Maine Offseason 2020: We Stay Home But Swayman Leaves

[umhockey91]

God forbid we hire Jim Montgomery.....we have a purity test here in Maine! You must be a perfect specimen of a human being....or hide your flaws so well that no one suspects the skeletons that you have in your closet. Personally, I'd rather have someone with exposed flaws....as long as there is zero tolerance clause upon being hired.

 

[walrus]

It's the offseason, Wally. Speculation is what we're left with in the offseason. And Red's deal is up.

I seem to remember Bobby Corkum being a popular option with some of you guys last time around. I think he spent a few years with the Islanders as an assistant when Capuano was running the show down there. What's he doing these days, and is he an option?

US Womens Hockey program? He made a public relations error when Tim got canned. He was an asst for Tim and kind of threw Tim under the bus.

 

[Chuck Murray]

US Womens Hockey program? He made a public relations error when Tim got canned. He was an asst for Tim and kind of threw Tim under the bus.

That's an admittedly tough needle to thread, trying to replace the guy who hired you (and just got fired). Sorting out how things will be different under you as HC than they were under the prior HC that you were assisting for several years. I went back to read some stuff on that transitional period, and it sounds like he wanted to have his teams playing a little closer to the approach Walshy used to have, and how he'd be louder than the typically-quieter Whitehead. I don't remember being overly impressed with him as a candidate at the time, and wasn't surprised he wasn't hired, mostly because he would have been a Whitehead holdover in the eyes of many. With more water under the bridge since then, I'd have to think he'd still have some interest - and with a different AD in place, no awkward history from the last hiring process - UMaine probably could do worse? Looks like he's had some success in a HC role since, which can't hurt his chances.

I'd think UMaine should at least sound him out as a Plan B if the Monty thing doesn't fly ...

 

[Chuck Murray]

Since we're talking about Women's college hockey with Corkum in this discussion ... here's another Women's coach who has some roots in both the UMaine and UNH universe, has had an excellent career to date, is still young (guessing 40-ish if that?) AND has some familiarity with us old timers here on USCHO (and bonus points if you can recall his long-time link to USCHO):

David Stockdale - Franklin Pierce (fpuravens.com)

 

[Bradz]

If Coach Gendron has indeed been retained then he must have able to sell the idea that he is working on the Sandelin Plan for Maine, if only he has another season to prove it. Of the 16 programs I've researched so far only Coach Sandelin has been able to execute the plan (hence its name) and only a handful of other coaches with losing records have made it past an eighth season and none of them were successful.



Really? Mr. Sean Pickett? BTW, this is the first time since the downgrade that I went to quote multiple posts, only to find the option missing, so I had to do a work around. Anyways, I was busy the past few days creating charts for state COVID numbers, but I finished that and I'm back working on coaching records. Of the 16 programs I have researched back to WWII there have been 100 head coaches who coached for 2 or more seasons. Of those 33 coached for their alma mater: 14 were good to excellent coaches, 16 were mediocre to poor coaches and three (Coaches O'Connell, Carle and Bergeron) are current head coaches who have been coaching their alma mater for 3 season or less. Here is the compete list by school:
BC: 3-1; Kelley, Ceglarski, Cedorchuk, York
BU: 4-0-1; Cleverly, Kelley, Parker, Quinn, O'Connell
CT: 1-1; Kirtland, Marshall
UML: 1-0; Bazin
UNH: 1-3; Petroski, Martin, Umile, Souza
NU: 1-3; Gallagher, Bell, Madigan
PC: 1-1; Lamoriello, Army
CC: 1-3; Frasca, Sauer, Bertsch, Owens
DU: 0-0-1; Carle
MIA: 1-0-1; Blasi, Bergeron
UMD: 0-4; Eddolls, Romano, Shercliffe, Sertich

I have very limited information on assistant coaches, sorry.

Sean

“I have very limited information on assistant coaches, sorry.”

No problem I completely understand I just wonder how often schools hire or keep around alumni on staff just because they are alumni just to placate the fan base and not necessarily because they can get the job done.

 

[Sean Pickett]

No problem I completely understand I just wonder how often schools hire or keep around alumni on staff just because they are alumni just to placate the fan base and not necessarily because they can get the job done.

I do know that Coach Parker hired more former BU players than non-BU players as assistants. He hired 16 BU players and 5 non-BU players as assistants (a few had more than one stint, but I only counted each once), the first non-BU assistant he hired was his seventh. Coach Quinn hired/retained 4 BU assistants and 2 non-BU assistants and Coach O'Connell has hired/retained 4 non-BU assistants.

Sean

 

[rw1733]

Ryan McLaughlin with a post on Sports Chowda!

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwLswJPmTTDlGJrXFkHXMhbVsWN

Bad address

 

[Runsub5]

The article is in the Newsletter. Can't seem to link it. Here it is. Ryan McLaughlin Sports Chowda reply.

Fire Whitehead.

Fire Blodgett.

Fire Woodward.

Those are simple but hot takes University of Maine sports fans frequently bombarded comment sections with in the early part of the 2010's.

Fast-forward to March of 2021. New leadership is again needed in the UMaine men's hockey program.

So I ask Black Bear Nation, why are we making excuses for Red Gendron?

Fans can't be OK with losses continuing to pile up, the Black Bears struggling to score goals, and no appearances in the Hockey East semifinals or NCAA Tournament since 2012.

Athletic administrator Ken Ralph isn't saying too much about the coaching situation, but the BDN's Larry Mahoney reported last week Gendron's future is in doubt while WVII reported that a source expects Gendron to be back behind the UMaine bench in the fall.

Woodward and Blodgett deserved the criticism from fans as they endured one losing season after another guiding the UMaine men's and women's hoop teams, respectively. Richard Barron, who now coaches the men's team, ignited the rebuild of the women's hoop program now under the guidance of Amy Vachon.

We all know about Whitehead. He had the unfortunate luck of replacing the late, legendary Shawn Walsh. You could argue Whitehead's 2002 and 2004 UMaine teams could've won national championships if not for bad calls in the respective title games.

As the NCAA Tournament run stopped, fans grew weary of Whitehead's "nice guy" attitude even though he was a good X's and O's coach who brought in some talented players including Spencer Abbott, Brian Flynn, Devin Shore and Scott Darling.

Even as Whitehead's 2012 team made a run to the NCAA Tournament, he continued to deal with unfair criticism from fans. He was bounced a year later following a first-round exit from the Hockey East playoffs, and in stepped Gendron.

Every year as the losses mounted, it was always "wait until he gets his recruits. The best Gendron recruit was Jeremy Swayman, and it wasn't even close. You take Swayman off the 2019-20 team, and that Black Bear team is probably an 8th or 9th place team.

Gendron is a good man who always called me back within 5 minutes whenever I needed something from him. He always made it a point to talk to fans prior to home games and to be present at community events. But it's time for UMaine fans to stop making excuses for him and to think about the future.

Excuses only buy you more and more losses and that's not what UMaine fans want, especially as needed upgrades come to Alfond Arena in the coming years.

 

[AMC]

I don't understand how an announcement hasn't been made either way. It isn't a money thing- he gets paid until June regardless. The UNH game was ugly, but this decision shouldn't be made on the back of one game. If he's the guy in Ralph's mind, he's the guy, delaying an announcement of his return is just letting speculation fester. If he's not the guy, announce he's not the guy and that you have started a search.

Are they negotiating an extension (if so, impressively ballsy move on Red's part asking for anything in return rather than signing what is presented to him)? Are they trying to line up donor funds for a raise for a new staff? Are they trying to convince the non-athletic administration to make a move? What the heck is happening here?

 

[BlackBearFan19]

I don't understand how an announcement hasn't been made either way. It isn't a money thing- he gets paid until June regardless. The UNH game was ugly, but this decision shouldn't be made on the back of one game. If he's the guy in Ralph's mind, he's the guy, delaying an announcement of his return is just letting speculation fester. If he's not the guy, announce he's not the guy and that you have started a search.

Are they negotiating an extension (if so, impressively ballsy move on Red's part asking for anything in return rather than signing what is presented to him)? Are they trying to line up donor funds for a raise for a new staff? Are they trying to convince the non-athletic administration to make a move? What the heck is happening here?

Yeah it's concerning that we haven't heard one way or the other. I also think it was a pretty calculated move that Red came out saying they reached the deal in January. If so, why was no extension signed? It seems like Red might be trying to handcuff the university into making them look like the bad guy. I'm sure this was not his intention but it definitely puts Ralph in a tough spot. Hopefully we hear something in the next couple hours. Fingers crossed that we head in a new direction.

 

[Drew S.]

I don't understand how an announcement hasn't been made either way. It isn't a money thing- he gets paid until June regardless. The UNH game was ugly, but this decision shouldn't be made on the back of one game. If he's the guy in Ralph's mind, he's the guy, delaying an announcement of his return is just letting speculation fester. If he's not the guy, announce he's not the guy and that you have started a search.

Are they negotiating an extension (if so, impressively ballsy move on Red's part asking for anything in return rather than signing what is presented to him)? Are they trying to line up donor funds for a raise for a new staff? Are they trying to convince the non-athletic administration to make a move? What the heck is happening here?

It's remarkable to me that the coaching staff cops all the blame when it's clear the issues are elsewhere. I'm not trying to say Timmy or Red are perfect but neither one ever received much support.

 

[BlackBearFan19]

It's remarkable to me that the coaching staff cops all the blame when it's clear the issues are elsewhere. I'm not trying to say Timmy or Red are perfect but neither one ever received much support.

Honestly Whitehead was a better coach than Red. Maine likely would have been as good or better with Whitehead during Red's first season. The Shore, Hutton, Lomberg class was really good and Red road their coattails for the first two seasons. Red has done nothing to show he's a better coach than Whitehead. I think Maine can do better than both of them. Both struggled in developing players, Red's teams are remarkably undisciplined. His teams are slow, they can't score. I have given Red the benefit of the doubt for most of his seasons but we're trending in the wrong direction, Red has one recruited draft pick on this team and it is the backup goalie.

 

[AMC]

It's remarkable to me that the coaching staff cops all the blame when it's clear the issues are elsewhere. I'm not trying to say Timmy or Red are perfect but neither one ever received much support.

I think the school also shares a huge amount of blame. The investment hasn't been where it needs to be. But if the investment is going to be what the investment is going to be, it's clear Red can't overcome that to win. Presumably he knew what the level of investment was when he took the job. It may be that no one can win here at this point (in which case my "just drop to division II already" take is more relevant than ever), but that doesn't mean you don't find someone else to try.

It's simple math:

Crappy Investment + Red = Bad Hockey. If the investment is going to stay crappy, you have to see if Crappy Investment + New Coach X = Slightly Less Bad Hockey.

 

[BoSox3066]

The blog post and “Fire Blodgett” gets me thinking, womens basketball is a good comp here.

They hired Ann McInerney. She was bad. They hired Cindy Blodgett. She was bad. They found Richard Baron and rebuilt the program.

Puts the lie to this idea that Red is the best we can do, the resources, it might get worse, blah blah blah.

i dont know if Red is Ann or Cindy in this timeline, but hes gotta go. If the next coach sucks, we fire him too and keep looking.
imagine if they just kept Cindy because well it may get worse and resources

 

[NorthMike]

I don't understand how an announcement hasn't been made either way. It isn't a money thing- he gets paid until June regardless. The UNH game was ugly, but this decision shouldn't be made on the back of one game. If he's the guy in Ralph's mind, he's the guy, delaying an announcement of his return is just letting speculation fester. If he's not the guy, announce he's not the guy and that you have started a search.

Are they negotiating an extension (if so, impressively ballsy move on Red's part asking for anything in return rather than signing what is presented to him)? Are they trying to line up donor funds for a raise for a new staff? Are they trying to convince the non-athletic administration to make a move? What the heck is happening here?

It is curious. Dont suppose that Red doesnt want to go, he and KRalph had some sort of discussion in january. Red said what he alleged to say just to put him in a better position for an extension by stretching the truth. Now KRalph and the admin are figuring out how best to clean up the mess. This assumes they were ready to move on.

In being ready to move on the admin may be delaying because they wont committ with an announcement until they get the guy they are targeting. Thus trying to avoid a change with no clear path that leads into a general blind search that gets you something but who knows what.

Heck who knows.

 

[Drew S.]

The blog post and “Fire Blodgett” gets me thinking, womens basketball is a good comp here.

They hired Ann McInerney. She was bad. They hired Cindy Blodgett. She was bad. They found Richard Baron and rebuilt the program.

Puts the lie to this idea that Red is the best we can do, the resources, it might get worse, blah blah blah.

i dont know if Red is Ann or Cindy in this timeline, but hes gotta go. If the next coach sucks, we fire him too and keep looking.
imagine if they just kept Cindy because well it may get worse and resources

It’s not really a great comparison. Maine was truly awful under Blodgett and America East is like the 12th best conference where Hockey East is always top three.

 

[AMC]

It’s not really a great comparison. Maine was truly awful under Blodgett and America East is like the 12th best conference where Hockey East is always top three.

There are about 20 basketball conferences and 6 hockey.

 

[umhockey91]

The longer that this goes with no announcement.....the more likely that Red is gone.

 

[walrus]

It’s not really a great comparison. Maine was truly awful under Blodgett and America East is like the 12th best conference where Hockey East is always top three.

I don't care where America East stands, Vachon is a great coach who brings in players who compete and excel in academics. Reds players do well in school but not so much on the ice

 

[Chuck Murray]

The longer that this goes with no announcement.....the more likely that Red is gone.

Agreed. Right now it feels like he's been left hanging out to dry. Red's "we had a deal in January" gambit seems like wishful thinking on his part, maybe a last gasp to leverage what he's hoping for? UMaine apparently didn't bite. His only way back now may be if UMaine can't line up their preferred target(s) until season after next, in which case maybe Red gets a (brief) reprieve?