Re: Don Lucia steps down as Minnesota Gophers coach
Never say never, but I almost have to say "never" here.
It's just not what happens in college hockey coaching.
Take a look back over the last 10 years or so when coaches have left or been fired. How much poaching of other head coaches has really gone on? Have any dominos really fallen after those hires? No
Major programs (Michigan, Wisconsin, DU, and UND) and some programs in pretty good situations (Mich St., CC, Omaha) have had their head coaching spots filled in probably the last half dozen years here out west. How many of them resulted in poaches of the head coach of another college program? You can only claim one (Michigan), and realistically pretty much everyone except for Tech fans understood that Pearson was just being sent to Tech to get some seasoning before taking over for Berenson, so I don't even consider that a poach.
Furthermore, once those positions were filled, was there a domino effect throughout the rest of college hockey as a result? No.
Even the hiring of Lucia, 20 years ago (which would certainly be considered a poach) didn't result in any sort of domino effect. CC didn't go poach the Tech coach or the Anchorage coach or something. They filled within.
This is my own opinion about hiring Lucia's replacement, but I think it's going to be a Minnesota guy. By that I mean, he's from Minnesota, he played at the U and maybe even coached at the U.
How often did we hear griping from people in the hockey community questioning Lucia's commitment to Minnesota, given his Notre Dame background? They would complain when he was at Notre Dame events or helping them raise money or participating in alma mater activities.
I don't think the athletic department is going to want to go through that again. Just my opinion.
Never say never, but I almost have to say "never" here.
It's just not what happens in college hockey coaching.
Take a look back over the last 10 years or so when coaches have left or been fired. How much poaching of other head coaches has really gone on? Have any dominos really fallen after those hires? No
Major programs (Michigan, Wisconsin, DU, and UND) and some programs in pretty good situations (Mich St., CC, Omaha) have had their head coaching spots filled in probably the last half dozen years here out west. How many of them resulted in poaches of the head coach of another college program? You can only claim one (Michigan), and realistically pretty much everyone except for Tech fans understood that Pearson was just being sent to Tech to get some seasoning before taking over for Berenson, so I don't even consider that a poach.
Furthermore, once those positions were filled, was there a domino effect throughout the rest of college hockey as a result? No.
Even the hiring of Lucia, 20 years ago (which would certainly be considered a poach) didn't result in any sort of domino effect. CC didn't go poach the Tech coach or the Anchorage coach or something. They filled within.
This is my own opinion about hiring Lucia's replacement, but I think it's going to be a Minnesota guy. By that I mean, he's from Minnesota, he played at the U and maybe even coached at the U.
How often did we hear griping from people in the hockey community questioning Lucia's commitment to Minnesota, given his Notre Dame background? They would complain when he was at Notre Dame events or helping them raise money or participating in alma mater activities.
I don't think the athletic department is going to want to go through that again. Just my opinion.
