Re: Brown - Oops! They did it again.
I dare a new coach to come in and make the attrition rate higher or decrease the winning percentage, it's not possible.
And your arguments pretty tough to defend especially at Brown. Just look at the men's team. They had the Grillo Empire going on for twelve years. He had early success too, but then drove the program into the ground. This year they got a new coach and now they're doing awesome, without even having the chance to have their own recruiting class come in to work with. I think the men's team is actually breaking previous years records in shots and goals.
So if anything, I'm a firm beleiver that the talent of the players at brown is not the problem, it's the coaches.
hcky - first, to get the unimportant stuff out of the way - this years team has 63 goals in 21 games. The '75 team had 171 goals in 30 games (McIntosh, Gilligan, Bothwell, Roberts - start singing "Glory Days" now). So this years team is going to need to average 12 goals per game over the next nine to catch them! (and i'm not even sure that's their highest scoring team ever).
Your quote regarding the "Grillo Empire" pretty much shows which way you lean - there may be a 1000 issues, but it's the 'coaches fault' when things go bad. But as has been stated here, in sports or the corporate world the bottom line is W-L's so can't argue there. I wouldn't say this years team is 'awesome', but although inconsistent there has been marked improvement - 7-12-1. When a new coach like Whittet comes in like on the men's side it does seem to rejuvinate everyone in and around the program. He'll nail a good recruit or two the first year and we'll seem some strides - but in the long run there are major issues with things in the administration (and things like the AI and FA) that will remain a challenge for any coach at Brown unless they get a bigger commitment to the program - same for the men as the women.
The thing to keep in mind is that Grillo left on his own for another opportunity, he was not fired for a new coach (although many people on the men's side here were calling for his head as well). I don't think the AD is likely to fire her unless he was getting a lot of pressure from alumn$...and I don't see that happening with women's hockey. I think eventually you may see that with happen with Digit if she can't turn this around in the next few years.
I do agree re: attrition rate to a degree. There will be more freshman playing, but there are only so many players in the program, a new coach can't come in and totally clean house. It's not like back in the day when there was also a full JV team and literally the third and fourth line competed every practice to see who is going to suit up for the next game. I was surprised to read here that up to eight players left the program this year, i'm sure their lack of depth is one reason they are struggling.
I support the Brown programs and whoever is coaching. You hope the administration is doing their due diligence in reviewing the programs every year, but I don't have a son or daughter playing there like a lot of the posters here so I can see where the frustration level and sense of urgency is turned up. In the end, I think it is more about the players than the coaches. You get a Yann Danis in and Grillo is a genius who graduates a senior class with more wins over 4 years than any previous four year class at Brown. When he doesn't his break out sucks and no one can stand their 'endless cycling' in the offensive zone. Digit gets a Katie King and Tara Mounsey and she's off the Nationals and one of the winningest coaches in women's hockey! Now she's not getting them and she's forgotten how to coach, has a rotten personality, and cuts players with malice.
My pee-wee team is only .500 this year, rumors are i'm probably going to get replaced by the town dentist who was captain of his high school team! Ouch.
