RPI 2025 Off-Season: HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AspyDad]

rumor has it ny rangers asst coach is interested

Wow. Glad you're on the thread again.

 

[Engineers]

Only thing that makes sense is Lavy probably isn't long for the world and he's looking for an off ramp. Would be home run

It really would be

 

[rpi82]

Perhaps this would be a more appropriate post for the alumni thread, but since no one's posted there in several years, I'll put it here.

Former Engineer player Andrew Lord's name has been mentioned a couple of times in connection with the coaching vacancy, though he doesn't seem to be very high on anybody's list of preferences.

I remember communicating with Andrew after he finished up at RPI. Believe it or not, he was asking me for advice on how to get started in pursuing a career as an actuary.

He didn't end up becoming an actuary. He played professional hockey in Wales with the Cardiff Devils and eventually became that team's head coach.

In 2020, he decided to come back to North America and became the head coach of the ECHL's Greenville (SC) Swamp Rabbits.

He earned sufficient respect in that role to be named the ECHL's Coach of the Year for the 2023-24 season.

And when the 2024-25 season started, he had become the head coach of the QMJHL team in Halifax.

To me, going from being Coach of the Year for a professional team to becoming the first-year coach of a junior team seems like a comedown, though maybe some have a better idea than I do about how the QMJHL compares to the ECHL.

Anyway, does any one have any information on why Lord made that move?

ECHL coaches are not very high on the food chain. Chuck Weber was an ECHL coach of the year. I don't think Kirk was ever CotY, but he was well regarded for his work at Reading and he left for a USHL job. Much as ECHL is essentially entry level to the pro game for players (ignoring the almost semi-pro leagues like the SPHL and FPHL), it is for coaches too. It doesn't surprise me that Andrew would leave for an established major junior team. After all, he was coaching a team called the "Swamp Rabbits" and Greenville is a nice city, but Halifax is a bit more of a hockey town. Besides, IIRC Andrew is from the Vancouver area, so perhaps he needed to be on a coast - any coast.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Kenny Schott did a piece on Smith's dismissal which apparently includes quotes from Bowers.

rumor has it ny rangers asst coach is interested

Stop teasing me...

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

If true that’s insane. Muse would elevate the program very quickly.

If it's true (Gawd I hope it is) it would also mean the program would need to step up financially to pay him.

 

[AspyDad]

Dumais won't be a candidate because he's waiting for Rand to retire. He's pulled his name before on coaching vacancies.

 

[tony/troy]

We just posted this reflection on Dave's tenure. I think there will always be some what ifs with COVID, but ultimately, the team fell to the bottom of the league and it's a results business. Hope you all can take the time to read it!

Dave Smith Not Returning At RPI

Reflections on a strong start and "what-ifs" that will always surround his tenure

thefieldhouse.substack.com

Simply awesome article that covered just about everything that led us to where we are.

A lot of it, but not all, was attempted to be covered in the past by individual posters (myself included) but none possessed or approached the summary, writing or composition skills necessary to get the message across as well as you two did. That is assuming there was ever any chance at all of anyone getting the message across to all the vultures, buzzards and gutter snipes that inhabit this thread.

I like to think that Coach Smith will not be remembered for what could have been or might have been. I like to think that he will be remembered for what he should have been allowed to have been, given the opportunity to have been and most definitely WOULD HAVE BEEN. I sincerely hope that eventually he is given the chance to do it elsewhere and just maybe rub some faces from his past in it. In the meantime, hope he thoroughly enjoys his two year separation payout windfall.

However, there was one freightining fire alarm that you did set off while covering all the transfer outs and decommits (you forgot one Beanpot MVP). That alarm is that it is possibly and probably all going to happen again.

 

[troyboy]

Impossible for any of us to know why he chose to leave the E for the Q. The article link below details his departure and how well he was regarded in the Greensville org. He does mention his family in his departure press release, which of course could easily have played a role in his decision.

Official Site of The ECHL | Greenville's Lord accepts head coaching job in QMJHL

Greenville Swamp Rabbits head coach Andrew Lord, the 2023-24 ECHL Coach of the Year, has accepted the head coaching job with the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

echl.com

There are currently 79 active players in the NHL and 15 players selected in the most recent draft from the Q along with the OHL and the WHL are most likely the biggest pipeline to the pros. So a coach can definitely earn some chops there.

 

[Engineers]

If it's true (Gawd I hope it is) it would also mean the program would need to step up financially to pay him.

He won’t come cheap that’s for sure! If we do get him that’s a game changer. He has some many connections with USA hockey and the development program. He would bring in some big time recruits. My concern with him is how long would he actually stay at RPI? I still think it’s going to be either Kirk or lang. but muse would be amazing as well. Honestly any of those three are great.

 

[CMcGarvey]

Not sure if anyone knows anything but I read some AIC fans saying Lang's wife works in NYC and has a prominent job. I hate to speculate over someone's family situation but I would have to think this helps RPI relative to an opening like Ferris St. Very doable to live in albany and also have a career in the city, many people make arrangements.

Only jobs that cater to it better than us really is like Yale Army Princeton LIU off the top of my head