Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

[SteveP]

Congratulations to former Penn State Icer Josh Brandwene, named today as the first coach of the Penn State women's hockey program.

Josh has been a very successful coach in the ACHA and at prep schools. Current Lady Icers head coach Mo Stroemel will have a role with the varsity team.

May 31, 2011

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Veteran coach, former Icer and ACHA Hall of Fame inductee Josh Brandwene has been named Penn State's first varsity women's ice hockey coach. Brandwene will lead the Nittany Lions' transition into NCAA Division I competition, which starts in the 2012-13 season.

Brandwene brings 20 years of coaching and administrative experience at the international, collegiate and prep school levels to Penn State. He most recently was the head coach of the girls' ice hockey team (2008-10) at Kingswood Oxford School in West Hartford, Conn. Brandwene was then asked to re-build the Kingswood Oxford boys' ice hockey team, serving as head coach in 2010-11.

"We are proud to welcome Josh back to Penn State as the first head coach of the women's varsity ice hockey team," said Tim Curley, Penn State Director of Athletics. "His wealth of experience and unique hockey background have prepared him to build our program and we are excited to have him on board."

"I am honored, humbled and thrilled to return to Penn State to lead the women's ice hockey program at this amazing time in the hockey program's history," said Brandwene. "I truly love every aspect of building a successful program. To have the opportunity to build a program the `Penn State Way,' here at this place that has meant so much to me and shaped who I am as a person and as a coach is a dream come true."

 

[pakidnyc]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

Huh? Who?

 

[PTS34]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

Seems weird to pick someone that has never coached any sort of NCAA hockey?

 

[playthegameonthepond]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

absolutely shocked

 

[WIrinkrat]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

Seems weird to pick someone that has never coached any sort of NCAA hockey?

But he has 2 whole years of Girls Prep Hockey experience. Can't argue with that logic.

 

[5 4 Fighting]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

He gets my vote. His bio has him as a no brainer pick for a newly established D1 Head Coach at PSU.

and...

He's a former Icer for Gawds sake!

 

[sbkbghockey]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

absolutely shocked

Me too! I would have thought if they're staying with someone from within the PSU ACHA they'd either keep Mo (their current club coach, done a decent job and would certainly do better with resources of NCAA hky programs) or maybe coach Balboni from the powerhouse PSU men's ACHA program.

 

[D2D]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

Someone mentioned earlier that a goal of their hockey program (women and men combined) is to at least break even. I suspect that expenses played a role here. Hiring a "big name" like a Mark Johnson would have substantially increased the cost of running the womens' program. Good luck to Mr. Brandwene; who knows, maybe he will surprise everyone who's posted so far here and build a long lasting, winning tradition at PSU.

P.S. If anyone's interested I'll give great odds that he won't last as long as their football coach.

 

[WIrinkrat]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

Someone mentioned earlier that a goal of their hockey program (women and men combined) is to at least break even. I suspect that expenses played a role here. Hiring a "big name" like a Mark Johnson would have substantially increased the cost of running the womens' program. Good luck to Mr. Brandwene; who knows, maybe he will surprise everyone who's posted so far here and build a long lasting, winning tradition at PSU.

P.S. If anyone's interested I'll give great odds that he won't last as long as their football coach.

I know nothing about this guy, and he may well turn out to be sensational...and for the most part that is what I hope happens if for no other reason than the girls who go there deserve that.

I admit fully that I have no knowledge of the search or the applicants, but these are just my opinions.

They wouldn't have had to hire Mark Johnson to have gotten someone with a lot of NCAA experience in the women's game. This is a big time gig....you can't tell me they couldnt have approached any number of highly qualified NCAA Women's assistant or head coaches who have proven themselves over a long road in college hockey.

With that said, assuming anyone of the caliber of a Johnson et al was even interested...why not pay them? We aren't talking several million dollar salaries like in football. It's 100, maybe 150,000? If it gets you a better shot at a championship contender...then at a place like Penn State it's gonna be a heckuva lot easier to generate interest and raise funds that will more than offset a few extra thousand dollars in salary. If they didnt think so, I think they could have probably got Pegula to cover it.

Sometimes it just shouldn't matter where you went to school.

 

[Scally Lama]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

With that said, assuming anyone of the caliber of a Johnson et al was even interested...why not pay them? We aren't talking several million dollar salaries like in football. It's 100, maybe 150,000? If it gets you a better shot at a championship contender...then at a place like Penn State it's gonna be a heckuva lot easier to generate interest and raise funds that will more than offset a few extra thousand dollars in salary. If they didnt think so, I think they could have probably got Pegula to cover it.

Here's the thing though...it's not just about the salary, it's also about the little extras. By hiring a guy who's loyal to the administration ahead of his specific fiefdom, they're trying to prevent some of the little turf wars that take place and ultimately lead to spending money to keep everyone happy. A more accomplished/proven women's coach like a Mike Sisti is in a position to make demands. The hire makes perfect sense to me - in hindsight, I should've done a better job reading some of the tea leaves.

According to that graphic that gets kicked around here, Wisconsin spends roughly $2.5 million on the women and gets $0.6 million of it back. Minnesota spends about half of that and gets $0.4 million back. Wisconsin (in 2009 anyway) lost just under $2 million while Minnesota lost a little over $0.8 million. The point: spending money doesn't reduce the amount of money you lose, it increases it. PSU doesn't want to go that route. And yeah, Terry Pegula's out there, but he's probably not going to be okay with subsidizing the PSU hockey budget annually - he gave more than the cost of the arena partially so he wouldn't have to.

Brandwene is a quality coach and individual and will do a good job, even if his resume doesn't immediately explain why.

 

[pakidnyc]

I don't disagree with your assessment, I just don't like it. I have a hard time believing the men's team makes much more at most universities. Maybe PSU will be different because they do have the student fan base that supports sports and there is no real hockey to speak of in the general area so maybe fans will come. I hope so!! I was just thinking that with a new women's program, they had a chance to show how PSU is a leader, shake it up a little, hire a well qualified "younger" woman to build the new program.

About the salaries and Pegula's investment, it's my understanding that they are actively out fundraising on top of the money he donated. This "extra" money is then used to endow scholarships, coaching salaries, etc so the University budget doesn't "lose" that big chunk every year.

Here's the thing though...it's not just about the salary, it's also about the little extras. By hiring a guy who's loyal to the administration ahead of his specific fiefdom, they're trying to prevent some of the little turf wars that take place and ultimately lead to spending money to keep everyone happy. A more accomplished/proven women's coach like a Mike Sisti is in a position to make demands. The hire makes perfect sense to me - in hindsight, I should've done a better job reading some of the tea leaves.

According to that graphic that gets kicked around here, Wisconsin spends roughly $2.5 million on the women and gets $0.6 million of it back. Minnesota spends about half of that and gets $0.4 million back. Wisconsin (in 2009 anyway) lost just under $2 million while Minnesota lost a little over $0.8 million. The point: spending money doesn't reduce the amount of money you lose, it increases it. PSU doesn't want to go that route. And yeah, Terry Pegula's out there, but he's probably not going to be okay with subsidizing the PSU hockey budget annually - he gave more than the cost of the arena partially so he wouldn't have to.

Brandwene is a quality coach and individual and will do a good job, even if his resume doesn't immediately explain why.

 

[Scally Lama]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

About the salaries and Pegula's investment, it's my understanding that they are actively out fundraising on top of the money he donated. This "extra" money is then used to endow scholarships, coaching salaries, etc so the University budget doesn't "lose" that big chunk every year.

Yep, and for all I know, endowed scholarships could be a big reason why there's such a huge difference between Wisconsin and Minnesota, because it's not like Minny's exactly a crap program. It really demonstrates a lot of foresight on our part to try to get a huge expense under control right away, while interest is at a...I don't want to say "high," but until there's a championship or something, the energy's probably close to its peak.

More than anything, this might just be fear of the unknown. I'm not privy to how it's going with that extra $10 million of fundraising beyond the big donation announcements they've made...they might just be waiting to see how the finances shake out in practice before going crazy.

 

[giwan]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

About the salaries and Pegula's investment, it's my understanding that they are actively out fundraising on top of the money he donated. This "extra" money is then used to endow scholarships, coaching salaries, etc so the University budget doesn't "lose" that big chunk every year.

Isn't it really about striking while the iron is hot? Big investment, new teams, new arena, and lots of excitement sounds like the right time to do fundraising. Not two, three years from now where there may not be any success.

 

[SteveP]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

The first two minutes explain why Josh Brandwene is the women's coach. Also, Mo Stroemel will have a role with the varsity team.

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DjF1JbGoRI0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Scally Lama]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

Reading between the lines, I take that as confirmation of my opinion...loyalty to Penn State and Battista/administration ahead of loyalty to the women's program specifically was the key, because the investment in the women's program more or less depends on the profitability of the men's program. And until that's demonstrated, the coach is going to need to be patient, buy into what's going on, and not resent the men's team.

He pretty much came right out and said that he wasn't the best candidate in terms of the usual things that are looked at like experience and success in the women's game.

 

[D2D]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported today that "Bill Downey has been named the director of hockey operations to Penn State. He will work with men's and women's hockey. Downey, a PSU alum, has that same position now at Harvard."

 

[SteveP]

Re: Penn State Names First Varsity Women's Coach

Josh Brandwene has added Mo Stroemel and former BU Captain and Neumann Assistant Coach Gina Kearns to the coaching staff.