Re: 2020 UVM offseason: Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
I think you might be reading too much into the RPI hire. Smith has done a great job and certainly had the team rolling before the shutdown this season. That said, the RPI search was handled by an AD who knows nothing about hockey, who then went out and hired a search firm that had never performed a D1 hockey search... All accounts were the search committee failed to seek out or listen to any prominent hockey alum input. That said , all indications were the decision came down to a coin flip between Barr and Smith. Benny is a top D1 recruiter and coach who has excelled at every stop he's made. You never really know if an AC can lead a program until they are given a shot, but Benny has been paying his dues
Maybe I am but I think you answered my question regarding Barr. Everyone calls him this wonder recruiter and I know he does coaching but to me even if UVM needs a major talent upgrade hiring a wonder recruiter who when we really think about it as an assistant doesn't take much of the blame because the fans put that on the head coach and rightfully so because they are the leader. So in my mind the flags for Barr are if he's as good as people say so why hasn't the trigger been pulled earlier and is he more than a recruiter tied to successful programs? Again this is just having to see both sides of the equation in my opinion and that to me is one that I would see with Barr that I would put in the "cons" section if we were doing them for each candidate.
And in fairness so people don't think I have some grudge against him here is how I'd have done it with the other 4 main people in the search:
Lang's pros are that he took over a very bad program and turned them around into a winning side in 4 years all while creating a winning culture and style in the program with lack of resources, all something that UVM could use. The cons are that Atlantic Hockey is not Hockey East and the step up may be too great and whether or not that type of recruiting works in Hockey East.
Rolston has a vast array of experience working at many college stops for great minds and has head coaching experience in the junior and pro level. He would have brought lots of credibility to the program. The cons are that he's never had a head coaching job in college and even with head coaching experience at higher levels we all know college can be different especially with a program like UVM that needs a full system re-jolt.
Grillo is popular with the alums and was around for a lot of good times and he probably would actually get some people excited believe it or not especially if he brought Perrin in. It might be a combo if done right it's outside the box and it works. I won't compare it fully to Madigan at NU but at the time people thought his hire was a joke right? Well if Grillo gets the right people around him maybe that scenario repeats? His record at Brown was terrible and while that's a very bad job you are what your record says you are and he was bad despite having some NHL level players on his roster. He hasn't coached in 10 years and whether or not he's actually learned anything or adapted in his role at USA Hockey remains to be seen.
Jerry Keefe has been part of Northeastern's rebuild and that's brought many good results and he has been committed to that process. He's a solid candidate but I would wonder about his long term commitment to UVM especially if say in 3-4 years Madigan decides to step aside would he then be lured back to Northeastern which likely at that point even if he had success here would be a better job, and is "home" for him? How would UVM look if it potentially lost a coach to a conference rival even in a unique situation? You can't dwell on that but for a school that believes in the hire a hockey coach once every 20 years that's something the administration isn't used to.
End of the day whoever gets it out of that group I will give my support and I hope they'll have what it takes to get the program back on track but personally I feel that you have to have some skepticism on anyone hired for such an important position and hope they are able to prove any doubts wrong.
