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Fire Mike Eaves?

Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Yeah, I don't think tDon would go to another school. Especially not within the Big Ten. I'm thinking he's getting close to retiring within the next five years. Just a hunch.
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

With the clock counting down to what I hope is the imminent and long overdue firing of MM, thought I would bump this thread I started 3 1/2 years ago. Is it Friday yet?
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Scottyp said:
With the clock counting down to what I hope is the imminent and long overdue firing of MM, thought I would bump this thread I started 3 1/2 years ago. Is it Friday yet?
Click to expand...

I was just talking with someone about Eaves today. Since the WCHA broke up, I have not kept up with what the Badgers have been doing ... has attendance dropped off for you guys? Does Eaves have any years left on his contract? The Badgers have such an amazing building to play in, a great history, and always had super student support at games. I don't understand what went wrong. :mad:
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

Suze said:
I was just talking with someone about Eaves today. Since the WCHA broke up, I have not kept up with what the Badgers have been doing ... has attendance dropped off for you guys?
Click to expand...
Yes.
Suze said:
Does Eaves have any years left on his contract?
Click to expand...
Yes (although he did not receive the usual one-year extension after last season).
Suze said:
The Badgers have such an amazing building to play in, a great history, and always had super student support at games. I don't understand what went wrong. :mad:
Click to expand...
See answer to question 2.
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

If it doesn't happen this year, he's going to have to cause some sort of scandal (partying with undergrads, recruiting violations, illegal player payments, Penn State stuff, etc) to get canned. That or there are some whistles he can blow.
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

http://www.uwbadgers.com/news/2016/3/18/alvarez-change-of-direction-needed-for-mens-hockey.aspx

BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider

MADISON, Wis. — Mike Eaves is one of the most distinguished figures in Wisconsin athletic history, which is why this moment is particularly difficult.

Eaves has been relieved of his duties as UW men's hockey coach after 14 seasons, which included an NCAA championship in 2006, a national runner-up finish in 2010 and, at last count, 26 players who've reached the NHL.

Eaves is also the all-time leading scorer in program history, a three-time captain, a two-time Most Valuable Player, an honor student and member of the UW Athletic Hall of Fame.

Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez made the decision after the six-time national champion Badgers labored through consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1995-97 and saw fan support at the Kohl Center dwindle.

"I told Mike I appreciated the work he's done here," Alvarez said. "I also told him that we have great tradition and standards here in hockey. He's the gate-keeper of hockey. I'm the gate-keeper of the department. We both have a responsibility.

"After last season, because of the success we've had in the past, we felt that Mike had earned a chance to get the ship righted. But now, after back-to-back seasons like the last two we've had, I feel we need a change."

UW won consecutive league playoff titles — one in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and one in the Big Ten Conference — and subsequently qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2013 and '14 before the operation rapidly bottomed out.

The Badgers were 4-26-5 last season — the fewest wins and the most losses in a single season in the modern era of the program — and finished 8-19-8 with a loss to Penn State in the opening-round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday in St. Paul, Minnesota.

"Our fans and everyone expect more," Alvarez said. "With our facilities and what we have to sell, we feel we should be at a championship level."

The fact that Eaves has such a distinctive profile — he was a two-time first-team All-America center, starred on an NCAA championship team in 1977 and received the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1978 — made the decision to terminate his contract extremely difficult.

"I like Mike and I respect Mike," Alvarez said. "All those things play into it. That's what makes it very hard.

"These are never easy decisions, but I've got a responsibility to the university, to our fans and to everyone else. It's just not acceptable at Wisconsin to have a hockey program in this state where we are right now."

Three of the last five seasons have ended with UW owning a losing record, including 17-18-2 in 2011-12.

Eaves was hired in 2002-03 and quickly rebuilt a floundering program into a force. The Badgers, 13-23-4 in his first season, reached the NCAA tournament in 2004 and '05 before winning it all with a 2-1 decision over Boston College. The stars of that decade-old club, goaltender Brian Elliott and center Joe Pavelski, remain NHL fixtures.

Four years later, UW, led by Hobey Baker Award-winning center Blake Geoffrion, reached the national championship game, where it dropped a 5-0 decision in a rematch with BC. All six defensemen from that squad have reached the NHL.

Alvarez's approach to hockey has been interpreted by some as indifference, but he made building LaBahn Arena a priority and now the $27.9 million facility, completed in 2012, gives the men's and women's programs unsurpassed accommodations.

"We felt that put us in as good a shape as anybody in the country," Alvarez said.

Prior to becoming full-time AD, Alvarez was the Hall of Fame football coach of the Badgers.

"People interpret that I give all my attention to football and that is simply not true. However, football does demand a lot of attention. It's the (financial) engine that drives the entire (athletic) program.

"But I care about hockey. I very much believe that we are a better athletic department when our men's hockey program is thriving."

Alvarez and his staff will begin to take steps to get the program back to that position with a national search for a new head coach that will begin immediately.
Click to expand...

Obviously, because Baggott is now a shill for the UW AD, and because of where this article was posted, you have that (frankly, cynical) bit of fluffing at the end. Plenty to talk about there, but all that matters is that we get to start over.
 
Re: Fire Mike Eaves?

As much as I hate the color Red... you guys deserved this last year and I'm glad to see it finally happen. The Kohl center was depressingly empty when I was there last year for the Tech games. Truly sad to see a program that good suck so so very bad (Even if it was just a bit enjoyable)

Is there any speculation on who may be coming in yet?
 
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