Ralph Baer
Let's Go 'Tute!
Re: RPI Hockey 2014-2015 Part II: Dedicated to Rich Curadi
The NCAA won't allow more coaches than we have. There may be ways getting around that via consultants.
My experience is that it had less to do with the observations themselves and more to do with the tone and hyperbole with which some of the observations have been made. For example, I've consistently stated over several years that I see a problem at the assistant coaching level, be it that we are under-staffed or whatever, in that positional and situational skill play during games indicates a lack of appropriate focus during practice. You anticipate likely game situations and practice them repeatedly, so that when you encounter them during a game, you react as you have practiced, you aren't frozen for a second trying to think (for example, Malcolm Butler's interception in the Super Bowl: "I got beat on that same play in practice and so I wasn't going to let it happen to me in the game."). Preparation seems inadequate, or special-teams play ineffective: that comes from practice and the assistant coaches in charge of those aspects of the program. Division I basketball programs have four coaches for 12 players, you'd expect at least four or five coaches for 21 players, no?
The head coach at a Division I program is sort of like the CEO of a business: the CEO cannot and should not micro-manage all activity, he supervises from a top-level perspective while putting capable managers in place to handle all the details. Several people had previously suggested that the coach bring in a consultant or mentor and that suggestion also was well received.
It is very different to say, "hmm...here are areas in which it seems like we need improvement," compared to "everything here s&cks worse than a vacuum cleaner on steroids, so and so is a mindless slobbering idiot," etc. etc. etc.
It seems to me that it is only the latter attitude that has been challenged, not the former type of thoughtful analysis based on actual data and observation, which many people have offered for consideration for quite awhile now.
People can reasonably disagree, as long as they are reasonable about it. Nastiness might be fun if you are trolling a political thread, but why would people who claim to be fans of RPI hockey troll our team thread??
The NCAA won't allow more coaches than we have. There may be ways getting around that via consultants.