TonyTheTiger20
#SOAR
Carrying on from the 2023-2024 thread now that we're into the offseason...
The list of BC players out there who are coaches/have coached isn't that big to begin with. Off the top of my head:
Lee-J Mirasolo, Stonehill HC
Andie Anastos was a BC assistant but I don't think she's coaching anymore
Kate Leary, BC AC
Tracy Johnson, St Olaf HC
Makenna Newkirk, Penn State AC
Taylor Wasylk, Lindenwood HC
Not sure if there are others that I'm being rude by forgetting, sorry to any who are out there...
Anyway of those players still coaching --
• While it would be frickin amazing for Lee-J to come and join us (she is pretty beloved already at Stonehill), there's no way she's going to leave a D1 head coaching job for an associate head coach job, alum or not.
• Same with Wasylk.
• Leary is a total firebrand with serious passion. We could do way, way, way worse than elevating her into the role.
• Tracy Johnson, again, I don't really see leaving a D3 head coaching job for an assistant coach role at BC, but that's at least more realistic.
• Newkirk would fit a similar mold as Leary but like, Leary's already here.
In any case, point being, these are the only alums I can think of on the coaching tree. I do agree that it would be great if we go out there and make a "splash hire" without regard to whether it's a BC alum or not.
But -- and I ask this as a serious question, not rhetorically, because I don't know the answer -- who would even count as "a splash hire" as an assistant coach? Anyone who is already in a meaningful role is probably not going to go anywhere in a lateral move. Keep in mind too that even an Associate Head Coach role is not exactly going to be big money. Unless we're hiring someone local, whoever we hire is going to have to uproot their lives and move to Boston. There's a reason you never see a big assistant coach hire in nonrevenue sports. The money's not worth that. And we're certainly not going to hire a current D1 head coach to fill the job.
It is very, very difficult to get an assistant coach that checks all 3 of these boxes:
(1) "Has proven success"
(2) Is willing to take a job as an assistant coach.
(3) Either lives in Boston already or is willing to move here for an assistant coach's salary
I'm not saying it would be impossible for us to find someone great from Europe and go watch them play and offer them a scholarship and persuade them to come to BC. I'm just saying those are not cheap recruiting trips and I don't know that BC gives the coaching staff that kind of budget when they might get more juice out of the squeeze staying stateside. This isn't a new thing, either; hell, I remember being a student back when Mutch was the coach when we had *one* Canadian on the team, and it was such a big deal that we had a Canadian that everyone on the team called her "Canada" lol... Literally the only Canadian on the team right now, who happens to be an elite superstar, fell into our lap because her brother played on the men's team.
BC as an institution tends to do these things at a glacial pace so I would expect this to take a little bit of time honestly. To Reggie's point, this is filling an associate head coach role and not a 2nd assistant role, so this is a pretty important hire.
I don't think we want to be crossing off former BC players just because they're former BC players because I'm not sure there are all that many potential hires out there. But I agree I'd like to bring in someone with experience.
The list of BC players out there who are coaches/have coached isn't that big to begin with. Off the top of my head:
Lee-J Mirasolo, Stonehill HC
Andie Anastos was a BC assistant but I don't think she's coaching anymore
Kate Leary, BC AC
Tracy Johnson, St Olaf HC
Makenna Newkirk, Penn State AC
Taylor Wasylk, Lindenwood HC
Not sure if there are others that I'm being rude by forgetting, sorry to any who are out there...
Anyway of those players still coaching --
• While it would be frickin amazing for Lee-J to come and join us (she is pretty beloved already at Stonehill), there's no way she's going to leave a D1 head coaching job for an associate head coach job, alum or not.
• Same with Wasylk.
• Leary is a total firebrand with serious passion. We could do way, way, way worse than elevating her into the role.
• Tracy Johnson, again, I don't really see leaving a D3 head coaching job for an assistant coach role at BC, but that's at least more realistic.
• Newkirk would fit a similar mold as Leary but like, Leary's already here.
In any case, point being, these are the only alums I can think of on the coaching tree. I do agree that it would be great if we go out there and make a "splash hire" without regard to whether it's a BC alum or not.
But -- and I ask this as a serious question, not rhetorically, because I don't know the answer -- who would even count as "a splash hire" as an assistant coach? Anyone who is already in a meaningful role is probably not going to go anywhere in a lateral move. Keep in mind too that even an Associate Head Coach role is not exactly going to be big money. Unless we're hiring someone local, whoever we hire is going to have to uproot their lives and move to Boston. There's a reason you never see a big assistant coach hire in nonrevenue sports. The money's not worth that. And we're certainly not going to hire a current D1 head coach to fill the job.
It is very, very difficult to get an assistant coach that checks all 3 of these boxes:
(1) "Has proven success"
(2) Is willing to take a job as an assistant coach.
(3) Either lives in Boston already or is willing to move here for an assistant coach's salary
Annoyingly -- very annoyingly -- I don't think the BC coaching staff gets the budget nor the resources necessary to recruit like that internationally. Anyone we bring in from outside the US would either have to be on a full athletic scholarship or be very rich, as BC doesn't do financial aid for international students. So if you spend all that time and money trying to get someone great and you find someone who is merely good, offering a partial scholarship is not an option.
I'm not saying it would be impossible for us to find someone great from Europe and go watch them play and offer them a scholarship and persuade them to come to BC. I'm just saying those are not cheap recruiting trips and I don't know that BC gives the coaching staff that kind of budget when they might get more juice out of the squeeze staying stateside. This isn't a new thing, either; hell, I remember being a student back when Mutch was the coach when we had *one* Canadian on the team, and it was such a big deal that we had a Canadian that everyone on the team called her "Canada" lol... Literally the only Canadian on the team right now, who happens to be an elite superstar, fell into our lap because her brother played on the men's team.
