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

I was about to post that here myself, thanks Ralph! Everyone McMahon named was already on our list, so it felt good that we're in the right ballpark. I like Greg Moore as a secondary option, surprised that no one else has brought him up. Another one I found was Chris Lazary at Saginaw, would be a homerun if they somehow landed him. Tapp and Chris Brooks also solid secondary options as top ECAC assistants
I think Andy Jones (Bentley head coach) might be worth a look for an under-the-radar pick, although I have no idea whether he's in the mix or interested. He has ECAC and USHL experience and was the longtime associate head coach at UMass Lowell until last year. He turned Bentley around quickly--they beat Maine up in Portland this year. Bentley has a decent shot to win the AHA conference tournament; they've beaten all of the other semifinalists at least once this year. And he went to Amherst, not that I'm biased or anything ;-)
 
Ken Schott wrote about the list of potential coaches in a Gazette column. The one thing he cautioned was patience would be needed. I agree. I do not think the process should be rushed.

I doubt whoever gets hired will result in a big turnaround in the W-L record next season. But if the players on that roster play better, no matter if it’s just on one side of the puck, offensive or defensive, AND if RPI shows some progress in addressing the facility needs, it will send a message to potential recruits that Troy will be a good place to play. If the new coach will set the tone, then we will have a reason for optimism.
 
Have seen a couple comments like this. What is the full story of what happened in the 1960s? Have been a casual fan for years but never heard it.
I know that Ned Harkness departed following the 1962-63 season and Rube Bjorkman only coached for one season in 1963-64, after which Garry Kearns took over a team on the downturn and it took him a while to get them back to playing .500 or better hockey. The president of RPI during that period was Dr. Richard Folsom, while the athletic director was Henry (Hank) Kumpf.

My father was an RPI alum. I lived in Rensselaer County during the early '60's and was an RPI student in the late '60's, I had access to Albany and Troy newspapers throughout the period, so I kept pretty close tabs on RPI hockey.

I know that RPI didn't lavish extravagant amounts of money on the hockey program - I remember WRPI announcers telling us that if a puck was shot into the stands, we should throw it back so that the school wouldn't have to spend too much buying hockey pucks. And there is a famous story about Ned Harkness telling his players during the 1954 NCAA championship tournament that they could renew their energy by taking whiffs of oxygen from the oxygen tank he had brought along - revealing, after the tournament was over, that the tank had nothing in it but plain old air, since RPI wouldn't spring for an actual tank of oxygen.

Still, I can't remember ever reading or hearing anything to indicate that either Dr. Folsom or Mr. Kumpf deliberately took actions that could have been regarded as "genocidal" in regard to hockey.
 
Have seen a couple comments like this. What is the full story of what happened in the 1960s? Have been a casual fan for years but never heard it.
There is no one still around who can tell it first hand. I did not show up myself until Ned Harkness was in year two at Cornell. Most of what I MAY know was handed down by older fans who lived through it. So, 100% accuracy cannot be guaranteed except to say that administrative genocide #1 was a lot more subtle and in the bushes than the more recent administrative genocide # 2.

Supposedly, over five decades ago one Mr. Harkness began rubbing the administration raw with all his success, local attention and notearity that went with it. In addition, he was also never short of an ego or the corresponding bravado. When they had enough of this guy who was gathering far more attention than any of them, the administration began tightening the screws so that he would eventually leave on his own rather than them firing him. Needless to say, the latter would have caused quite an uproar at the time.

So instead they made getting potential recruits accepted and admitted harder than it was previously. Nonetheless, Harkness remained successful but not quite at the pace as previously. But, alas, he was still here!!! So, next came stripping him of his arena manager duties and that resulted in a corresponding reduction in compensation. With that he left just as the sneaky administration desired all along.

Please note that for the first couple decades of its' existence, the Fieldhouse was not just some aging college hockey arena. Quite the contrary, it was a major entertainment venue dubbed "The Madison Square Garden of Upstate New York". Without covering the ice surface, it was around 5,200 for concerts. Around 7,000 with the rink covered. Those shows were quite the events. Just the ones I was at personally included Frankie Avalon and Connie Francis, Peter & Gordon along with Manfred Mann, Peter, Paul & Mary, The Beach Boys, the annual stop of Dick Clark's Winter Caravan and the Ice Capades (for a whole week!!!). Other shows included Joplin, Morrison and the Doors, Grace Slick and Airplane (before they went to Starfleet Academy and became a starship), a scheduled appearance by Hendricks which had to be cancelled due to the assassination of RFK Sr. and the annual convention of the Jehovah Witnesses. While Harkness was already gone for some of the above, you get the idea. Getting stripped of the arena manager job cost Ned a pretty penny and it was time to leave.

Anyway, they moved on to a replacement for the 63-64 season and with whatever was left playerwise somehow took RPI to the final four (it wasn't Frozen yet). In addition, the guy had what was reputed to be a talented and deep recruiting class coming in September of 64 (who would have had to play on the freshman team back then) which included 5 guys everyone else supposedly wanted. The administration, apparently still in a geocidal mood, academically rejected all five!!!. The replacement coach immediately and abruptly just up and quit!!!

Then for 64-65 it was on to another guy from a Canadian college. When employment date arrived he was nowhere to be be found. Nor the day after that nor the next one either. All attempts to contact the guy failed until they finally gave up nearing graduation day 1964. The guy just plain and simple dropped off the face of the earth and no one ever heard anything about him again to this very day.

In attendance on the graduation day 1964 ceremony was one Adjunct Professor of Architecture who also happened to be an All American Hockey player around a decade earlier. Supposedly, an extremely panicked President ran up to him and said something like the following: Garry you just have to coach the hockey team, we just haven't got anybody else!!! Garry did just that but by now it was far too little far too late. The next three seasons were 10 wins, then 3 and then 8 with a number of those wins coming against D2/D3 opposition. Those 5 rejected guys mentioned above would have been on the varsity by the 3 and the 8!!!

Eventually, Mr. Kearns did a stellar repair job and went back to his regular job(s) after 5 years of coaching. There were ups and downs after that, but, overall things were pretty good.

Little long but you did ask for it as best as I recall or know it. Should any of the above need correction, it would have to be by some individual who would unfortunately have to be even older that I am.
 
Today is 15 March 2025. There are 203 days (29 weeks) until RPI's next game.


This is based upon 4 October 2025 for the start of next season.
 
Anyway, they moved on to a replacement for the 63-64 season and with whatever was left playerwise somehow took RPI to the final four (it wasn't Frozen yet). In addition, the guy had what was reputed to be a talented and deep recruiting class coming in September of 64 (who would have had to play on the freshman team back then) which included 5 guys everyone else supposedly wanted. The administration, apparently still in a geocidal mood, academically rejected all five!!!. The replacement coach immediately and abruptly just up and quit!!!

Then for 64-65 it was on to another guy from a Canadian college. When employment date arrived he was nowhere to be be found. Nor the day after that nor the next one either. All attempts to contact the guy failed until they finally gave up nearing graduation day 1964. The guy just plain and simple dropped off the face of the earth and no one ever heard anything about him again to this very day.

In attendance on the graduation day 1964 ceremony was one Adjunct Professor of Architecture who also happened to be an All American Hockey player around a decade earlier. Supposedly, an extremely panicked President ran up to him and said something like the following: Garry you just have to coach the hockey team, we just haven't got anybody else!!! Garry did just that but by now it was far too little far too late. The next three seasons were 10 wins, then 3 and then 8 with a number of those wins coming against D2/D3 opposition. Those 5 rejected guys mentioned above would have been on the varsity by the 3 and the 8!!!

Eventually, Mr. Kearns did a stellar repair job and went back to his regular job(s) after 5 years of coaching. There were ups and downs after that, but, overall things were pretty good.

Little long but you did ask for it as best as I recall or know it. Should any of the above need correction, it would have to be by some individual who would unfortunately have to be even older that I am.
As Waite21 wrote, the 63-64 coach was Rube Bjorkman. He left to coach UNH. I was unaware that he had recruited players for 64-65, and they did not get admitted. I was also unaware that we had a coach for 64-65 (my freshman year) but he did not show up.
 
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