Re: Michigan Tech Offseason 2014: Nothing To Say
Great explanation of what was going on in the early 80s in the WCHA realignment thread, regarding MTUs switch between the WCHA/CCHA.
I had no idea this discussion was going on over here. Glad I could help and clear some things up. I'll add a little more Technical (pun intended) information for reference.
Notre Dame athletic director Ed Krause and Michigan athletic director Don Canham were the figures behind the move to the CCHA. The biggest complaint was travel costs. Canham claimed trips to Colorado Springs, Denver, and Grand Forks were costing between $6,000-10,000 per trip, which was about half the average U.S. salary in the late 1970s. Michigan hockey was still struggling financially from the expensive renovation of Yost into an ice arena. Canham also complained that schools like CC, DU, and UMD were not big draws and that regional schools would produce bigger crowds and better rivalries.
There were some politics at play on the proposed merger of the CCHA and WCHA.
The WCHA rejected applications of admittance from Bowling Green, Lake Superior, and St. Louis around 1975. Soon after the NCAA plan to have CCHA tournament champion St. Louis face Minnesota in a "play-in" game in the 1976 NCAA Tournament was stonewalled by Herb Brooks and other WCHA coaches and administrators. That irked the CCHA schools further. Two years later it was WCHA schools bringing forward five proposals on merging the CCHA and WCHA. But by this time the CCHA had an auto-bid and Bowling Green had just finished third in the national tournament, so the once fledging league had some leverage. Instead of BG, LSSU, and SLU wanting out and in the WCHA, it was Michigan and Notre Dame wanting out and in the CCHA. The CCHA schools didn't have much to lose by sticking with the CCHA except St. Louis, whose attendance and revenue were in a free fall following the lost support of the Solomon family when they sold the Blues and St. Louis Arena to Purina.
Krause and Canham desperately wanted to cut travel costs, so they proposed three different "merge and divide" plans and one plan to simply leave the WCHA for the CCHA. Canham brought forward three plans: a) merge the two leagues and split into two divisions, b) merge the two leagues, add Air Force and Colorado, then split into three divisions, and c) Michigan and Notre Dame leave for the CCHA. Notre Dame and Michigan State had a proposal similar to Canham's A-plan for two divisions, but their plan kept the Big Ten schools all in one division with BG, ND, and WMU.
No agreeable plan was found and the CCHA and WCHA did not merge. Canham and Krause made it very public they were not happy in the WCHA. Michigan Tech with the legendary John MacInnes and Michigan State with new coach Ron Mason did not want to leave the WCHA. However, Canham and Krause stayed true to their word and forced the fate of other programs. In late May 1980, UM and ND announced they were leaving the WCHA for the CCHA. When Michigan left, Michigan State and Michigan Tech felt, for obvious reasons, they had no other choice but to follow UM and ND. MSU and MTU announced about a week or so later in early June they would also leave the WCHA. Tech AD Ted Kearly said at the time he did not want to leave the WCHA, but with long-time rival Michigan moving and 86% of Tech students being from in-state, he felt he needed to stick with the Michigan schools.
Now for some more politics.
With just conference tournaments remaining in the 1982-83 season, Bowling Green was having it's second-best season in school history. BG was ranked No. 2 in the national official NCAA poll with just semi-finals and finals left. The NCAA poll was the precursor to the PairWise rankings. It was a poll conducted by the NCAA selection committee and released every week with about 4-6 weeks left in the season that was meant to make the NCAA selection process transparent. BG head coach Jerry York was on the selection committee that year, but with his team in the hunt for a bid, he resigned and was replaced.
BG ended up losing in overtime to Michigan State in the CCHA championship game. Considering BG had made the tournament the previous season with a worse record and with a loss in the CCHA semifinals, it was thought that a No. 2 ranking by the NCAA and an overtime loss in the championship game would make BG a lock for the tourney. When the bids came out, the WCHA got three bids and only MSU would represent the CCHA. Minnesota-Duluth, a team that had lost in the WCHA semifinals, had seven more losses than BG, and had been barely ranked in the NCAA top ten, was selected over Bowling Green.
It was a huge, huge controversy that nearly every coach in the country spoke out against. To put it in perspective, at a time when the NCAA tournament was only eight teams, half of the six-team WCHA made the tournament in 1983 while only one out 11 CCHA teams were selected. When NCAA committee member and Michigan coach John Giordano revealed that he had received multiple phone calls from multiple WCHA athletic directors pressuring him to vote for UMD over BG, the atmosphere between the CCHA and WCHA got worse.
In a moment of asininity, following the 1983 tournament selection debacle the WCHA thought they would approach the CCHA about a merger of sorts. The WCHA only had six teams and was having difficulty scheduling non-conference games. The CCHA had 11 teams. In a written proposal to the CCHA, the two leagues would keep their names and governance structure, the WCHA would get two CCHA teams (Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan), the two leagues would have an interlocking schedule, and the two conferences would have one large "western hockey" tournament instead of individual conference tournaments. It took the CCHA less than two weeks to vote down the proposal 10-1. Michigan Tech was the lone consenting vote. The NCAA snub was fresh on the minds of the CCHA schools and it probably had some effect on the vote.
Fast forward eight months and Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan announce they will leave the CCHA for the WCHA. It comes as a shock to no one. Michigan Tech said the move by UM, MSU, and ND to the CCHA was a travel cost-saving measure and that any cost savings in the CCHA over the WCHA was nonexistent for MTU. The Huskies also wanted more inter-league play (at the time the CCHA played 30 conference games), which is why they voted for the CCHA-WCHA interlocking merger, and the WCHA just signed an interlocking schedule agreement with the yet-to-be-named Hockey East. It was an easy move for Tech.
An aside regarding Bowling Green's snub from the 1983 tournament. They came back in 1984 and won the NCAA tournament. Who did they beat in the title game? Minnesota-Duluth. Revenge can be sweet.
Looks like I nearly wrote a novella but there's a lot of information to share. I hope you found it worth the read.
