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LSSU Lakers 2014 off-season thread (part 2)

Re: LSSU Lakers 2014 off-season thread (part 2)

eye4talent said:
heckuva lot better than their record before he arrived. Tech should challenge for the WCHA title this year.
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Tech's winning percentage in five years since hiring Whitten is .333 (52-118-20). In the five years prior to his arrival, it was .338 (53-112-27). It was actually worse in the five years under Whitten than it was in the five years before he was hired. Better have your "eye" checked. And the "success" Tech has had over the past three years, where they have yet to reach .500, I'm sure more than a few of those recruits can be attributed to the arrival of Mel Pearson. The only team with Whitten as an assistant that has ever finished over .500 was Michigan State (20-17-4) in 04-05 where he hadn't had any impact upon the recruiting.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2014 off-season thread (part 2)

RapidsCity said:
I have heard the same thing from some pretty reliable sources. They really wanted someone who could work with goaltenders.
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Who specifically are your sources and what specifically did they say? Given the nature of your comment and the fact that you've made it clear you weren't happy with the hiring of Damon Whitten, you've got to give us more than that if you expect credibility. Now in the hiring of Joe Shawhan as the new AC to replace Damon at Tech, I'm sure they are happy to get a guy who can work with goalies, but to say Tech was planning on getting rid of Damon because he lacked goalie coaching experience isn't something that I'm buying without some solid facts to support it.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2014 off-season thread (part 2)

RapidsCity said:
I have heard the same thing from some pretty reliable sources. They really wanted someone who could work with goaltenders.
Click to expand...

RapidsCity said:
Tech's winning percentage in five years since hiring Whitten is .333 (52-118-20). In the five years prior to his arrival, it was .338 (53-112-27). It was actually worse in the five years under Whitten than it was in the five years before he was hired. Better have your "eye" checked. And the "success" Tech has had over the past three years, where they have yet to reach .500, I'm sure more than a few of those recruits can be attributed to the arrival of Mel Pearson. The only team with Whitten as an assistant that has ever finished over .500 was Michigan State (20-17-4) in 04-05 where he hadn't had any impact upon the recruiting.
Click to expand...

Say whatever you want about Tech's record while DW was in Houghton (which was only four years, not five as you claim in your calculations), but your "sources" are full of sh*t. We had two volunteer goalies coaches (Steve Shields, then Dieter Kochan) that we were content to retain as long as DW was around. In fact, we tried to find a way to keep Shields, but he wanted a full-time job in hockey, not elsewhere on campus. Shouldn't Mel have fired DW then, if that was really his intent? Damon's departure merely opened up the opportunity to bring someone on full-time.
 
FadeToBlack&Gold said:
Say whatever you want about Tech's record while DW was in Houghton (which was only four years, not five as you claim in your calculations), but your "sources" are full of sh*t. We had two volunteer goalies coaches (Steve Shields, then Dieter Kochan) that we were content to retain as long as DW was around. In fact, we tried to find a way to keep Shields, but he wanted a full-time job in hockey, not elsewhere on campus. Shouldn't Mel have fired DW then, if that was really his intent? Damon's departure merely opened up the opportunity to bring someone on full-time.
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Four years w Whitten: 49-88-19 (12.25 wins per year) four years prior: 43-92-18 (10.75 wins per year). I would think Mel & Billy had as much to do with that 1.5 wins per year boost as Damon did. Only time will tell if Damon is the right guy. But he is a good hockey man and deserves a chance to see what he can do .
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2014 off-season thread (part 2)

RapidsCity said:
Tech's winning percentage in five years since hiring Whitten is .333 (52-118-20). In the five years prior to his arrival, it was .338 (53-112-27). It was actually worse in the five years under Whitten than it was in the five years before he was hired. Better have your "eye" checked. And the "success" Tech has had over the past three years, where they have yet to reach .500, I'm sure more than a few of those recruits can be attributed to the arrival of Mel Pearson. The only team with Whitten as an assistant that has ever finished over .500 was Michigan State (20-17-4) in 04-05 where he hadn't had any impact upon the recruiting.
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Damon was there 4 years. His first year was Jamie Russell's last where they only won 4 games. in the 2 years prior, they only won 5 games and then 6 games respectively. They are much better now thanks to the recruiting efforts of the new staff, of which Damon was a big part of.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2014 off-season thread (part 2)

PaulVanWagoner said:
Not to change the subject, but Eagle 95.1 does a local coaches show every Tuesday in the Soo. This week we had Asst. Coach Pete Aubry on to talk about Laker Hockey. We also had LSSU Men's Basketball Coach Steve Hettinga on. If you'd like to listen here are the links. Segment 2 and 3 are the ones that are not about local football.

http://paul.30below.com/Eagle 95.1 Coaches Show/9-16-14 Show/
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Thank you Paul. I'll take a listen.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2014 off-season thread (part 2)

PaulVanWagoner said:
Not to change the subject, but Eagle 95.1 does a local coaches show every Tuesday in the Soo. This week we had Asst. Coach Pete Aubry on to talk about Laker Hockey. We also had LSSU Men's Basketball Coach Steve Hettinga on. If you'd like to listen here are the links. Segment 2 and 3 are the ones that are not about local football.

http://paul.30below.com/Eagle 95.1 Coaches Show/9-16-14 Show/
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Nice change in subject, thanks for the link.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2014 off-season thread (part 2)

michiganmidge said:
Nope, not still upset. Just don't care for the choice they made for head coach.
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This is where coach Roque belongs. Recruiting players and not coaching them. Good for him and his family.

I think there were only a handful of people who wanted Coach Whitten selected and fortunately for him they were the right people but from what I hear, thus far he is personable and hard working.

Personally I enjoyed reading this thread this summer for the first time in years. I like reading about new recruits and listening to fresh interviews.

You are entitled to your opinion on how to run the program but your negative posts towards Coach Whitten seem premature at this point. Coach Roque was given 9 years.
 
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Re: LSSU Lakers 2014 off-season thread (part 2)

Bill said:
Who specifically are your sources and what specifically did they say? Given the nature of your comment and the fact that you've made it clear you weren't happy with the hiring of Damon Whitten, you've got to give us more than that if you expect credibility. Now in the hiring of Joe Shawhan as the new AC to replace Damon at Tech, I'm sure they are happy to get a guy who can work with goalies, but to say Tech was planning on getting rid of Damon because he lacked goalie coaching experience isn't something that I'm buying without some solid facts to support it.
Click to expand...

As much as I hate to admit it, Midge is right on this one. Whitten was being let go after last season. A little known fact, but 100% true.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2014 off-season thread (part 2)

Laker75 said:
As much as I hate to admit it, Midge is right on this one. Whitten was being let go after last season. A little known fact, but 100% true.
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So if I call Damon right now, will he confirm this? Unless you got this information from him, Mel Pearson, or Suzanne Sanregret - I call BS. Name your source.
 
Laker75 said:
As much as I hate to admit it, Midge is right on this one. Whitten was being let go after last season. A little known fact, but 100% true.
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At this point in time who really cares if this is true or not. A couple years ago when some people on here were wanting a coaching change the popular response mostly seemed to be but if they let Roque go who would even want to coach here. Damon wasn't the applicant I was pulling for but he came away with the job. Since he's taken over he has done nothing but impress me. I think he at least deserves a honest shot. In three to five years we will have something to talk about good or bad.

The Husky fans have eyes and ears all over Houghton and these fact less accusations about Damon are not even close to believable to them.
 
RapidsCity said:
Tech's winning percentage in five years since hiring Whitten is .333 (52-118-20). In the five years prior to his arrival, it was .338 (53-112-27). It was actually worse in the five years under Whitten than it was in the five years before he was hired. Better have your "eye" checked. And the "success" Tech has had over the past three years, where they have yet to reach .500, I'm sure more than a few of those recruits can be attributed to the arrival of Mel Pearson. The only team with Whitten as an assistant that has ever finished over .500 was Michigan State (20-17-4) in 04-05 where he hadn't had any impact upon the recruiting.
Click to expand...

His lifetime coaching record is 94-170-40.
 
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