Maine Offseason 2020: We Stay Home But Swayman Leaves

[Drew S.]

If my memory serves correctly Barr was one of two finalists for the UVM absolute dumpster fire job, and UVM hired the Woodcroft from Winnipeg out of left field. Complete speculation on my part, but if Barr was willing to take UVM, how on earth wouldn't he be willing to go to Maine to an AD he has history with and the promise of more funding and improvements? AIC's Lang removed his name from both the Vermont and Maine searches, something Barr as not done. IMO Lang will be the top of every list when the top tier HE jobs come open. Waiting for a "better" opportunity at say Denver or BC as has been suggested is in my opinion crazy. Who knows what the coaching landscape will look like in 2-3 years. I'm bias as I have rooted for the Bears since I was a kid, but it kinda looks like all the dominos are in place to go in a fresh direction with Barr.

I checked and you are right. Definitely a red flag. Hopefully there is nothing dodgy in Barr’s background. As we found out with what happened with Monty last time it doesn’t take very much. Maybe the fact Ralph has known him for a while helps.

 

[Chuck Murray]

If my memory serves correctly Barr was one of two finalists for the UVM absolute dumpster fire job, and UVM hired the Woodcroft from Winnipeg out of left field. Complete speculation on my part, but if Barr was willing to take UVM, how on earth wouldn't he be willing to go to Maine to an AD he has history with and the promise of more funding and improvements? AIC's Lang removed his name from both the Vermont and Maine searches, something Barr as not done. IMO Lang will be the top of every list when the top tier HE jobs come open. Waiting for a "better" opportunity at say Denver or BC as has been suggested is in my opinion crazy. Who knows what the coaching landscape will look like in 2-3 years. I'm bias as I have rooted for the Bears since I was a kid, but it kinda looks like all the dominos are in place to go in a fresh direction with Barr.

I agree, if Barr was willing to take UVM, he should be willing to crawl to UMaine on broken glass.

You guys are starting to convince me this is gonna happen.

I'm upgrading to a 50% chance of Barr to Orono.

I doubt the "promise of more funding" means much. Promises are made to be broken.

 

[NorthMike]

I doubt the "promise of more funding" means much. Promises are made to be broken.

I dont know why not, if it were me, I'd tie into the contract some additional compensation and budget carrots to the success of the program. More fans in the seats, winning = more money to make and spend on the program.

 

[Wayuphere]

Good conversation, people!!! Rationales are interesting, and accurate. Good reading, especially during the off season…

 

[amkirby10]

Was the May 8th deadline set for making the pick, or making the announcement? How much longer will we likely have to wait for official word?

 

[Drew S.]

Was the May 8th deadline set for making the pick, or making the announcement? How much longer will we likely have to wait for official word?

A lot of that likely depends on if the first person who gets offered the job accepts.

 

[NorthMike]

Was the May 8th deadline set for making the pick, or making the announcement? How much longer will we likely have to wait for official word?

Self imposed deadline and good for them to do so, but not cast in stone.

On another topic, does anyone know how the grant standbrook fund that red started stands with funds?

 

[Fishman'81]

Because actual hot shot don’t think this way. They think they can win with anybody, anywhere. Thats why Belichick thinks he can win with any QB. Urban Meyer won at Utah.

Not sure about that, BoSox. Utah plays in the Mountain West.

I don't believe that anyone can win at Maine right now, given the roster. Even Belichick fell on his face last year, "genius" or whatever. You need to have at least some talent to work with, and Red left the cupboard bare.

Sadly, I expect that Maine will hire another also-ran, and continue to suck.

 

[umhockey91]

I think that the longer this this goes on.....the more likely that Barr or someone else not named Ben Guite ends up being the new HC. They are probably working out specifics of the contract....and maybe even timelines for Alfond improvements. I'd say that the timeline for those improvements might move up if Barr is hired.

 

[Drew S.]

I think that the longer this this goes on.....the more likely that Barr or someone else not named Ben Guite ends up being the new HC. They are probably working out specifics of the contract....and maybe even timelines for Alfond improvements. I'd say that the timeline for those improvements might move up if Barr is hired.

I disagree. To me it means the top choice turned them down and they are working their way down the list.

 

[KrbFlint]

I disagree. To me it means the top choice turned them down and they are working their way down the list.

I think it's most likely a chance to actually conduct the interviews. Figure each candidate will have a 1-2 day process and then time to make the pick. Based on what we know about when the current search actually started (after Monty and Moore said "no" and the committee was formed) we are tracking perfectly for it to be anyone from Barr to Guite.

 

[umhockey91]

I disagree. To me it means the top choice turned them down and they are working their way down the list.

"or someone else...."

 

[Drew S.]

I think it's most likely a chance to actually conduct the interviews. Figure each candidate will have a 1-2 day process and then time to make the pick. Based on what we know about when the current search actually started (after Monty and Moore said "no" and the committee was formed) we are tracking perfectly for it to be anyone from Barr to Guite.

I should clarify. I didn't mean it was taking too long right now. I just meant that if this does go beyond the original date to me it is most likely a negative thing.

 

[KrbFlint]

I should clarify. I didn't mean it was taking too long right now. I just meant that if this does go beyond the original date to me it is most likely a negative thing.

Ah, ok. Gotcha.

 

[Blackbear96]

I should clarify. I didn't mean it was taking too long right now. I just meant that if this does go beyond the original date to me it is most likely a negative thing.

I think this a fair assessment due to the fact that Maine, while appropriately taking the time to interview & vet each individual candidates, has to act with some sense of urgency. As each day passes, there is less & less time to recruit and allow the possible new staff to get the ball rolling. I'm still hopeful that the club will look past Guite - absolutely nothing against him, all the respect for him, and appreciate him stepping in during this terrible time but I think there are better options.

It's always easy to detach yourself after the lead guy (Red in this case) is no longer there. The "well, I would've done x differently or would've recruited z" is always easier to say in hindsight. I want someone with no attachment, other than a pure desire to win. No trying to resurrect the "old Maine" but usher in a new era with state of the art facilities and a change of pace. The more Barr continues to come up, the more excited I get, but am just so hesitant. We'll see what happens.

 

[Chuck Murray]

I should clarify. I didn't mean it was taking too long right now. I just meant that if this does go beyond the original date to me it is most likely a negative thing.

I agreed with your original post, and I agree with this clarification as well. But ... you never know when some less desirable candidate might turn into a "diamond in the rough", who makes Ralph look like a genius, and answers all of the UMaine-iacs' prayers by returning the program to glory.

There was no Internet when Walshy was originally hired by UMaine, but I'm guessing the story of his hiring didn't make huge news in the BDN or PPH sports pages, or anywhere else. Probably a brief blurb about how UMaine hired an unknown assistant who happened to be Ron Mason's son-in-law at the time (I think)? He may not have even been UMaine's first choice, he was certainly an unproven commodity at the time. Look how that turned out.

Could happen again - never know. I still think Ellsworth could do incredibly well, wherever it is he eventually settles down in D-1. He seems pretty driven and ambitious. Just like you-know-who ...

 

[NCAA watcher]

There was no Internet when Walshy was originally hired by UMaine, but I'm guessing the story of his hiring didn't make huge news in the BDN or PPH sports pages, or anywhere else. Probably a brief blurb about how UMaine hired an unknown assistant who happened to be Ron Mason's son-in-law at the time (I think)? He may not have even been UMaine's first choice, he was certainly an unproven commodity at the time. Look how that turned out.

He was hired April 20th, with front page blurb and lead in sports

https://news.google.com/newspapers?i...1494%2C1951728

The 13-member search committee established to produce a prime candidate for the job whittled the four finalists down to three and Haskell clipped the choices down to Walsh and RPI head coach Mike Addesa He visited both of them this week while also meeting with various representatives from the two institutions Addesa withdrew his name from the running Wednesday and announced his decision on Thursday Addesa who wasn’t offered the Maine job according to Haskell had his two-year contract at RPI extended by two more years according to RPI Athletic Director Robert F Ducatte Haskell said one of the problems with Addesa was the fact that he has been a successful head coach for several years and that success commands a salary of appropriate magnitude.


“The other thing was that if a fellow has recruited the kind of talent required to be successful in those leagues he should be able to do it in the East where the competition isn’t quite what it is out West” said Haskell Walsh has had a lot to do with the fact that the Spartans have won 90 games the past three seasons and qualified for the NCAA Division I playoffs each year ! Michigan State made it to the Final Foot this past season where it lost 2-1 to eventual national champ Bowling Green (Ohio) and 6-5 in overtime to North Dakota “I believe in my own heart that the Maine program can become a winner” said Walsh Thursday “I’m not coming here because I want to be a head coach I don’t need the ego trip that goes with becoming a head coach I’m coming here to develop the hockey program It is my sincere belief that with the support of the administration and the fans and the situation that is sitting there with a beautiful facility and the fine academic structure we can win in time” Walsh said he took a look at the head coaching job6 at the University of Vermont and at Dartmouth College but felt right from the beginning that the Maine job “was the best situation available” “Maine made a commitment to hockey when it joined Hockey East” said Walsh “Jack (Semler) took the program to a certain level the move to Hockey East takes the program to another level" Walsh is no stranger to rebuilding because the Spartans hadn’t made the playoffs in the three years prior to the Mason-Walsh regime So he is fully aware of the task at hand “In terms of recruiting there’s a difference between recruiting players who can play Division I and players who can win in Division I” stated Walsh who won’t take a back seat to anyone in the recruiting battles “The days of Maine giving up on top-quality players are over" said Walsh “Bowling Green won a national title with a lot of players from Ontario which is around five hours away I’m not nieve enough to think I can get every top player from the Boston area but I do intend to find the areas in dose proximity to Maine in which we can do a job (recruiting) in”

The search began March 28th with four finalists: Mike Adessa (future NCAA champ), Walsh (future 2x NCAA champ), David Conte (multiple NHL championships) and UNH's Dave O'Connor (recruiter for the UNH 1984-1988 teams).

March 28
UMO hockey coach applicants list cut to four
Bv Larry Mahonev
The man who guided his team to the ECAC Division I championship a few weeks ago two Division I assistant coaches and the assistant director of player recruitment for one of the best teams in the National Hockey League are the four finalists for the University of Maine-Orono hockey job. Dr Ron Tallman the chairman of the committee an nounced that the four men who will be interviewed for the job vacated by Jack Sender include Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Coach Mike Addesa whose Engineers beat Boston University for the ECAC crown University of New Hampshire assistant Dave O'Connor. Michigan State University assistant Shawn Walsh and Dave Conte the assistant director of player recruitment fpr the Washington Capitals "We feel all four are superb candidates” said Tallman who added that the committee will conduct most of the interviews next week before coming up with its final choice bv Friday April 13 The 13-member committee began the weeding out process with 16 names widttied it down to nine and then decided upon the four it would invite to Orono Tallman said there is still a chance that another candidate among the group of nine could be invited for an interview but that the odds are that the man who will become Maine's second head coach will come from the Final Four

 

[Chuck Murray]

It's always easy to detach yourself after the lead guy (Red in this case) is no longer there. The "well, I would've done x differently or would've recruited z" is always easier to say in hindsight. I want someone with no attachment, other than a pure desire to win. No trying to resurrect the "old Maine" but usher in a new era with state of the art facilities and a change of pace. The more Barr continues to come up, the more excited I get, but am just so hesitant. We'll see what happens.

I agree with most of this. I do think there is a tendency to overplay the value of the much-discussed facilities upgrades, I'm not saying "don't do them, they're a big waste" but as we've seen at UNH, the upgrades with the Jumbotron and other touches did nothing to really arrest and reverse the backwards slide the program has been experiencing. Plus, the Alfond is unique, and most of you folks (and some of us non-UMaine folks) would cry like babies if/when they tore it down, to replace it with some cookie-cutter, looks-like-everything-else, rectangular box arena. Northeastern has never recruited better, and their place is over a hundred years old (literally). Keefe and Madigan probably have turned the place into a selling point. Good for them.

There are a lot of coaches who have a "pure desire to win", whomever gets hired is going to need a little bit more than that. Yes, you want someone who is in it for more than a paycheck (I'm looking at you in your last few years, Captain Turtleneck). But Walshy was more than just someone who wanted to win more than anyone else - he was willing to work harder at it and make sure he was surrounded by similar folks on the roster and on his staff. Planning, organization, etc. I'm sure MS7 (our guy) wants to win really badly, I don't doubt that for a second. But he spouts platitudes in public, so I have to think there's a lot of that trite rote coach-speak ("We need to coach better" or "We're on to Merrimack") being dropped on his players too.

There's not a ton of stuff on the Internet showing Walshy in action, but the relatively few things that are out there have him saying (and doing) things that set him apart from his coaching competitors. I'm sure that was not lost on his players at the time. With social media now marring (editorial insert) the world of communications in a copycat world, it's not making things easier, but if you are a coach with a genuine (and possibly unique) ability to message, you still have a leg up on everyone else.

 

[Chuck Murray]

He was hired April 20th, with front page blurb and lead in sports

https://news.google.com/newspapers?i...1494%2C1951728

The search began March 28th with four finalists: Mike Adessa (future NCAA champ), Walsh (future 2x NCAA champ), David Conte (multiple NHL championships) and UNH's Dave O'Connor (recruiter for the UNH 1984-1988 teams).

Thanks for sharing, 'Watcher - great finds, and some fascinating insight into UMaine's process back at the time. Forgot that Adessa was in the mix - at least to leverage himself a better deal at RPI, not unlike what Captain Turtleneck would do about 15 years later to force UNH's hand into the fabled "lifetime contract" through his dallying with the UMass job. Seeing Walshy with a full head of non-gray hair (aged 29) was an interesting bonus, too!

The Walsh quotes from the Mahoney BDN article are pure Walshy, and in retrospect, it's very clear he had a detailed plan for what he was going to do at UMaine. While AD Haskell spends a time blithering about how talking with Western coaches about the impact of the forthcoming "interlocking schedule" with the WCHA was key to his process, Walshy unleashes the following bits:

"I'm not coming here because I want to be a head coach. I don't need the ego trip that goes with becoming a head coach. I'm coming here to develop the hockey program."

"There's a difference between recruiting players who can play Division I and players who can win in Division I."

"The days of Maine giving up on top quality players are over ... I'm not naive enough to think I can get every top player from the Boston area, but I do intend to find the areas in close proximity to Maine in which we can do a job recruiting (in)."

"Close" is further explained to include Ontario, which he pegs at 5 hours away from Orono.

And channeling the great Bear Bryant from his first year at Texas A&M (The Junction Boys):

"We will have a top-heavy senior class next season, but I'm going to put pressure on them to see what they can do to salvage their senior years. It could be a year they will never forget."

Just reading that stuff all these years later, knowing how things played out ... wow. This was a guy with a plan, and he executed that plan to near-perfection. The raw directness of his statements, open statements of intent, stuff we rarely if ever hear any more these days. Sure, he was the "Human Lightning Rod", but he backed it all up with his results.

The Wild West frontier days of Hockey East died with Walshy in September 2001. Fateful month, eh?

 

[NCAA watcher]

The Walsh quotes from the Mahoney BDN article are pure Walshy, and in retrospect, it's very clear he had a detailed plan for what he was going to do at UMaine. While AD Haskell spends a time blithering about how talking with Western coaches about the impact of the forthcoming "interlocking schedule" with the WCHA was key to his process, Walshy unleashes the following bits:

.....

Just reading that stuff all these years later, knowing how things played out ... wow. This was a guy with a plan, and he executed that plan to near-perfection. The raw directness of his statements, open statements of intent, stuff we rarely if ever hear any more these days. Sure, he was the "Human Lightning Rod", but he backed it all up with his results.

Hockey east was a boys club, then, too. All hires were from the east, so Walsh telling them how deficient the talent level was is a big thing. Of course, HE learned that from the interlocking schedule. Walsh broke into western Canada recruiting that was his bread and butter in the CCHA, when that was an afterthought in HE before 1984.

Walsh had the textbook big asperations and need for more talent. When you tell recruits you're going places, so get on board, youi have to actually have a track record of going places, and demanding excellence.

Unlike others who get a job and wax on about what a great family the program offers even after last place finishes.