Re: Providence College 2010-2011 - Things are looking up.
I wouldn't classify Army or Pooley's hirings as "cheap" or "desperate" myself, but it's true, we don't seem to hear much on the hockey hiring front until May or June typically. That said, it's unlikely you would hear anything until the middle of April at the earliest -- especially considering that the season isn't over yet for a lot of teams. Once the Frozen Four is over, then we might begin to hear names being thrown about.
The Army hiring certainly was not cheap nor desperate. It might have been since they didn't get Pooley's resignation until after Notre Dame sorted through their issues. If he had not been the only person Driscoll was looking to really hire it might have turned desperate. Pooley's original hire was desperate and basically done on the cheap. They knew going into the final year McShane was not coming back. He left immediately after the season. Then things got lost in the usual PC shuffle. Marinatto got sidetracked, Smith was coming in as the new school president and that was ominious. Pooley was hired at the very end of July. Cost us a couple of McShane's recruits which hurt us down the road and also got him a late start on his first recruiting class, though that was not as big an issue in '95 as it is today.
Which leads to the article on Driscoll. While by and large nobody complained about hiring either Davis nor Army it is questionable if Driscoll did his due diligence. In basketball I'm told by more then one big fan and I think it was clear for all to see. Driscoll made this a very public hiring and his getting b*tch slapped a few times was an embarrassment, that the original thought was if you went for an inexperienced guy he would cost you less then Welsh cost, instead he cost about a quarter million more a year, and he himself noted the midwest thing vs east coat thing, these people raied their eyes over tht. On the Army issue as I noted in my initial post Driscoll listened to the fans, they were sick of the dump and suck and wanted offense, he was sold easily that the Army name was going to magically turn this around with no other intervention on his part. Unlike the fans he had first hand knowledge of the program as he had been there 4 years by the time of the Army hiring. Pooley left on good terms. Did he not get into the reasons with Pooley why he played the way he did. This time he said he had a list of items that Army had brought to his attention as needing addressing....did he not have such a list from Pooley? I guess despite getting paid as AD he really is not better then the average fan.
I think the new hire will be in place by late April. Wait much longer and you are mortgaging almost 3 years. Next year is shot since we graduated so many key players and don't have good replacements. The next class is pretty much picked over and we have most of our '12 recruiting still to do. Right now the top teams are already picking over the '13 recruits, now we wouldn't win any of those battles anyway, but wait much longer and the Plan B types will be gone.
If I was a betting man I would put money on Bennett. I actually don't think Leaman would go for the PC job, first because it is a losing proposition from where he sits now, there will be better opportunities and soon and second I'd guess since it is not his dream job he would not want to undercut Ricky's chances. Further Ricky played a large role in Union's resurgence. As I noted there are not many head coaches who would look to jump, the direct junior ranks just is not the usual path (though I'd very much like the Montgomery move Freds suggested, however as noted Sooner or later the Maine job opens and I think he would be a facility issue, without solid promises to upgrae not a chance in the world). You could do the pro route again, but I just can't see them spending that type of money on a head coach. I say there will only be lukewarm interest in this job. Not spectacular pay, you just saw how the school treated one of their legacy players, you clearly not an important sport at the school, you have substandard facilities and you have to deal with a boob of an AD. With all those pluses in place just who would want that job?
