RPI 2022-23: Return of the Schmidt and the Fans

[sezenack]

Tech and RPI fan here. I have insight into both programs with personal connections and getting inside info. Yes there was a change in conferences more than once for MTU. Don't see that happening for RPI though stranger things have happened.

For Tech a new coach (alum) was hired, and they did still play with some of the big teams. What I believe was key is there was a meeting of the minds if you will that included a top AD, the new coach hire and I believe very key the Tech President. They had to invest in the program, and I mean money ie a bigger budget for recruiting and pay for all the coaches etc. The facilities are 43 years old and are top-notch, kept sparkling clean, and updated regularly. The AD made sure to pour support to the program and dug in every corner for donations of dollars. The Pres did the same with support and regularly went to games, home always and some away. The Pres box always had potential donors in it. It was truly a GROUP effort and people REALLY noticed the backing from the Pres. as the previous Pres never showed up.

Then the conference changed and changed again. The first was essentially the "big" teams left the next change was leaving the teams that were regularly bottom of the new conference. This helps as losing to a team that was weak wreaks havoc on your pairwise. Then a coaching change again, not an alum, hired from within and Tech hockey still seems relevant on the national stage. Tech has a good shot at making the NCAA tourney current pairwise 11.

Remember the rest of Tech sports are DIV II. The women's BB team is regularly ranked and typically goes several rounds into the national tourney. Then men's BB team recently lost a long-time excellent coach that had them nationally ranks several times. The football team has recently been middling though it does play in the toughest DII conference in the country and at times gotten into the National Tournament as well. Tech is in a small city with great fans and there is a lot of support from local businesses' regularly. Same with those fans, how many colleges have an independent fan group that sets up lodging and busing deals for students to travel to at cost for the students, ie Mitch's Misfits. The band is great, and creative, and travels to events/some away games ie GLI, and Desert Classic. There are a few free classes for students to learn about hockey, its history and strategy. I do not mean classes for credit. The atmosphere at a game truly is fun.

What I see missing from RPI is this GROUP effort. Being there, backing everything and everyone, obviously, this was/is lacking from SAJ and her lackeys. The Houston Fieldhouse has seen better days as well. They do try to keep up with certain aspects for the players though I see some things missing. Can it still work yes sure if you can create a better atmosphere. Hard to do when not winning.

There are some things I did not touch on this was long-winded enough. Good Luck

Also I want to thank you for the in-depth post. Really insightful! I personally did not mind the length at all

 

[DavidNardolillo]

From giwan's post, it seems like the main driver was the new president, AD and coach getting on the same page, and the president and AD providing the resources and support to allow the program become relevant nationally again. The conference realignment seemed to be more secondary. It seems like Marty is going to be giving us the resources and support we need, but I'm trying not to get too hopeful until it actually happens

Agreed. I only inteded to initially raise the conference shift as one factor that wouldn't be able to be replicated here. The follow through from the administration was the real key.

 

[DavidNardolillo]

Also I want to thank you for the in-depth post. Really insightful! I personally did not mind the length at all

I second that.

 

[Ralph Baer]

I second that.

I third that and should have written earlier.

 

[sezenack]

Agreed. I only inteded to initially raise the conference shift as one factor that wouldn't be able to be replicated here. The follow through from the administration was the real key.

Yeah I think the conference change helped them get more wins against weaker schedules, which looks good on paper, even if that doesn't change your national standing in terms of the pairwise. So I'm sure it was helpful as a secondary factor.

I don't think we necessarily need that though. The old WCHA that MTU was playing in was extremely tough with numerous big name programs competing, so it would have been tough to gain traction even with administrative support. The current ECAC is obviously not close to that level with only 4 teams who contend for the NCAA tournament yearly now that Yale and Union have fallen off from their level of the 2010s.

With investment and facilities mattering more now than they did previously, RPI can really capitalize on the ECAC being filled with admins who don't care. Like let's go through the list:
Quinnipiac, Clarkson, Cornell, and Harvard all clearly care.
The other 4 Ivies definitely don't.
St. Lawrence does in my opinion with the Appleton renovations and coaching change to Brekke.
Colgate I go back and forth on, not too sure one way or the other.
That leaves Union, who I'd lean towards the administration not caring right now. They haven't done too much to upgrade the very poor facilities. We'll see if that budgeted money for the new rink in Schnectady that they could use actually goes through or not, but if I remember right, that wasn't driven by their administration.

So RPI can easily top the 4 Ivies at minimum, fairly easily rise above Union and Colgate, and should be able to put themselves with the yearly top 4 plus SLU simply from the administration caring and investing. That puts you top 6 and above .500 yearly as a general expectation. Our path to relevancy should be pretty clear

 

[fr. joe]

Let me add + for giwan's post.
Also, sezenack, I like your thinking. As we focus on recovering from our version of 'Jacksonian democracy (?),' your view of the the ECAC landscape suggests the path forward may not be as hopeless as many have thought. Calling for commitment and funds? Yes. Let's see what unfolds.

 

[RPI fan 4 life]

Count me in on two very well written posts by both Giwan and sezenack.
IMO, the first thing that they need to do is to get a new AD. I’ve known Dr. McElroy for a long time, going back to his days at UAlbany where he helped rejuvenate both the football and basketball programs there. I was hoping that he would do the same for the RPI hockey program but unfortunately that hasn’t happened. Perhaps because he’s getting older and the passion and desire isn’t there anymore or he just doesn’t know enough about hockey. Either way, it’s time to have someone younger with a hockey background to come in and help bring this team back to its former glory. I’m not saying a national title (though that would be great) but at least multiple Top 4 ECAC finishes and some appearances in Lake Placid for the first time in 20 years.

 

[DavidNardolillo]

I’ve known Dr. McElroy for a long time, going back to his days at UAlbany where he helped rejuvenate both the football and basketball programs there. I was hoping that he would do the same for the RPI hockey program but unfortunately that hasn’t happened. Perhaps because he’s getting older and the passion and desire isn’t there anymore or he just doesn’t know enough about hockey.

How much of this is a factor of the central administration's prerogatives? Albany's administration clearly wanted to invest Division I sports back in the 1990s. RPI's outgoing administration clearly had different priorities more recently. I think there is only so much an athletic director can do in the latter environment. Dr. McElroy, having been pulled out of retirement when Jim Knowlton left for USAFA, so he might be ready to wind down, but I RPI's program needs a little backing for some renovations to HFH and some fundraising support from the advancement office to provide a platform for any new AD.

 

[DavidNardolillo]

That leaves Union, who I'd lean towards the administration not caring right now. They haven't done too much to upgrade the very poor facilities. We'll see if that budgeted money for the new rink in Schnectady that they could use actually goes through or not, but if I remember right, that wasn't driven by their administration.

I believe Union is banking on a proposed civic center along the growing Schenectady waterfront that will be owned by other parties. My guess is that the types of renovations needed to Messa/Achilles posed some engineering challenges that were going to be cost prohibitive to get around.

Even with alumni support, new athletics facilities can be controversial for many NE private schools where the sticker price (including room and board) is now over $80k per year. Hard to justify to other constituents if you don't have the endowment to maintain generous financial aid.

 

[fr. joe]

I believe Union is banking on a proposed civic center along the growing Schenectady waterfront that will be owned by other parties. My guess is that the types of renovations needed to Messa/Achilles posed some engineering challenges that were going to be cost prohibitive to get around.

Even with alumni support, new athletics facilities can be controversial for many NE private schools where the sticker price (including room and board) is now over $80k per year. Hard to justify to other constituents if you don't have the endowment to maintain generous financial aid.

Union completed an approximately $50 million capital campaign in the last 15/18 months. I seem to recall that the money was earmarked for perhaps two on-campus academic buildings, 'student life' improvements and funds to support their endowment. A new rink would soak up a big part of $50 million! The riverside rink will be owned by the casino or by some other third party, not Union College.

 

[rpi82]

Union completed an approximately $50 million capital campaign in the last 15/18 months. I seem to recall that the money was earmarked for perhaps two on-campus academic buildings, 'student life' improvements and funds to support their endowment. A new rink would soak up a big part of $50 million! The riverside rink will be owned by the casino or by some other third party, not Union College.

It was a $300M campaign that they completed early. $50M was the largest single donation.

 

[fr. joe]

It was a $300M campaign that they completed early. $50M was the largest single donation.

Thanks.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

It was a $300M campaign that they completed early. $50M was the largest single donation.

To my knowledge, none of that money had anything to do with hockey. There has been precious little news of the new rink that Galesi Group was looking to build at Mohawk Harbor...which they had trumpeted as the new home of Union hockey. The school to date has been non-committal so far on the idea. At last check the developers were looking for gov't money to make it a better idea (cuz if it was a good idea financially someone would have done it already...! Ha ha). The state budget is in the sausage making phase at the moment so the possibility certainly remains that the legislature will throw some money at the idea...

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Bump back to page one.... I attended the Colgate on Sat. night and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. I thought Watson looked sharp and overall we had some pretty good jump.
I am long retired from the predication game, but what are people's thoughts for the upcoming homestand ?

 

[Ralph Baer]

Bump back to page one.... I attended the Colgate on Sat. night and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. I thought Watson looked sharp and overall we had some pretty good jump.
I am long retired from the predication game, but what are people's thoughts for the upcoming homestand ?

I think that the games will be played. :-D

 

[fr. joe]

I think that the games will be played. :-D

And the score? Before the game? 0 - 0.

 

[DrDemento]

Bump back to page one.... I attended the Colgate on Sat. night and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. I thought Watson looked sharp and overall we had some pretty good jump.
I am long retired from the predication game, but what are people's thoughts for the upcoming homestand ?

This is RPI we are talking about? You have to remember Kepler's laws. They are still valid.

 

[rpi82]

To my knowledge, none of that money had anything to do with hockey. There has been precious little news of the new rink that Galesi Group was looking to build at Mohawk Harbor...which they had trumpeted as the new home of Union hockey. The school to date has been non-committal so far on the idea. At last check the developers were looking for gov't money to make it a better idea (cuz if it was a good idea financially someone would have done it already...! Ha ha). The state budget is in the sausage making phase at the moment so the possibility certainly remains that the legislature will throw some money at the idea...

That reminds me of the fiasco that was the City Center rink in Schenectady. It was built around 1980 and was supposed to join with Proctor's in drawing people downtown. However, it didn't have a viable business model. There wasn't enough school and youth hockey business to carry it and it was too small (perhaps a 1000 seats or so) to be used as a professional facility. A local businessman with more hope than money or common sense tried to put a team, the Schenectady Chiefs, in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (the same league that would later include the ill-fated Troy Slapshots at the Field House) which lasted only a month or two before going out of business. Does anyone know what happened to City Center rink?

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

That reminds me of the fiasco that was the City Center rink in Schenectady. It was built around 1980 and was supposed to join with Proctor's in drawing people downtown. However, it didn't have a viable business model. There wasn't enough school and youth hockey business to carry it and it was too small (perhaps a 1000 seats or so) to be used as a professional facility. A local businessman with more hope than money or common sense tried to put a team, the Schenectady Chiefs, in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (the same league that would later include the ill-fated Troy Slapshots at the Field House) which lasted only a month or two before going out of business. Does anyone know what happened to City Center rink?

All true... and if memory serves Union contemplated moving their hockey teams to Center City....but IIRC the students were surveyed and voted the idea down. The rink is long gone and was redeveloped into office/retail/restaurant space.

 

[DavidSec17]

All true... and if memory serves Union contemplated moving their hockey teams to Center City....but IIRC the students were surveyed and voted the idea down. The rink is long gone and was redeveloped into office/retail/restaurant space.

Played a lot of youth hockey there. I remember Mike Addessa's hockey school was moved there the year the Field House was renovated.