2015-2016 Coaching Changes

[ARM]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

Seems like it might be an odd recruiting situation for them ...

That could be true of any coach who attended a different school. Clarkson won a title with players brought in by two head coaches from St. Lawrence, so I don't see it as an issue in the general case. In this one specifically, it isn't like the previous coach made recruiting local players a priority.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

Interesting choice - should we start calling UMD Harvard West? On the surface, it seems like hiring three Harvard folks into UMD is the wrong fit on a couple of levels (including the academic focus differential). I would have guessed she would have brought one from Harvard and reached out to find someone else not connected to Harvard to break the mold on the coaching staff and provide some diversity for both coaching input and recruiting. Both the assistants have ties to Minnesota. Seems like it might be an odd recruiting situation for them - question "So why did you go to Harvard and not UMD?", answer "Because Ivy League schools are better and you should go there to if you can" or "In retrospect, I would have gone to UMD now" or "UMD didn't want me"? I dunno - just seems kind of awkward...

This is why I can’t stay away from this site, just when I thought I’ve seen the stupidest post up comes another one. Seriously, it would be great fun to have a poll every year(month?) to rank the top ten most idiotic posts.

I’d be surprised if the previous coach even recruited Bellamy (despite her being from Duluth), and even more shocked if she recruited Reber. The previous coach seemingly scoured the four corners of the earth except MN for hockey players, then tried to make students out of them once they got to Duluth.

So adding Bellamy, whom she has already had success coaching with, and Reber, whom she can mentor and mold to her system (a system she is already familiar) will help her recruit to the one place UMD has failed in recruiting student-athletes from.

What better way to start and show the new direction and era than with your assistant coaches?

There are plenty of other things to learn in the new job in a new league without having to learn to work with your assistants too. Coaches often bring people they are familiar with to their new job.

 

[charlieconway]

This is why I can’t stay away from this site, just when I thought I’ve seen the stupidest post up comes another one. Seriously, it would be great fun to have a poll every year(month?) to rank the top ten most idiotic posts.

I’d be surprised if the previous coach even recruited Bellamy (despite her being from Duluth), and even more shocked if she recruited Reber. The previous coach seemingly scoured the four corners of the earth except MN for hockey players, then tried to make students out of them once they got to Duluth.

So adding Bellamy, whom she has already had success coaching with, and Reber, whom she can mentor and mold to her system will help her recruit to the one place UMD has failed in recruiting student-athletes from.

What better way to start and show the new direction and era than with your assistant coaches?

There are plenty of other things to learn in the new job in a new league without having to learn to work with your assistants too. Coaches often bring people they are familiar with to their new job.

This. All of this. Obviously the new regime plans to go all-in on Minnesota talent, which should have supporters excited since it's only the best place in the world to find blue chip prospects in droves.

People can question how UMD is going to fare recruiting in Canada all they want, but Harvard pulled plenty of talent from north of the border over the last few years -- without any Canadians on staff. Recruiting isn't based on justifying or explaining your own college choice as a player. They'll be fine.

 

[EastFan1]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

This. All of this. Obviously the new regime plans to go all-in on Minnesota talent, which should have supporters excited since it's only the best place in the world to find blue chip prospects in droves.

People can question how UMD is going to fare recruiting in Canada all they want, but Harvard pulled plenty of talent from north of the border over the last few years -- without any Canadians on staff. Recruiting isn't based on justifying or explaining your own college choice as a player. They'll be fine.

Two years of collective coaching experience with the assistants?

 

[charlieconway]

Two years of collective coaching experience with the assistants?

The only ones I hear barking about collective experience are forum trolls. Thankfully athletic departments are never influenced by said folks.

 

[123kidd]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

Yep - no experience needed, just throw on a UMD jacket and hit the road...what happened to putting in your time, making contacts around the prep leagues/u18's, learning how to talk to recruits/families about a major commitment?

 

[Looney4Hockey]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

It is not just forum trolls that may have some concern about the relative lack of coaching experience between the two new assistant coaches. One has two years and the other has none. This is the WCHA and the pressure can be intense. Hopefully she has enough hockey knowledge and knows how to impart it to the players in order for them to elevate their play to justify the choice over other candidates that had experience.

 

[charlieconway]

Yep - no experience needed, just throw on a UMD jacket and hit the road...what happened to putting in your time, making contacts around the prep leagues/u18's, learning how to talk to recruits/families about a major commitment?

You're saying this with likely zero knowledge of the candidate pool. As someone who only knows who they hired and not who applied, I'll defer to the people in charge and the new head coach -- the one UMD committed 5 years and over $700K to. I think it's more fair to assume she knows what she's doing than to assume that she doesn't.

 

[ARM]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

If one of the objectives was to cut costs, there may not have been a big pool of funds for attracting more experienced assistants. Maybe just enough to land someone like Bellamy with the chance to be the top assistant and move back close to her family.

 

[shelfit]

The lack of combined experience of the two assistant coaches is a big concern. Hiring someone that just graduated and has zero coaching experience is not a good decision at this level and for a team with a winning history in this conference in particular. I'd have to guess there were people with much more experience that also applied for the openings. However Crowell is in a tough spot because she couldn't hire someone with equal or greater experience and hockey knowledge than herself so she had to go with younger less experienced coaches. Of much bigger concern is the very close proximity in age to the current players on the team. This is a dangerous recipe and all too often over the years bad situations have come out of this type of setup. I think Crowell would have been much wiser to have given more consideration to other candidates than to just go with people she already knew and was comfortable with. That she hired a former player is already a red flag in my opinion. I see problems ahead for this program and that's very unfortunate.

 

[charlieconway]

The lack of combined experience of the two assistant coaches is a big concern. Hiring someone that just graduated and has zero coaching experience is not a good decision at this level and for a team with a winning history in this conference in particular. I'd have to guess there were people with much more experience that also applied for the openings. However Crowell is in a tough spot because she couldn't hire someone with equal or greater experience and hockey knowledge than herself so she had to go with younger less experienced coaches. Of much bigger concern is the very close proximity in age to the current players on the team. This is a dangerous recipe and all too often over the years bad situations have come out of this type of setup. I think Crowell would have been much wiser to have given more consideration to other candidates than to just go with people she already knew and was comfortable with. That she hired a former player is already a red flag in my opinion. I see problems ahead for this program and that's very unfortunate.

Too young. Too inexperienced. UMD and its rich tradition. Blah blah bleeping blah.

The Bulldogs haven't seen the NCAA tournament in four years and have ranked dead last in academic performance in the WCHA along the way. This coaching staff is coming off a run to the national title game and younger coaching staffs has been trending across major sports for years. Acting like they're completely in over their heads based on experience alone is laughable.

 

[shelfit]

Too young. Too inexperienced. UMD and its rich tradition. Blah blah bleeping blah.

The Bulldogs haven't seen the NCAA tournament in four years and have ranked dead last in academic performance in the WCHA along the way. This coaching staff is coming off a run to the national title game and younger coaching staffs has been trending across major sports for years. Acting like they're completely in over their heads based on experience alone is laughable.

I think the other teams/coaches in the conference might be the ones laughing especially the lower teams in the standings because they see a chance to catch up to another team that has traditionally been ahead of them.

 

[HockeyEast33]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

This is why I can’t stay away from this site, just when I thought I’ve seen the stupidest post up comes another one. Seriously, it would be great fun to have a poll every year(month?) to rank the top ten most idiotic posts.

I’d be surprised if the previous coach even recruited Bellamy (despite her being from Duluth), and even more shocked if she recruited Reber. The previous coach seemingly scoured the four corners of the earth except MN for hockey players, then tried to make students out of them once they got to Duluth.

So adding Bellamy, whom she has already had success coaching with, and Reber, whom she can mentor and mold to her system (a system she is already familiar) will help her recruit to the one place UMD has failed in recruiting student-athletes from.

What better way to start and show the new direction and era than with your assistant coaches?

There are plenty of other things to learn in the new job in a new league without having to learn to work with your assistants too. Coaches often bring people they are familiar with to their new job.

Huh - that's funny - I rely on you and CharlieConway (and CrossCheck) to provide most of the dumb***** posts. Interesting that we see each other in a similar light.

You raise a valid point in noting that Miller probably didn't recruit them because they were from MN. And there are other reasons why they might not have wanted to go to UMD (tens of them). Still think that it is a awkward/tough story for a young 21-24 year old former player and now new coach to spin intelligently to high end recruits (who is presumably the target audience). But they'll have plenty of practice.

I'm also struggling with the concept that the Harvard model that all 3 coaches have been part of the past 4-6 years is one that is likely to be transferrable to UMD. They have no nationally renowned head coach now (no Katey Stone), no top 5 academic institution that many kids are dying to attend because of the advantages related to its prestige (Harvard), no currently successful hockey program (not for the last few years anyway), no geographically desirable city with endless attractions for young people (Boston). What they have is scholarship money (presumably), great facilities, a passable school, a less than desirable location for many players, a school that is on record with financial issues, and an inexperienced coaching staff. I don't know how this staff is qualified to be effective in recruiting in the UMD environment (other than 2 of them are from Minnesota) and the fact that they are all from Harvard isn't going to help them. Crowell would have done better to diversify her staff somewhat.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

This is why I can’t stay away from this site, just when I thought I’ve seen the stupidest post up comes another one. Seriously, it would be great fun to have a poll every year(month?) to rank the top ten most idiotic posts.
I’d be surprised if the previous coach even recruited Bellamy (despite her being from Duluth), and even more shocked if she recruited Reber. The previous coach seemingly scoured the four corners of the earth except MN for hockey players, then tried to make students out of them once they got to Duluth.

So adding Bellamy, whom she has already had success coaching with, and Reber, whom she can mentor and mold to her system (a system she is already familiar) will help her recruit to the one place UMD has failed in recruiting student-athletes from.

What better way to start and show the new direction and era than with your assistant coaches?

There are plenty of other things to learn in the new job in a new league without having to learn to work with your assistants too. Coaches often bring people they are familiar with to their new job.

Are you sure you want to see that poll?

 

[joecct]

That could be true of any coach who attended a different school. Clarkson won a title with players brought in by two head coaches from St. Lawrence, so I don't see it as an issue in the general case. In this one specifically, it isn't like the previous coach made recruiting local players a priority.

Our best coaches learn their trade in Canton.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

The lack of combined experience of the two assistant coaches is a big concern. Hiring someone that just graduated and has zero coaching experience is not a good decision at this level and for a team with a winning history in this conference in particular. I'd have to guess there were people with much more experience that also applied for the openings. However Crowell is in a tough spot because she couldn't hire someone with equal or greater experience and hockey knowledge than herself so she had to go with younger less experienced coaches. Of much bigger concern is the very close proximity in age to the current players on the team. This is a dangerous recipe and all too often over the years bad situations have come out of this type of setup. I think Crowell would have been much wiser to have given more consideration to other candidates than to just go with people she already knew and was comfortable with. That she hired a former player is already a red flag in my opinion. I see problems ahead for this program and that's very unfortunate.

oh gawd, when it rains it pours!

were you trying to outdo Hockeyeast33 or does this just come to you naturally?

I'm also struggling

yes, I see that

You are over thinking this way too much, in addition your east coast/big city provincialism is showing loud and clear. IOW, pull your head out of your ahse.

The previous coach also fell short on recruiting US players, I suspect the new coach will do better in that regard. It will be tough to return to the former glory of winning national championships, or even fending off Bemidji & OSU, but Cromwell, Crabtree, or Cowsill, whatever her name is won with a roster depleted of key players, I'm not so sure the best Hawvaad coach is still in Beantown.

 

[EastFan1]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

Too young. Too inexperienced. UMD and its rich tradition. Blah blah bleeping blah.

The Bulldogs haven't seen the NCAA tournament in four years and have ranked dead last in academic performance in the WCHA along the way. This coaching staff is coming off a run to the national title game and younger coaching staffs has been trending across major sports for years. Acting like they're completely in over their heads based on experience alone is laughable.

Is it possible the 2015 graduate is a graduate assistant and another assistant will be hired? If there is not going to be another hire, who is the interim head coach in January during the U18 tournament? If the 2015 grad is the interim head coach that will get a ton of press.

 

[driventoit]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

If the 2015 grad is the interim head coach that will get a ton of press.

Not to worry, it will be the 2013 grad.

The truth is, this sounds like an exciting, bold move, with confidence in their coaching chemistry being the key element here. Crowell wouldn't have done it without it. And it puts the program's immediate past in the rear-view mirror, where it sounds like it belongs.

(And, UMD fans, these three know how to handle the Eagles.)

 

[Skate79]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

The lack of combined experience of the two assistant coaches is a big concern. Hiring someone that just graduated and has zero coaching experience is not a good decision at this level and for a team with a winning history in this conference in particular. I'd have to guess there were people with much more experience that also applied for the openings. However Crowell is in a tough spot because she couldn't hire someone with equal or greater experience and hockey knowledge than herself so she had to go with younger less experienced coaches. Of much bigger concern is the very close proximity in age to the current players on the team. This is a dangerous recipe and all too often over the years bad situations have come out of this type of setup. I think Crowell would have been much wiser to have given more consideration to other candidates than to just go with people she already knew and was comfortable with. That she hired a former player is already a red flag in my opinion. I see problems ahead for this program and that's very unfortunate.

What bad situations? How much worse can it be given what transpired at UMD this past season? I don't disagree that Sam Reber will be learning on the job and she will have her ups and downs. So will Bellamy. But you could make that argument for any number of assistants just starting out or with limited experience. Everyone starts somewhere.

Crowell has head coaching experience at the D-1 level albeit for one year. If the University gives her the resources and support to recruit both in state and out of state, she'll at least have a fighting chance. You can't say that about every school. Look at Brown and Union if you want examples of programs that are less than stellar at the moment.

 

[HockeyEast33]

Re: 2015-2016 Coaching Changes

You are over thinking this way too much, in addition your east coast/big city provincialism is showing loud and clear. IOW, pull your head out of your ahse.

The previous coach also fell short on recruiting US players, I suspect the new coach will do better in that regard. It will be tough to return to the former glory of winning national championships, or even fending off Bemidji & OSU, but Cromwell, Crabtree, or Cowsill, whatever her name is won with a roster depleted of key players, I'm not so sure the best Hawvaad coach is still in Beantown.

How is my East Coast bias (which does exist) showing in this situation? Is UMD generally a more attractive school to potential players than Harvard? Is Duluth a generally more attractive city to recruits than Boston (if so, why has its population declined by 20% in the last 40 years)? There will always be a few where the answer is yes, but not the majority. The point is that these coaches have to find the few - and they haven't had to deal with that situation before. Your anti-Harvard bias seems to be showing a little more I would say. And if anyone is showing an East Coast bias, it is UMD - they just hired 3 Harvard trained coaches when they are awash (if others are to be believed) in a sea of highly-qualified potential candidates within a few hours of Duluth.

Regarding Harvard losing the better of its coaches to Duluth, I would say that while I think Katey Stone's best coaching days may be behind her she did OK before Crowell showed up and will likely do just fine without her. I don't think one year of decent coaching with a depleted team (but still very talented - it wasn't Sacred Heart she was coaching) makes me think that she is suddenly one of the best coaches in the country.

It's often been observed about Ronald Reagan that one of his greatest strengths was that he knew what he didn't know (which was a lot) and surrounded himself with really smart, talented, loyal people and relied on them to handle those things. I've found that to be a pretty good strategy in life. I'm not so sure that an inexperienced head coach entering what you always argue is the most competitive league in the country has done herself the best service by hiring two young, novice inexperienced assistant coaches. It doesn't seem like the best recipe for success. Hey, but who knows - anything's possible....