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Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

F

fivenaxx

New member
Has anyone heard any news on the coaching vacancy at Lake Forest College?
I've got to think that there are some big names in the mix somewhere. I'm even aware of several Division I assistants who are expected to apply.

I think we all have reason to believe that it will end up being a big name, since Lake Forest is a good school on par with even many of the private New England colleges.

It's obvious that Coach Gregory was not the answer. Although I do not doubt Coach Gregory's hockey pedigree, I believe that a school such as Lake Forest should follow in the mold of Tony, who used hockey as a method of teaching life lessons to young student-athletes. With a tradition of allowing prep school graudates to continue to flourish though rigourous scholastic and athletic achievement, Lake Forest has established a standard of excellence that is unparalleled.

I think we are all in consensus that Lake Forest has done the right thing with opening a full national search to fill this vacancy. Not surprisingly, an historic campus and second-to-none academics have attracted interest from numerous elite coaches.

Has anybody else heard of any names?
 
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Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

fivenaxx said:
Has anyone heard any news on the coaching vacancy at Lake Forest College?
I've got to think that there are some big names in the mix somewhere. I'm even aware of several Division I assistants who are expected to apply.

I think we all have reason to believe that it will end up being a big name, since Lake Forest is a good school on par with even many of the private New England colleges.

It's obvious that Coach Gregory was not the answer. Although I do not doubt Coach Gregory's hockey pedigree, I believe that a school such as Lake Forest should follow in the mold of Tony, who used hockey as a method of teaching life lessons to young student-athletes. With a tradition of allowing prep school graudates to continue to flourish though rigourous scholastic and athletic achievement, Lake Forest has established a standard of excellence that is unparalleled.

I think we are all in consensus that Lake Forest has done the right thing with opening a full national search to fill this vacancy. Not surprisingly, an historic campus and second-to-none academics have attracted interest from numerous elite coaches.

Has anybody else heard of any names?
Click to expand...

Word on the streets is that the leading candidate is someone who posts on here by the alias of Fornax :D
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

AC09 said:
Word on the streets is that the leading candidate is someone who posts on here by the alias of Fornax :D
Click to expand...

The negotiations broke down. He wanted to be able to put a few extra r's on the Forrrrester's sweaters :D
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

its not so much that Gregory is not a good college coach. its simply that he is very young, did not play college hockey, and is not experienced. a very rich program like lake forest needs to get back on the map and recover from its past few troubling seasons. In that case, gregory is not the answer, and cannot really get the team where it needs to be. he does not have the experience nor guidance. Fritz was a great college coach, but did not do well after '06. He was huge on canadian players, and seemed to have been giving them very nice scholarships. the team needs to recruits better players from the AJHL, BCHL, NAHL, and get out of the GOJHL. A new coach will bring the gold back to lake forest, and will out them back on the map. also, prep school players are not the answer to success, you need the older strong and better jr a players. a new coach will also hopefully put the gold back in to LF hockey, and bring them back to were they used to be. also, they need a new rink desperately,though it is cool. aside from that, Fritz was a great man it seems, but for some reason many disliked him, and he is said to be DIII's highest paid mens hockey coach. for what seamus inherited though, he did not do a bad job, and the team did not have much depth. there were only a few major recruits, and not all of them worked out. http://www.uscho.com/2011/01/20/interim-lake-forest-coach-seeks-to-turn-tide/
Who are some candidates for the job?
Some LF stars:
Matt Oke
Mike Kneeland
Scott Camplbell (AHL/CHL)
Brandon Kohuch
Thomas Bark
Rubino Bros.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

AFVC, I do not mean to call Coach Gregory's hockey pedigree into question, but does he have the level of experience in character development that the ideal candidate should have? I merely feel that the ability to develop all-around human beings is a skill that is honed and developed over time. Lake Forest College is a premiere Liberal Arts college, and the school undoubtedly views athletics as another avenue for life lessons.

So to my earlier question, has anyone heard any specifics of the search? Are there any current Division III or Division I assistant coaches looking for greener pastures? With the school in such an affluent suburb of Chicago, could any current head coaches be looking at Lake Forest as an ideal place to raise a family?
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

fivenaxx said:
AFVC, I do not mean to call Coach Gregory's hockey pedigree into question, but does he have the level of experience in character development that the ideal candidate should have? I merely feel that the ability to develop all-around human beings is a skill that is honed and developed over time. Lake Forest College is a premiere Liberal Arts college, and the school undoubtedly views athletics as another avenue for life lessons.

So to my earlier question, has anyone heard any specifics of the search? Are there any current Division III or Division I assistant coaches looking for greener pastures? With the school in such an affluent suburb of Chicago, could any current head coaches be looking at Lake Forest as an ideal place to raise a family?
Click to expand...

I have zero connection to the program, but I think the longer we go without hearing anything, the more likely they are to stick with Gregory. I personally think Lake is a pretty attractive coaching gig. If they want to look outside of their own ranks, they should be able to find a quality coach. I have said it before, they have a lot of things working in their favor. It is, however, difficult to replace a legendary coach.

Marian, Lawrence and Finlandia have all found pretty good coaches. Lake should be able to as well.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

How about Doc DelCastillo, who has been coaching the NAHL's Alexandria Blizzard for the last 2 years. Prior to that he was the Head Coach at University of Alaska Nanooks, and prior to that Associate Coach of University of Nebraska - Omaha. Solid recruiter. Great hockey knowledge.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

He did a helluva job at UA(F), for as short of a time as he was there. I'm not so sure that he'd come down to D-3, though.
 
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Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

A broad list of possible canidates. Nothing to base this on other than thinking out loud
I wonder if the old UIC coach Lary Pedrie I think is in the area. I think he did some stuff with USA Hockey.
Joe Balderota went from west to ny. This may be an opportunity to get back and really settle.
Glen Tomaris...he has been out a few years but maybe a rebirth would put him back to being one of the best again
Most NESCAC assistants-they know all about recruiting the kind of kid LFC is looking for
George Roll has been brought up but I dont think he will sack the DI dreams just yet.
NAHL guys looking for some more stability/same goes for MNJHL guys
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

If they were going to hire someone new, don't you think they would have done so already? They have had a full year to prepare for this search. Why **** away a recruiting class if you don't have to?
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

AVFC said:
If they were going to hire someone new, don't you think they would have done so already? They have had a full year to prepare for this search. Why **** away a recruiting class if you don't have to?
Click to expand...

The March 2 release states the position begins effective 6/1. Not sure what sort of timeline that sets up as far as any form of official announcement is concerned.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

I have heard that the coach will be named by early May. Coach Gregory is an applicant.
Just wondering, why does LF have such a reputation for recruiting prep school athletes? All there players this year played jrs. It LF comparable to Middlebury, Williams, and other NESCAC schools?
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

Lake Forest recruits largely from Canadian Junior leagues. Back in the 80's and earlier they got some good talent from NE Preps, but no longer attractive to those recruits. The school's infrastructure needs to improve greatly, especially the rink - which is absolutely one of the worst rinks in all of college hockey. Frankly, Gregory hasn't/won't improve LF's stock in college hockey. Doesn't have the skill set to coach beyond youth hockey, and really has no business being on a college campus unless he's taking a continuing ed class himself.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

vticer said:
Lake Forest recruits largely from Canadian Junior leagues. Back in the 80's and earlier they got some good talent from NE Preps, but no longer attractive to those recruits. The school's infrastructure needs to improve greatly, especially the rink - which is absolutely one of the worst rinks in all of college hockey. Frankly, Gregory hasn't/won't improve LF's stock in college hockey. Doesn't have the skill set to coach beyond youth hockey, and really has no business being on a college campus unless he's taking a continuing ed class himself.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can blame Lake's current lot in the college hockey world on its barn. It may have seen better days, but only two other MCHA schools even have rinks on campus. Any ground that has been lost to Marian and Lawrence over the last couple of years cannot be attributed to facilities.

The delay in hiring a new coach must be killing this recruiting class. Re: the prep school reference. I think this stems from the fact that the NE prep schools send a great deal of students (athletes and non-athletes) to private liberal arts schools. It is just demographics really.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Coaching Vacancy

Well there you have it, welcome to the MCHA. Are Hamilton and UWSP the only other schools looking for a coach at this point?
 
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