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Fire Mike Eaves?

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Fire Mike Eaves?

Heck Yeah!

As everyone knows, recruiting is the life blood of any college sport. Mike Eaves has consistently either lost the battle or wasted scholarship dollars on players who have returned little or nothing to the program. The moment you can tell when a program has lost its mojo, is when the home state's best prospects start leaving for greener pastures. What did Barry Alverez do when he got the job, he stated that he was going to build a wall around the state and not let its best players leave for other programs, and it worked!

Let's look and see how Big Mike has been faring lately with Wisconsin's top home grown prospects:

Jordan Schmaltz - NHL 1st round pick - North Dakota
Will Butcher - NTDP - Denver
Ian McCoshen - USHL - Boston College

The other area that he has failed miserably is the scholarship dollars he has wasted on Wisconsin Prep Hockey Players who he has offered scholarships to before they played one minute in JR Hockey!

Current Wisconsin Wi Born Players and where they were recruited from:

Jake McCabe - NTDP - 6 points
Keegan Meuer - USHL - 4 points
Ryan Little - WIAA - 2 points
Brad Navin - WIAA - 1 point
Gavin Hartzog - WIAA - 0 points
Sean Little - WIAA - 0 points
Jefferson Dahl - WIAA - 0 points
Matt Pappe - WIAA - 0 points
Chase Drake - WIAA - 0 points

Lets also not forget two other former WIAA players and former WI Prep Hockey players of the year who committed to Wisco and never made it to campus

Travis Erstad
Cody Strang

So when you wonder why Wisco Hockey sucks.....take a look at the local players who are getting away and the ones who they landed.

So, is it time to fire Mike Eaves???

Yes is the answer!
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

icebadger said:
Andy Baggot writes a thinly veiled 'Don't fire Eaves' column

Link
Click to expand...
Here's thing...Wisconsin has struggled of late and more than any Badger fan would like to think bout excluding the 2 years they went to the Frozen Four. But the fact of the matter is that obviously Eaves can coach when it falls in place. I honestly think it comes down to struggling too much to find that balance with early departures...very similar to what Minnesota has been going through...
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Shirtless Guy said:
Here's thing...Wisconsin has struggled of late and more than any Badger fan would like to think bout excluding the 2 years they went to the Frozen Four. But the fact of the matter is that obviously Eaves can coach when it falls in place. I honestly think it comes down to struggling too much to find that balance with early departures...very similar to what Minnesota has been going through...
Click to expand...

Yep. Don Lucia is one of the greatest college coaches of all time and there's no question that that dynamic through the program for a loop.
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

ScoobyDoo said:
Yep. Don Lucia is one of the greatest college coaches of all time and there's no question that that dynamic through the program for a loop.
Click to expand...
The problem with any big time program is it is very hard to have a player stick around for 3 or 4 years that is extremely valuable to the team. You can see it easily with the previously listed mistakes that are sticking around. Those mistakes wouldn't be so bad except all the correct picks are off playing pro hockey already so there are more choices that get made, sometimes late in the recruiting process, so more mistakes can be made. Mistakes aren't that big a deal if you have a class of 6 and 1 or 2 don't pan out...its fine because the other 4 are good/great players...but if after 2 seasons you're left with the 2 underachiever of those 6, you're going to struggle.
 
Shirtless Guy said:
Here's thing...Wisconsin has struggled of late and more than any Badger fan would like to think bout excluding the 2 years they went to the Frozen Four. But the fact of the matter is that obviously Eaves can coach when it falls in place. I honestly think it comes down to struggling too much to find that balance with early departures...very similar to what Minnesota has been going through...
Click to expand...

Not a bad analysis Shirtless. I do like a number of their future recruits. Maybe, like Lucia, Eaves has learned something from York and is starting to balance future blue chippers with smaller skilled forwards who are more likely to stick around longer? Besse and Dvorak seem to fit that mold.
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Gurtholfin said:
Gotta love how a "Fire the Badger Coach" thread turns into yet another thread hijacked by a Gopher circle-jerk.
Click to expand...

Because of our history and tradition we are EVERYWHERE!

The question about in-state talent is an interesting one. How much is there really? Is it enough to sustain a program year after year, assuming you don't get all but at least a couple of recruits. Does Eaves go heavily after the top notch recruits when they exist? How can he lure them away from programs higher up?
 
Tiggsy said:
Because of our history and tradition we are EVERYWHERE!

The question about in-state talent is an interesting one. How much is there really? Is it enough to sustain a program year after year, assuming you don't get all but at least a couple of recruits. Does Eaves go heavily after the top notch recruits when they exist? How can he lure them away from programs higher up?
Click to expand...

I think they are more upset about missing the high end in-state guys recently, which is understandable. I think recruiting more in-state will help them long-term.
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Tiggsy said:
Because of our history and tradition we are EVERYWHERE!

The question about in-state talent is an interesting one. How much is there really? Is it enough to sustain a program year after year, assuming you don't get all but at least a couple of recruits. Does Eaves go heavily after the top notch recruits when they exist? How can he lure them away from programs higher up?
Click to expand...
There's enough in-state talent to at least give us a full line of higher-end prospects. For all the in-state misses we've had that probably should've been third-liners instead of the first or second line, that's enough to make a fairly significant difference.

Edit: Here's a list of the current WIAA alums playing D-I hockey. Obviously, it's not like we have a bunch of USNTDP-types that we're missing out on, but there's certainly a handful of guys on that list that I wouldn't mind seeing in a red sweater right about now.
 
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Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

JDUBBS1280 said:
I think they are more upset about missing the high end in-state guys recently, which is understandable. I think recruiting more in-state will help them long-term.
Click to expand...

That's where you are wrong....Eaves should make an all out effort to get early commitments from Wisconsin BLUE CHIPPERS, but stop offering any WIAA players anything until they play AND SUCCEED in the USHL!

If you look at the track records of the players in Juniors, I would bet Eaves would not have offered scholarships to any of the players mentioned earlier, while a player like Navin would actually have the chance to develop in junior hockey instead of looking lost at the NCAA pace of play after coming directly from WIAA hockey.
 
oldtyme25 said:
That's where you are wrong....Eaves should make an all out effort to get early commitments from Wisconsin BLUE CHIPPERS, but stop offering any WIAA players anything until they play AND SUCCEED in the USHL!

If you look at the track records of the players in Juniors, I would bet Eaves would not have offered scholarships to any of the players mentioned earlier, while a player like Navin would actually have the chance to develop in junior hockey instead of looking lost at the NCAA pace of play after coming directly from WIAA hockey.
Click to expand...

Youare going to miss out on lots of talent if you wait that long to offer some kids. Every program has misses. Gophers have had their fair share too. Bigger problem is bringing in guys who aren't ready directly from high school. For instance, Navin has talent, but I'm sure he would have benefited from some time in the USHL before coming in.
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

oldtyme25 said:
That's where you are wrong....Eaves should make an all out effort to get early commitments from Wisconsin BLUE CHIPPERS, but stop offering any WIAA players anything until they play AND SUCCEED in the USHL!

If you look at the track records of the players in Juniors, I would bet Eaves would not have offered scholarships to any of the players mentioned earlier, while a player like Navin would actually have the chance to develop in junior hockey instead of looking lost at the NCAA pace of play after coming directly from WIAA hockey.
Click to expand...

oldtyme is dead-on right. Wisconsin High School hockey is a completely different planet from MN High School Hockey. Wisconsin simply doesn't have the critical mass of hockey-centric athletes that MN does and Eaves needs to stop recruiting like it does. Put the local kids in the USHL first and recruit harder in the BCHL...that's where they got Justin Schultz. And....god forbid....recruit more MN and MI players. It's gonna get much harder next year for WI to make it to the NCAA tourney....fewer cupcake games. Now would be a good time to change strategy.
 
UpNorthHockey said:
oldtyme is dead-on right. Wisconsin High School hockey is a completely different planet from MN High School Hockey. Wisconsin simply doesn't have the critical mass of hockey-centric athletes that MN does and Eaves needs to stop recruiting like it does. Put the local kids in the USHL first and recruit harder in the BCHL...that's where they got Justin Schultz. And....god forbid....recruit more MN and MI players. It's gonna get much harder next year for WI to make it to the NCAA tourney....fewer cupcake games. Now would be a good time to change strategy.
Click to expand...

Have you seen the combined Big Ten record this year?

There are some great players coming out of Wisconsin and UW's primary concern should be landing them. Not getting the Schmaltz kids, McKoshen, Condon, etc... hurts. And if you don't support in-state programs, WI youth hockey certainly won't grow as fast. Not saying you should only recruit in-state either. Not even Minnesota can afford to do that any longer, but you have to nab the Phil Kessels.

You aren't going to beat out Minnesota for many top Twin Cities kids, UMD for many Duluth area kids, or UND for many NW MN kids. And how many top-end Canadian players are coming down to play these days? This isn't the 1960's where players were allowed to play in the CHL and then come down to play when they aged out. There aren't many Toews, Schultz, LaLegglia, types out there and the competition is fierce.

You'll win some of those battles, and you should continue to pursue them. No doubt. But to miss out on in-state talent because you're gun shy to pull the trigger would be a mistake. And recruiting will only get tougher if other Big Ten schools start programs.

I think Shirtless was pretty spot on. UW needs to find a balance between blue chip recruits that are 1-2 yrs and done and some skilled guys that will stick around longer. Guys like Besse and Dvorak fit that mold. Being an NHL pipeline is a consolation prize.
 
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