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Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
- Thread starter SteveO
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
There's a lot more to winning in D1 than just recruiting the right players. Look at all the small schools in the top 20 this season with no NHL draft picks, but good coaching.
Motzko never won any NCAA hardware as a head coach and I'm not holding my breath thinking he'll do it here. Partly because he's had a history of not having his teams ready for big games. But it's ok for Gopher fans to give Motzko a pass and slam Don Lucia every other sentence blaming him for this season's demise? BS.
There's a lot more to winning in D1 than just recruiting the right players. Look at all the small schools in the top 20 this season with no NHL draft picks, but good coaching.
Motzko never won any NCAA hardware as a head coach and I'm not holding my breath thinking he'll do it here. Partly because he's had a history of not having his teams ready for big games. But it's ok for Gopher fans to give Motzko a pass and slam Don Lucia every other sentence blaming him for this season's demise? BS.
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
I definitely am not slamming tDon. However, tDon and tBob have different styles, so give tBob a chance to get "his" guys on the ice, and then let's see what happens.
I definitely am not slamming tDon. However, tDon and tBob have different styles, so give tBob a chance to get "his" guys on the ice, and then let's see what happens.
trixR4kids
New member
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
7th round draft picks might as well be “no draft picks” seeing as half of them are being selected on last name basis alone and even some of the higher picks like Phillips are a total bust (selected by my NHL team no less). It’s not all that meaningful, it’s indicative of the fact that NHL GM’s are throwing darts at a board when they’re selecting guys at this age and none of them have a particularly great track record that indicates that they’re doing anything other than guessing (people have done the legwork to show this statistically but I’d have to do some digging). Long story short NHL GM’s aren’t exactly infallible and anything past the first round of a deeper draft is a long shot to even make the NHL.
This team is basically at year zero like Fleck’s team was a year ago. They can’t implement parts of the system because they have zero faith in this same D group that Guentzel couldn’t even coach up. And that’s not to let the forwards off the hook either, the depth guys on the fourth line have pretty much always been worthless and we’re all minus three to four last night. They’re basically there to eat up clock and can’t even do that. It’s a far cry from having Boyd or Matson leading those lines. Also people wanted to act like CM was easily replaceable but I think we can throw that theory out the window.
Last night was a good example of what happens when this team’s goalie has an off night and doesn’t cover everything up and they don’t win the special teams battle. Winning that way wasn’t going to last forever.
7th round draft picks might as well be “no draft picks” seeing as half of them are being selected on last name basis alone and even some of the higher picks like Phillips are a total bust (selected by my NHL team no less). It’s not all that meaningful, it’s indicative of the fact that NHL GM’s are throwing darts at a board when they’re selecting guys at this age and none of them have a particularly great track record that indicates that they’re doing anything other than guessing (people have done the legwork to show this statistically but I’d have to do some digging). Long story short NHL GM’s aren’t exactly infallible and anything past the first round of a deeper draft is a long shot to even make the NHL.
This team is basically at year zero like Fleck’s team was a year ago. They can’t implement parts of the system because they have zero faith in this same D group that Guentzel couldn’t even coach up. And that’s not to let the forwards off the hook either, the depth guys on the fourth line have pretty much always been worthless and we’re all minus three to four last night. They’re basically there to eat up clock and can’t even do that. It’s a far cry from having Boyd or Matson leading those lines. Also people wanted to act like CM was easily replaceable but I think we can throw that theory out the window.
Last night was a good example of what happens when this team’s goalie has an off night and doesn’t cover everything up and they don’t win the special teams battle. Winning that way wasn’t going to last forever.
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
So let me get this straight, all season Lucia's guys are on the ice yet stubbornly refusing to change/adapt or be coached by Motzko? Is that your theory? I'm curious to know what the contrasting coaching styles between Lucia and Motzko are that you're assuming "Lucia's guys" find irreconcilable? Please explain. It sounds to me like you're indeed slamming Don Lucia for poor recruiting and this season's current demise, thus giving Motzko a pass.
So let me get this straight, all season Lucia's guys are on the ice yet stubbornly refusing to change/adapt or be coached by Motzko? Is that your theory? I'm curious to know what the contrasting coaching styles between Lucia and Motzko are that you're assuming "Lucia's guys" find irreconcilable? Please explain. It sounds to me like you're indeed slamming Don Lucia for poor recruiting and this season's current demise, thus giving Motzko a pass.
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
The older guys seem to not have really adapted to the new style, while the younger ones have, at least to a point. I don't know what to make of Robson at this point, he may very well be in fuggit mode.
tDon's style just got stale. It happens quite often. Sometime a team just needs new blood. I wish tDon still was around, loved him as a coach, but it was time to move on.
That being said, when a coaching change happens, the team most likely won't change overnight. It'll take a year or two, some changes, and then one can start judging the potential/current product on the ice.
The older guys seem to not have really adapted to the new style, while the younger ones have, at least to a point. I don't know what to make of Robson at this point, he may very well be in fuggit mode.
tDon's style just got stale. It happens quite often. Sometime a team just needs new blood. I wish tDon still was around, loved him as a coach, but it was time to move on.
That being said, when a coaching change happens, the team most likely won't change overnight. It'll take a year or two, some changes, and then one can start judging the potential/current product on the ice.
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
What exactly is this "new style" you speak of? Do you have any examples? So the "older" guys (2-3 years older?) are stubbornly refusing to change/adapt or be coached by Motzko and the younger ones are ok with it? Is that your theory? Does that include Raboin as well? I'm curious to know what the contrasting coaching styles between Lucia and Motzko are that you're assuming "Lucia's guys" find irreconcilable?
What exactly is this "new style" you speak of? Do you have any examples? So the "older" guys (2-3 years older?) are stubbornly refusing to change/adapt or be coached by Motzko and the younger ones are ok with it? Is that your theory? Does that include Raboin as well? I'm curious to know what the contrasting coaching styles between Lucia and Motzko are that you're assuming "Lucia's guys" find irreconcilable?
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
Meanwhile, the few underclassmen who have shown promise (Walker, McManus, Brinkman, McLaughlin) are already getting their share of ice-time. Ranta shows flashes of promise, but that's about it. Which other younger guys do you think belong in the "shows promise" category and deserve more icetime?
Also with respect to the coaching I think it is premature to be so critical. The staff deserves the opportunity to recruit and coach their own guys, so I think it's only fair to wait until the 2021-22 season before reaching any final conclusions.
The problem with that is there are very few younger guys who have actually shown promise. As a group the freshmen and sophomores are not as talented as the upperclassmen. Who will they have next year to replace the point production of Sheehy and (likely) Pitlick? I would agree that for most of the season Novak and Gates have disappointed, while acknowledging that Novak has picked up his offensive game as of late.
Meanwhile, the few underclassmen who have shown promise (Walker, McManus, Brinkman, McLaughlin) are already getting their share of ice-time. Ranta shows flashes of promise, but that's about it. Which other younger guys do you think belong in the "shows promise" category and deserve more icetime?
Also with respect to the coaching I think it is premature to be so critical. The staff deserves the opportunity to recruit and coach their own guys, so I think it's only fair to wait until the 2021-22 season before reaching any final conclusions.
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
People look for quick, easy answers. I don't know what the situation was with Lucia the last few years, if he lost his fire. Perhaps. But I agree that the dominant dialogue last year was largely 'Lucia can't get his talented players to play to their ability". This year, it is common to hear that the problem isn't the current coach, but the players that Lucia recruited. Let's keep in mind that Lucia took CC from last to first in one year largely with the players that were already at CC. And we all know what happened shortly after coming to MN. He clearly was a hell of a coach at one time (and I am not sure he definitely ceased being one.)
But doesn't anyone think it is more than a coincidence that coaching ability is being questioned in a similar vein at Wisconsin, UND, BC, BU, UMi? It is unlikely any of these teams, that 15 years ago would all be expected to make it to the NCAA's almost annually, will make the tourney this year unless they pull off a conference tourney win. Do people really think coaching is completely the issue at everyone of these schools (or was the sole issue with MN last year)?
And is it a coincidence that fans questioning their coaches (that had performed well in the past) has seemingly increased during the same period of time in which we've seen a transition from number one seeds in the NCAA having an almost automatic win in the first round, to I believe well over 25% losing, as well as the increase in number of teams winning NCAA games that come in as lower seeds? Could the lack of dominant performances by these blue-blood programs be less a factor of them all having coaching failures in the same period of time, or other factors, and that blaming coaching is just the easy answer? (And it does seem like once the tide of opinion has turned on a coach, just like the highly recruited D that makes some mistakes and can do no right the rest of the year, there is no looking objectively at how they perform.)
So what has changed in this time period that would affect all the blue-blood programs? I would argue that the biggest factor is early age recruiting for these schools combined with all the non-blue bloods likely increasing in mean age. Too many misses with young stars and you have 18 year old freshman who aren't as good as projected playing against 20 year old freshman that accelerated in development in the last couple years. The older kid will typically have learned to be a more consistent player with two more years experience. And when we see how many misses there are with full-time NHL scouts looking at older kids, I don't know how you can lay too much blame on a college coach, with limited views, not being able to tell what a 14 years old's work ethic or ability will be 4 years later. But at the same time, when you are the coach of a program that has a shot at a 15 yr old that cold be the next Mittlestedt or Eichel, are you going to pass and just recruit 19-20 yr olds?
I feel like coaches have been given a disproportionate amount of blame based on the expectation of fans that these programs should be as dominant in this changed recruiting era as they were when kids weren't committing until they were 18. I have a feeling the days of MN dominating most programs is over. That is not to say that some programs, like MN shouldn't still have an edge, but I am guessing the amount of edge won't be the same as in the past. Of course, who knows what the future brings. The rule change for a higher limit on recruiting age, while still allowing pretty young commitments compared to the 90's, should help. And maybe the scene will continue to change where commitments mean less and we continue to see more kids who had committed to a school jump ship and go to a traditional power as their stock rises, and there will be less of a stigma on teams like Mn backing out of commitments. This could also swing the power back to the big programs more. But those things aren't happening over night, so I think we are just in an era of more parity. We might have to accept that our coaches aren't the sole problem. Our kids are young and will be inconsistent at times. And it is going to be more a matter of having some luck with getting enough kids to not plateau and getting the right chemistry to make a run from time to time, but that there will also be more misses than in the past. I know this is not what longtime Gopher fans want to hear, or accept. But I haven't really been convinced that in this trend towards national parity, that I should expect the Gophers to be perennial contenders.
And finally (if you made it this far), I really think there has been a chemistry issue with the players the last couple years. Lucia and Guentzel expressed frustration last year at not getting through to players, no matter what they tried. Motzko talked about something being wrong with their DNA this year. I don't buy that all kids Lucia (or the Gophers) have recruited are soft because they were prima donas. We've all seen teams that have just clicked and showed great effort, and succeeded better than what was expected, and we are familiar with teams that seemed stacked, that never reached their potential. The same coaches often had had both types of teams. There is something to team chemistry. Good coaches generally get better play out of players, but if there are inherent issues with leaders or locker room issues, sometimes the best coach can't overcome those. Both last year's and this year's team have had moments where everyone was clicking and they clearly have talent to compete with anyone, but it has been more common that only certain players or lines stick out for their effort on a given night. I don't know what the answer is, or if there is one (other than hoping things improve as players turn over), but as easy as it is to blame coaching, I don't think that completely explains the last couple seasons.
And believe me, I hope I am wrong as anyone, that the Gophs might not return to being a perennial power. But I really don't think that coaching is the issue at all the traditional powers.
People look for quick, easy answers. I don't know what the situation was with Lucia the last few years, if he lost his fire. Perhaps. But I agree that the dominant dialogue last year was largely 'Lucia can't get his talented players to play to their ability". This year, it is common to hear that the problem isn't the current coach, but the players that Lucia recruited. Let's keep in mind that Lucia took CC from last to first in one year largely with the players that were already at CC. And we all know what happened shortly after coming to MN. He clearly was a hell of a coach at one time (and I am not sure he definitely ceased being one.)
But doesn't anyone think it is more than a coincidence that coaching ability is being questioned in a similar vein at Wisconsin, UND, BC, BU, UMi? It is unlikely any of these teams, that 15 years ago would all be expected to make it to the NCAA's almost annually, will make the tourney this year unless they pull off a conference tourney win. Do people really think coaching is completely the issue at everyone of these schools (or was the sole issue with MN last year)?
And is it a coincidence that fans questioning their coaches (that had performed well in the past) has seemingly increased during the same period of time in which we've seen a transition from number one seeds in the NCAA having an almost automatic win in the first round, to I believe well over 25% losing, as well as the increase in number of teams winning NCAA games that come in as lower seeds? Could the lack of dominant performances by these blue-blood programs be less a factor of them all having coaching failures in the same period of time, or other factors, and that blaming coaching is just the easy answer? (And it does seem like once the tide of opinion has turned on a coach, just like the highly recruited D that makes some mistakes and can do no right the rest of the year, there is no looking objectively at how they perform.)
So what has changed in this time period that would affect all the blue-blood programs? I would argue that the biggest factor is early age recruiting for these schools combined with all the non-blue bloods likely increasing in mean age. Too many misses with young stars and you have 18 year old freshman who aren't as good as projected playing against 20 year old freshman that accelerated in development in the last couple years. The older kid will typically have learned to be a more consistent player with two more years experience. And when we see how many misses there are with full-time NHL scouts looking at older kids, I don't know how you can lay too much blame on a college coach, with limited views, not being able to tell what a 14 years old's work ethic or ability will be 4 years later. But at the same time, when you are the coach of a program that has a shot at a 15 yr old that cold be the next Mittlestedt or Eichel, are you going to pass and just recruit 19-20 yr olds?
I feel like coaches have been given a disproportionate amount of blame based on the expectation of fans that these programs should be as dominant in this changed recruiting era as they were when kids weren't committing until they were 18. I have a feeling the days of MN dominating most programs is over. That is not to say that some programs, like MN shouldn't still have an edge, but I am guessing the amount of edge won't be the same as in the past. Of course, who knows what the future brings. The rule change for a higher limit on recruiting age, while still allowing pretty young commitments compared to the 90's, should help. And maybe the scene will continue to change where commitments mean less and we continue to see more kids who had committed to a school jump ship and go to a traditional power as their stock rises, and there will be less of a stigma on teams like Mn backing out of commitments. This could also swing the power back to the big programs more. But those things aren't happening over night, so I think we are just in an era of more parity. We might have to accept that our coaches aren't the sole problem. Our kids are young and will be inconsistent at times. And it is going to be more a matter of having some luck with getting enough kids to not plateau and getting the right chemistry to make a run from time to time, but that there will also be more misses than in the past. I know this is not what longtime Gopher fans want to hear, or accept. But I haven't really been convinced that in this trend towards national parity, that I should expect the Gophers to be perennial contenders.
And finally (if you made it this far), I really think there has been a chemistry issue with the players the last couple years. Lucia and Guentzel expressed frustration last year at not getting through to players, no matter what they tried. Motzko talked about something being wrong with their DNA this year. I don't buy that all kids Lucia (or the Gophers) have recruited are soft because they were prima donas. We've all seen teams that have just clicked and showed great effort, and succeeded better than what was expected, and we are familiar with teams that seemed stacked, that never reached their potential. The same coaches often had had both types of teams. There is something to team chemistry. Good coaches generally get better play out of players, but if there are inherent issues with leaders or locker room issues, sometimes the best coach can't overcome those. Both last year's and this year's team have had moments where everyone was clicking and they clearly have talent to compete with anyone, but it has been more common that only certain players or lines stick out for their effort on a given night. I don't know what the answer is, or if there is one (other than hoping things improve as players turn over), but as easy as it is to blame coaching, I don't think that completely explains the last couple seasons.
And believe me, I hope I am wrong as anyone, that the Gophs might not return to being a perennial power. But I really don't think that coaching is the issue at all the traditional powers.
trixR4kids
New member
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
At least for a time you had Walker/Burke/McL all forechecking hard and playing fast. The older players have never really done that including GPS. That’s part of why they get outshot every single night at even strength and never have any sustained offensive possession outside the PP.
The biggest change I think is that there playing a slightly more open style of hockey with more of an emphasis on quick transition. It’s a pretty ugly work in progress with the current group to put it nicely.
At least for a time you had Walker/Burke/McL all forechecking hard and playing fast. The older players have never really done that including GPS. That’s part of why they get outshot every single night at even strength and never have any sustained offensive possession outside the PP.
The biggest change I think is that there playing a slightly more open style of hockey with more of an emphasis on quick transition. It’s a pretty ugly work in progress with the current group to put it nicely.
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
tBob has said it more than a few times throughout the year: there is a "cuteness" that doesn't belong in hockey.
The Gophers have a deserved reputation of looking good first, scoring second. They want the pretty goals that show up on ESPN's Top Ten and other highlight reels. tBob just wants to win, no matter how ugly it is. Get gritty, get the garbage goals, whatever.
tBob has said it more than a few times throughout the year: there is a "cuteness" that doesn't belong in hockey.
The Gophers have a deserved reputation of looking good first, scoring second. They want the pretty goals that show up on ESPN's Top Ten and other highlight reels. tBob just wants to win, no matter how ugly it is. Get gritty, get the garbage goals, whatever.
trixR4kids
New member
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
With us and Wisconsin you have new coaches at differing years of the rebuild, with Granato it might be as simple as finding a quality goalie and getting a couple Dmen to turn things around a year from now. With Bob it's still early and it's gonna take time. BC likely held onto their coach too long but I'm not terribly familiar with their situation. Michigan and BU made the tournament a year ago and I think 2+ years in a row before this year (both def made it last year, BU's made it a few years in a row I think)? It's not like they've had prolonged struggles. North Dakota basically had a coach win it all fairly recently with the previous guy's recruits and now they've taken a step back, their coaching situation might need to be evaluated if this continues.
I think the main issue with your theory though is that the draft rules haven't changed since the 2005 lockout, in which case I don't see how the dynamic in terms of recruiting has changed significantly since then. I guess it's possible that different coaches adjusted better than others to how the draft rules changed things but that's about it. During that time you have had teams like North Dakota make the tournament every year up until their coaching change. BC won it however many times during that stretch and up until recently made the tournament nearly every year for a decade. Denver with 3 different coaches hasn't missed the NCAA's once since I was a freshman in college (06-07). Duluth had a rough stretch in the old WCHA but Sandy turned it around and this decade they've only missed twice. So it's not an impossible task to make the tournament more consistently than Lucia did during the latter half of his career.
It very well could be. We're talking about one year of hockey which is an incredibly small sample size to begin with and it's possible that all of them are going through a transition period at the same time. I also think you're arbitrarily selecting those teams and leaving out others like Denver and Duluth.
With us and Wisconsin you have new coaches at differing years of the rebuild, with Granato it might be as simple as finding a quality goalie and getting a couple Dmen to turn things around a year from now. With Bob it's still early and it's gonna take time. BC likely held onto their coach too long but I'm not terribly familiar with their situation. Michigan and BU made the tournament a year ago and I think 2+ years in a row before this year (both def made it last year, BU's made it a few years in a row I think)? It's not like they've had prolonged struggles. North Dakota basically had a coach win it all fairly recently with the previous guy's recruits and now they've taken a step back, their coaching situation might need to be evaluated if this continues.
I think the main issue with your theory though is that the draft rules haven't changed since the 2005 lockout, in which case I don't see how the dynamic in terms of recruiting has changed significantly since then. I guess it's possible that different coaches adjusted better than others to how the draft rules changed things but that's about it. During that time you have had teams like North Dakota make the tournament every year up until their coaching change. BC won it however many times during that stretch and up until recently made the tournament nearly every year for a decade. Denver with 3 different coaches hasn't missed the NCAA's once since I was a freshman in college (06-07). Duluth had a rough stretch in the old WCHA but Sandy turned it around and this decade they've only missed twice. So it's not an impossible task to make the tournament more consistently than Lucia did during the latter half of his career.
Rabid Gopher
Craving Championchips
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
Ski-U-MEH
Ski-U-MEH
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
I'll take that as a compliment to this year's program. If I were to comment, I wouldn't be so complimentary.
I'll take that as a compliment to this year's program. If I were to comment, I wouldn't be so complimentary.
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
Have to admit, it was a very clever (and accurate) sign held up by the PSU fan this evening.
Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
Some good thoughts here Koho. Your comments about Don Lucia are appreciated. His ability to coach is the reason why he's the winningest coach in program history. Another example would be Mel Pearson and what he did last season in his first year at Michigan. He turned a floundering team into a FF team for the first time in 7 seasons. They lost a couple high scoring guys this season in Calderone and Norris with an injury. But I expect them to be tough down the stretch again. Mel Pearson knows how to coach.
IMO AD Ally made a huge error in hiring Tony Granato at UW, and fans are paying for that now. York is in the declining years of his coaching career at BC. UND and Berry are not a good fit. Hak was a tough, but superb motivator and a savvy recruiter. Berry lacks that edge. A lot of fans at BU think O'Connell was not a good replacement for Quinn as HC and their decline indicates it. So IMO coaching issues are at the heart of each of the schools you mentioned.
IMO the angst of whiny Gophers fans, the UM AD debt crisis due to overspending, a corporate marketing model and declining attendance (largely due to increased ticket prices) added tremendous impetus to Don Lucia's decision to retire. He endured so much criticism from insensitive and spoiled Gopher fans along with complaints from inside that he never played at MN, he had enough. IMO he had at least 3-5 more good seasons in the tank and I think he knew it.
IMO AD Coyle, Nanne and others who think the best invention since sliced bread is sliced payments, made a hasty decision and waved a pile of cash in front of Bob Motzko that was more than double what he earned at SCSU, so he bit and dumped his alma mater.
Many fans don't realize Bob Motzko has been coaching as an asst. and HC for about 32 years. IMO much like TG at UW, he's in his declining years as a coach. He never won anything at the NCAA level in his prime, in large part because he seemed to struggle to consistently motivate his teams for big games. Based upon his history as a coach and what I've seen this season, I'm not expecting anything different throughout the duration of his 5 year, $2.9M contract.
The series this weekend vs Penn St. is an ominous example. Motzko made a colossal error by playing Robson again tonight. Robson has now gone down in infamy as the only goalie in Gopher hockey history to post a GAA of 4.0 over 8 consecutive games (2-6-0). That's more than pathetic, it's wrong. Blaming "Lucia's guys" (of which Robson is one) for this season's demise because they apparently refuse to cooperate is simply the delusion of myopic Gopher fans living in denial, hoping Motzko will win an NC four years into his contract in 2021-22.
This Motzko coached Gopher team will also set a record as having the worst W% over the last 20 years (maybe more...we'll see). But this is what Gopher fans and the corporate debt mongers at the U clamored for, so here's your season. Suck it up and tap your toes until 2021-22.
Some good thoughts here Koho. Your comments about Don Lucia are appreciated. His ability to coach is the reason why he's the winningest coach in program history. Another example would be Mel Pearson and what he did last season in his first year at Michigan. He turned a floundering team into a FF team for the first time in 7 seasons. They lost a couple high scoring guys this season in Calderone and Norris with an injury. But I expect them to be tough down the stretch again. Mel Pearson knows how to coach.
IMO AD Ally made a huge error in hiring Tony Granato at UW, and fans are paying for that now. York is in the declining years of his coaching career at BC. UND and Berry are not a good fit. Hak was a tough, but superb motivator and a savvy recruiter. Berry lacks that edge. A lot of fans at BU think O'Connell was not a good replacement for Quinn as HC and their decline indicates it. So IMO coaching issues are at the heart of each of the schools you mentioned.
IMO the angst of whiny Gophers fans, the UM AD debt crisis due to overspending, a corporate marketing model and declining attendance (largely due to increased ticket prices) added tremendous impetus to Don Lucia's decision to retire. He endured so much criticism from insensitive and spoiled Gopher fans along with complaints from inside that he never played at MN, he had enough. IMO he had at least 3-5 more good seasons in the tank and I think he knew it.
IMO AD Coyle, Nanne and others who think the best invention since sliced bread is sliced payments, made a hasty decision and waved a pile of cash in front of Bob Motzko that was more than double what he earned at SCSU, so he bit and dumped his alma mater.
Many fans don't realize Bob Motzko has been coaching as an asst. and HC for about 32 years. IMO much like TG at UW, he's in his declining years as a coach. He never won anything at the NCAA level in his prime, in large part because he seemed to struggle to consistently motivate his teams for big games. Based upon his history as a coach and what I've seen this season, I'm not expecting anything different throughout the duration of his 5 year, $2.9M contract.
The series this weekend vs Penn St. is an ominous example. Motzko made a colossal error by playing Robson again tonight. Robson has now gone down in infamy as the only goalie in Gopher hockey history to post a GAA of 4.0 over 8 consecutive games (2-6-0). That's more than pathetic, it's wrong. Blaming "Lucia's guys" (of which Robson is one) for this season's demise because they apparently refuse to cooperate is simply the delusion of myopic Gopher fans living in denial, hoping Motzko will win an NC four years into his contract in 2021-22.
This Motzko coached Gopher team will also set a record as having the worst W% over the last 20 years (maybe more...we'll see). But this is what Gopher fans and the corporate debt mongers at the U clamored for, so here's your season. Suck it up and tap your toes until 2021-22.
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
I recall him mentioning it but not consistently. You stated, "The older guys seem to not have really adapted to the new style, while the younger ones have, at least to a point." I asked you to explain the style difference. Cuteness is a style difference between Motzko and Lucia? I don't think Lucia taught "cuteness" as a positive attribute in ANY of his teams. And the younger guys are playing "cute" as you state, "to a point"? Wow. And you have proof of this?
Lucia's teams were built for speed, not necessarily physicality. Motzko promised to change that, but didn't deliver at all this season.
I work within an academic culture of Millennials and post-Millennials, and they often require an attitude adjustment. That's a coaching issue that Motzko should be able to handle and he's been far too soft. Good coaches know if guys don't change they don't play. Worked really well for Herbie.
I recall him mentioning it but not consistently. You stated, "The older guys seem to not have really adapted to the new style, while the younger ones have, at least to a point." I asked you to explain the style difference. Cuteness is a style difference between Motzko and Lucia? I don't think Lucia taught "cuteness" as a positive attribute in ANY of his teams. And the younger guys are playing "cute" as you state, "to a point"? Wow. And you have proof of this?
Lucia's teams were built for speed, not necessarily physicality. Motzko promised to change that, but didn't deliver at all this season.
I work within an academic culture of Millennials and post-Millennials, and they often require an attitude adjustment. That's a coaching issue that Motzko should be able to handle and he's been far too soft. Good coaches know if guys don't change they don't play. Worked really well for Herbie.
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Re: Minnesota Golden Gopher Season 2018-19: The Motzko Era Begins!
Quick transition has ALWAYS been integral to Lucia coached teams. That's nothing new to D1 either. The buck stops with Motzko, it's his job to find a way motivate and instruct.
Quick transition has ALWAYS been integral to Lucia coached teams. That's nothing new to D1 either. The buck stops with Motzko, it's his job to find a way motivate and instruct.
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