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

[rpi82]

A couple things:
1) Make no mistake: this list of finalists indicates that RPI is not an attractive job to coaches. If AIC wasn't dropping down, I'm not convinced Lang would still be interested.
2) They haven't made a decision yet just to dispel the rumors of there being holdups of hiring Lang. The process moved slowly at first but has picked up in the past two weeks. Finalists will come to campus this week, and I hope they then have a decision announced after that by Thursday or Friday.

We actually got lucky this year that there hasn't been much coaching turnover nationally and two of the more attractive jobs, Cornell and North Dakota, already had a succession plan in place (although in the case of North Dakota it's not clear whether the coach was in on it). There aren't many available jobs, giving schools like RPI and Ferris chances to get guys that might have been thinking HE or NCHC.

The portal really changes the urgency. I looked back just a few years ago when Union hired Hauge. Despite knowing for months that they would need a new coach they didn't finalize a deal until April 15. The timing wasn't really a big deal. Now I feel a bit of discomfort that we may not have a new coach in place until a week or two into the portal - both in terms of losing our players and bringing in replacements.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

A couple things:
1) Make no mistake: this list of finalists indicates that RPI is not an attractive job to coaches. If AIC wasn't dropping down, I'm not convinced Lang would still be interested.
2) They haven't made a decision yet just to dispel the rumors of there being holdups of hiring Lang. The process moved slowly at first but has picked up in the past two weeks. Finalists will come to campus this week, and I hope they then have a decision announced after that by Thursday or Friday.

I believe he applied when they hired Smith. I guess I don't understand why folks think people decided not to apply. If you're an AC and there's an HC job open , one of only 64, with a salary that likely more than doubles my income, you bet your life I'm applying. You work your ### off, take your shot at righting the ship. leave your mark and actually have a quality income.... no brainer. If you do it right they'll put your plaque on the wall.

I think the question we need to ask, that we'll likely not know the answer to is , who didn't make the short list ? (i.e. who did the committee rule out ?)

 

[rpi2004]

I have to say I thought Joel Beal would be a finalist. I know he was a part of this initially. Did he pull out? There is no way you can say Doyle is a better option. Consider me confused. Regardless, this should be lang, wrap it up.

 

[rpi2004]

REPORT: Lang, Jewell, Doyle Named Finalists

Dr. Bowers has cut the list to 3 as in-person interviews expected this week

open.substack.com

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

I have to say I thought Joel Beal would be a finalist. I know he was a part of this initially. Did he pull out? There is no way you can say Doyle is a better option. Consider me confused. Regardless, this should be lang, wrap it up.

Agreed. As I said above, the question is who applied. We'll likely never know.

 

[rpi82]

REPORT: Lang, Jewell, Doyle Named Finalists

Dr. Bowers has cut the list to 3 as in-person interviews expected this week

open.substack.com

Looking at the candidates Jewell is in his late 30s, Lang his late 40s and Doyle his late 50s. One has HC experience but none in a high level league, another has no HC experience but has helped an under-resourced school keep its head above water in a top league (and did likewise here), and the third has neither. Clearly there was no pre-conceived model for what they wanted, but I hope they had some standards in mind regarding what kind of person could be successful in our unique circumstances. Regarding Doyle, even if his initial interview was incredible, someone would have had to go to bat for him, and his frankly underwhelming credentials, to become a finalist. I wonder who and why.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Looking at the candidates Jewell is in his late 30s, Lang his late 40s and Doyle his late 50s. One has HC experience but none in a high level league, another has no HC experience but has helped an under-resourced school keep its head above water in a top league (and did likewise here), and the third has neither. Clearly there was no pre-conceived model for what they wanted, but I hope they had some standards in mind regarding what kind of person could be successful in our unique circumstances. Regarding Doyle, even if his initial interview was incredible, someone would have had to go to bat for him, and his frankly underwhelming credentials, to become a finalist. I wonder who and why.

I mentioned it earlier today, but Col. Knowlton did three years at USAFA prior to moving over to Cal. My guess is he is the connection..but thats simply a guess.

 

[fr. joe]

We should close the deal. Tempus fugit.

 

[rpi82]

I mentioned it earlier today, but Col. Knowlton did three years at USAFA prior to moving over to Cal. My guess is he is the connection..but thats simply a guess.

That would fit. Air Force made the NCAAs regularly when they first joined Atlantic Hockey, but they’ve only made it twice in the last 15 years or so - both when Knowlton was there. However, they’ve had a losing record in each of the last six years. I know it’s hard to run a hockey program at a service academy (as it is at AIC, Merrimack or RPI), but that’s a recent record that makes me wonder why even the Colonel would push Doyle’s candidacy.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Today is 31 March 2025. There are 187 days until RPI's next game. It has been 22 days since there has been a head coach.



This is based upon 4 October 2025 for the start of next season, and 10 March was the day that coach Smith was relieved of duty.

 

[sezenack]

I believe he applied when they hired Smith. I guess I don't understand why folks think people decided not to apply. If you're an AC and there's an HC job open , one of only 64, with a salary that likely more than doubles my income, you bet your life I'm applying. You work your ### off, take your shot at righting the ship. leave your mark and actually have a quality income.... no brainer. If you do it right they'll put your plaque on the wall.

I think the question we need to ask, that we'll likely not know the answer to is , who didn't make the short list ? (i.e. who did the committee rule out ?)

I agree that there's only so many jobs available that it would make sense for ACs to apply..

But I can explain my thought process for sure. It just comes down to the list of finalists, mostly Doyle. I don't think anyone in here had heard of Doyle before Saturday. No offense to him intended here, but he is an assistant coach at an Atlantic hockey school who has never once coached anywhere besides Air Force. He has never moved up the totem pole to better spots or positions. He has zero head coaching experience. Air Force had a solid run at one point while he was there but hasn't been good for over 5 years now. It can't be easy to coach or recruit there, but RPI is a fundamentally different school that needs an entirely different gameplan for success, and his resume lacks the diversity to show that he can do that since he has only ever been at Air Force.

So for me, I think Doyle is vastly underqualified for the job and an extremely underwhelming candidate to have in your final 3. I also heard last week that Dumais was not interested, Kirk was not interested (which had been reported elsewhere already too), and Andrew Lord pulled out at some point. With Dumais in particular, it seems like he didn't even interview, which is something he did with Union and Princeton. If true, that's an indictment on how coaches see us. Summing it up, I think the only reason Doyle is a finalist is because better options didn't exist for us.

 

[rvd5star69]

im more excited for the asst coach spots alumni basiuk murls cavosie ?

 

[QUAlum2004]

I agree that there's only so many jobs available that it would make sense for ACs to apply..

But I can explain my thought process for sure. It just comes down to the list of finalists, mostly Doyle. I don't think anyone in here had heard of Doyle before Saturday. No offense to him intended here, but he is an assistant coach at an Atlantic hockey school who has never once coached anywhere besides Air Force. He has never moved up the totem pole to better spots or positions. He has zero head coaching experience. Air Force had a solid run at one point while he was there but hasn't been good for over 5 years now. It can't be easy to coach or recruit there, but RPI is a fundamentally different school that needs an entirely different gameplan for success, and his resume lacks the diversity to show that he can do that since he has only ever been at Air Force.

So for me, I think Doyle is vastly underqualified for the job and an extremely underwhelming candidate to have in your final 3. I also heard last week that Dumais was not interested, Kirk was not interested (which had been reported elsewhere already too), and Andrew Lord pulled out at some point. With Dumais in particular, it seems like he didn't even interview, which is something he did with Union and Princeton. If true, that's an indictment on how coaches see us. Summing it up, I think the only reason Doyle is a finalist is because better options didn't exist for us.

I’m not surprised Dumais didn’t have interest. RPI is a bottom tier job in the ECAC with limited resources and an old facility.

 

[Engineers]

The team has been bad for a long time, so it's a lateral move at best for current head coaches, and I think Dave Aiello was right that there are whispers that RPI is not serious about DI hockey anymore. Better to have a short list and glad to see the consensus pick in the mix.

Hopefully, this is close to being wrapped up...No shade on the other two, but Lang has to be the clear #1 choice, right? This list would give him confidence . . . and leverage.

I’m not surprised Dumais didn’t have interest. RPI is a bottom tier job in the ECAC with limited resources and an old facility.

The same could be said about Dartmouth when cashman was hired. That seemed to work out well. It’s about the support from the university and the right coach. We have 1 of those now. Just looking for the right coach. Idk dumais seems shifty. Maybe he’s afraid he would fall flat on his face without pecknold?

 

[sezenack]

I’m not surprised Dumais didn’t have interest. RPI is a bottom tier job in the ECAC with limited resources and an old facility.

Bottom tier is not accurate. It's easily better than half the Ivies plus SLU. Colgate and Union probably comparable. I'd say it's middle tier

 

[QUAlum2004]

Bottom tier is not accurate. It's easily better than half the Ivies plus SLU. Colgate and Union probably comparable. I'd say it's middle tier

RPI has 1 trip to the NCAAs in almost the last 30 years. That makes it a bottom tier job in my opinion. Colgate has a new building and Union has a new one next year. Those two programs are way ahead of RPI in my mind. RPI is on par with Brown and Princeton’s of the world and even Yale right now. You hire Eric Lang then RPI will become much better in time. I also think Eric Lang isn’t even interested in this job if AIC doesn’t drop to D2.

 

[rpi82]

I’m not surprised Dumais didn’t have interest. RPI is a bottom tier job in the ECAC with limited resources and an old facility.

RPI has 1 trip to the NCAAs in almost the last 30 years. That makes it a bottom tier job in my opinion. Colgate has a new building and Union has a new one next year. Those two programs are way ahead of RPI in my mind. RPI is on par with Brown and Princeton’s of the world and even Yale right now. You hire Eric Lang then RPI will become much better in time. I also think Eric Lang isn’t even interested in this job if AIC doesn’t drop to D2.

Wow! Pretty arrogant for a program largely built on the back of one man. Less than 20 years ago I went to QC games at the Northford Ice Pavilion. It was a case of very, very limited resources and no facilities. One man, Rand Pecknold, raised them out of the college hockey nether world. Dumais, Riga and others who hope to replace him whenever he finally decides to hang them up (no sign of it now) may find out, like many highly regarded #2's before them, that replacing #1 often doesn't work out.

RPI is down, that's just a fact. However, it still has history and a lot of potential. Even after almost 2 decades of overwhelmingly lesser results, we still outdraw every school our friend listed. I've been to QU games against a number of our league opponents and with the exception of Cornell and Yale (the later of which I've never seen in Hamden but it's right down the street), no one brings more fans than RPI. We have history and latent support, but it's up to our new coach and administration to determine the level of investment and success going forward. Find us a Rand Pecknold, admittedly not easy to do, and we could be back in the hunt.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Today is 1 April 2025. There are 186 days until RPI's next game. It has been 23 days since there has been a head coach.



This is based upon 4 October 2025 for the start of next season, and 10 March was the day that coach Smith was relieved of duty.

 

[rpi2004]

I’m not surprised Dumais didn’t have interest. RPI is a bottom tier job in the ECAC with limited resources and an old facility.

Did you just scroll onto our thread to insult our program or what

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

I agree that there's only so many jobs available that it would make sense for ACs to apply..

But I can explain my thought process for sure. It just comes down to the list of finalists, mostly Doyle. I don't think anyone in here had heard of Doyle before Saturday. No offense to him intended here, but he is an assistant coach at an Atlantic hockey school who has never once coached anywhere besides Air Force. He has never moved up the totem pole to better spots or positions. He has zero head coaching experience. Air Force had a solid run at one point while he was there but hasn't been good for over 5 years now. It can't be easy to coach or recruit there, but RPI is a fundamentally different school that needs an entirely different gameplan for success, and his resume lacks the diversity to show that he can do that since he has only ever been at Air Force.

So for me, I think Doyle is vastly underqualified for the job and an extremely underwhelming candidate to have in your final 3. I also heard last week that Dumais was not interested, Kirk was not interested (which had been reported elsewhere already too), and Andrew Lord pulled out at some point. With Dumais in particular, it seems like he didn't even interview, which is something he did with Union and Princeton. If true, that's an indictment on how coaches see us. Summing it up, I think the only reason Doyle is a finalist is because better options didn't exist for us.

Bottom line is we don't know what the full applicant list looked like. I never considered KMac likely for the short list because it would be improbable for him to leave WBS....that ship sailed last year. I can't explain the presence of Doyle, but I also don't believe he'll be our next coach. Having a brother who coached in D1 in another sport (one with far more programs than D1 hockey) i can tell you with absolute certainty that head coaching jobs are coveted because they are so rare and so damn hard to land. Guys work their whole careers for the opportunity to land a head gig. It's no different in hockey, especially in D1.

Without knowing what RPI's applicant list looked like, it's impossible to know how they arrived at their finalists.