Re: An Open Letter to Coach Umile
Didn't read this fascinating thread until this morning at work, but had no time to reply. First, I want to welcome back Chuck, whose insights have been missing oh these many years. I ran into him at the last game of the season at the Whit, a miserable night of rain topped up by that miserable OT goal. Glad to see and read you Chuck. And thankfully you still have that well worn Expos hat.
Anyway, I thought it took Chuck a long time to get to the point, but in a nutshell he seemed to be saying that, while it wouldn't be kosher to fire Umile, he should do the next best thing and hire someone who he could designate as a successor. By inference, my take was that Borek and Lassonde are not worthy candidates. That's fortuitous since, as far as I know and have been told, neither one wants the job. After his flame out at LSSU, Borek is content at what he does and Lassonde, he is well respected in hockey circles (not that Scott isn't), and has had a couple of opportunities in the recent past to at least interview for a head job and has turned them down.
Like most posters, I agree that UNH has fallen off in the past few years. Rather than be a true contender for the title, as they were from '97-'03, they are now just a contender to make the tournament. I think we all agree that the drop off is a function of the talent being brought in. When UNH was going great guns, they seemed to thrive on the players who had fallen through the cracks. McCloskey's theory back then was that we go after these guys because we couldn't get the top end kid (his story about Drury is pretty telling in this regard). When this second tier is successful, it would then allow UNH to have a better chance of getting those players who everyone is lusting after. The ironic thing is that when this recruiting philosophy first started to bear fruit, the guy we got was Eddie Caron. How'd that work out?
Now we are at the point where we were in the mid-90's. We are no longer getting the top end kid, have to settle for late bloomers or young kids with some upside to be successful. The problem I see (and this has been discussed at length before) is we are spending too much time on recruiting the top end kids who wind up not coming (Yandle, Bourque, Kolomaitis, Reid), then have to fill holes late with third tier kids. Last summer was a prime example when UNH had to settle for Speelman and Block after Bourque and Dries were gone. Setting aside off-ice stuff (tough to do with Dries), how would the latter two have looked in a UNH uniform this past year?
I think it would be awfully hard for Umile to can either assistant, he is a very loyal guy (a very good quality BTW). But let's assume, for arguments sake, he does. Some of the names I have seen on this thread are almost laughable (i.e Tim Walsh, a high school coach). But the one name that seems to come up most often is Pat Foley. My only question is why would you want to take someone from a program that has continued to go down hill since he got there. Pat just finished his third year at Harvard and, believe me when I tell you, they are awful. I'm not sure Harvard's demise is based on a misguided judgment of talent, or that the coaches can't coach the talent when it gets there. But whichever choice you make, it is a huge black mark on the coaching staff. Anyone who wants to bring in someone from a failed program just because they have a UNH pedigree is shortsighted. Pat may bleed blue and white (not sure of that), but at this point he has either failed as a recruiter or as a coach. And remember, any assistant will be called upon to do both.
There has been a lot of discussion the last couple of days about BC's firing of basketball coach Al Skinner. Although relatively successful in the past, the last couple of years have not been the best for BC and the theory is that, with his top recruiter gone, BC wasn't bringing in the the same level of talent and, thus, the drop off. I think Umile compares favorably here. No question we don't have the talent that we used to have but somehow Umile has been able to find a way for UNH to remain competitive. Okay, no FF, but 3 league titles in 4 years, continued NCAA bids, and in the final eight the last two years. Last October in Wisconsin, when UNH was flailing around for 120 minutes, I remarked that this might be the worst collection of forwards Umile has had in his 20 years. But somehow he found a way to make them compete.
Although it would be awfully difficult for Umile to can either Borek or Lassonde, I agree that a critical analysis of where the program is now compared to, say, 2002, and where it is headed over the next 10 years is in order. Where that analysis leads, I don't know, but I do think it needs to be done.
I know I've been away from regular board duty, but I was unaware that Donato (who is not ALL that much older than Foley) was contemplating retirement, or a move to the pros anytime soon?
)))