouched for a "long term extension" for Souza.
You've barely been on these boards for almost two (2) years now. Souza's been behind the UNH bench in one capacity or another for a decade now. So let me fill you in here on where I've been on the subject of Head Coach Mike Souza, from Day One of Coach Umile's "Long Goodbye" and his "Quest for the NRN", to the point where he took the baton three years later, and right up to the present day.
There were several on here who were smart enough to frown on the Souza hire right from the outset in 2015, and sadly I was not among them until a few years into the project. Souza's first two HC seasons were borderline encouraging, as Year Two had him back up at or near .500, but Year Three he was taking the team right down the drain ... yet he had the whole COVID thing to fall back on/make excuses over. But my support of MS7 - which was already waning by 2019 - was over definitively by 2021. Two more losing seasons followed, and his deal was up after Year Six, which turned out to be his only winning season.
The new AD decided to give him three more years, which from a competitive standpoint was a huge mistake. In retrospect, maybe the most important thing AD Rich considered at that time was three years of cost certainty, in light of overall USNH budget uncertainties. She gave MS7 no raise and three years, and to me, that screams "budget certainty". As a fan, do I like that decision? Nope. But as an objective analyst, and as someone who has had to answer for a professional budget before ... I get it. I don't have to like it or "support it" to understand why it happened. And understanding doesn't mean I like it. Comprende, senor?
So there you go, skippy. That's 30 minutes of me being bored on a quiet summer afternoon, providing content to pass the day, and laying it all out, so you can have a handy dandy reference piece to try to wrap your head around. By most accounts, Coach Souza is a nice guy. I will be rooting for his program for the rest of my life, and for now by extension, that means I'm rooting for Coach Souza. I predict this season will be slightly better than last season, and not as good as the season before. After a slight one-season bounce on the Canadian Junior thing, it'll be back to business as usual after that, as everyone else works things out with the new landscape, and Coach Souza's inability to "coach up" his own players again rises to the forefront. Objectively, I do not expect a trip to Boston in March either of the next two seasons, but I'll be rooting for it to happen. Ditto for the national tourney. I'm not expecting Coach Souza to have his current job after April 2027. I will not be happy when MS7 loses his job, but I will be relieved when UNH decides to turn that page. And if I'm wrong, and MS7 runs the table between now and then, I'll be happy to be wrong.
But assuming I'm right ... then we start the process all over again on the next UNH head coach. Just like UMaine fans were doing throughout the Whitehead and Gendron eras, and will do once again when Coach Barr's time in Orono comes to a conclusion. And it gives fans and analysts alike lots of grist for the mill.
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Sparkee
Blackbear
There you have it folks… “It would make a wonderful story if he were to somehow reverse the course of his HC career at UNH, becomes a highly successful HC of a habitually winning UNH program, and earns himself a lifetime contract.” -Chuck Murray
Clearly standing behind an even longer contract for Souza than anyone else would have thought of.