RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

In an interview last month, Laliberte told the Standard-Freeholder that he was planning to make the jump to RPI next season.

And promptly failed to mention it. Standard-Freeloader indeed.

 

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

It definitely seems that academics is the issue. I wonder if he doesn't get into RPI if he will go to another school. It's hard to believe that he won't qualify academically for other colleges (I won't provide suggestions ) if he doesn't get into RPI, and he has the hockey talent to play anywhere. SA wouldn't have made him an offer if he was far removed from qualifying. It's the same thing as our offer to Helfrich when he didn't get into Brown.

I think this article is...

A) A good repudiation of all the "I heards."
B) Finally some confirmation that there's at least a little hitch in the giddy-up with academics, although it doesn't seem horrible. That is, it doesn't sound like there are major issues, just that there are some hurdles that need to be cleared before he can either be accepted into RPI or qualify to play college hockey. Like you said, I trust Seth's judgment - he wouldn't have made an offer if it wasn't likely that he would eventually qualify academically.

Glad this showed up now so I can truly be happy about landing Rogic, although if JR and JL are both coming next season, you start to wonder if we won't start seeing a few more converted forwards and/or early departures.

 

[yarblockers]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

My apologies for entering a non-hockey related post, but I can't think of another forum where I would be more likely to find someone familiar with RPI's graduate admissions process.

My son will graduate from Muhlenberg College this spring with a degree in mathematics. He has been accepted at two graduate schools, one of which is RPI.

He visited RPI three weeks ago and was told that most, but not necessarily all grad students will receive teaching assistantships, which involve free tuition and an annual stipend of $17,500.

The other school he applied to told him a couple of weeks ago that they will give him a teaching assistantship, but the stipend will be only about $6,000.

He would prefer to come to RPI if he could get a financial deal even comparable to what the other school is offering, but RPI has yet to tell him whether he can have a teaching assistantship or not. For that matter, they haven't even told him how much the tuition would be if he had to pay it.

There is a deadline of April 15 for him to formally notify the two schools whether he's coming or not, so he has to make up his mind soon, and it's kind of hard when he doesn't have all the information about the financial aspects.

Does RPI always wait until the last minute like this before deciding whether to offer teaching assistantships?

They should have made a concrete offer that specifies funding by now. I encourage you to talk to people in admissions and in the department he plans on working in and find out exactly what his financial package will be. The MINIMUM stipend at RPI next year is $17,500 if he is offered a stipend. If he is admitted without a stipend, that is their polite way of saying that they don't really have a place for him, but if he is willing to pay to be there, he can stay.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

I think this article is...

A) A good repudiation of all the "I heards."
B) Finally some confirmation that there's at least a little hitch in the giddy-up with academics, although it doesn't seem horrible. That is, it doesn't sound like there are major issues, just that there are some hurdles that need to be cleared before he can either be accepted into RPI or qualify to play college hockey. Like you said, I trust Seth's judgment - he wouldn't have made an offer if it wasn't likely that he would eventually qualify academically.

Glad this showed up now so I can truly be happy about landing Rogic, although if JR and JL are both coming next season, you start to wonder if we won't start seeing a few more converted forwards and/or early departures.

There is the possibility that SA is trying to stock the club team.

 

[burgie12]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

Burgie12, you're on campus, would you like to answer ThePeople's question?

Sadly, he may be right on this one. A full graduating class that went through this school without seeing a winning season definitely killed some of the enthusiasm on campus. However, the freshmen were initiated correctly this season and I think their enthusiasm will hold and bring in more fans.

FlagDude08,

RPI's attendance, while still better than most other ECAC schools, is definitely down and has been going down for many years. A more exciting team, which we had the past season and will have next season, should improve things.

Also, this.

While attendance is down, FlagDUDE makes the point that we are still consistently top 3 in the conference.

Does RPI always wait until the last minute like this before deciding whether to offer teaching assistantships?

Undergrad here, not a graduate student. But, grad students (especially foreign grad students) are given preference for TA positions, from what I can tell. My guess would be that if he has a good research topic and / or excellent grades at Muhlenberg, then your son will receive a TA position.

The MINIMUM stipend at RPI next year is $17,500 if he is offered a stipend. If he is admitted without a stipend, that is their polite way of saying that they don't really have a place for him, but if he is willing to pay to be there, he can stay.

Also, this. This is fairly typical, but your son should not need to pay to attend grad school.

You may also be interested in this site: Graduate Student Cost of Attendance

 

[knsmith]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

Undergrad here, not a graduate student. But, grad students (especially foreign grad students) are given preference for TA positions, from what I can tell. My guess would be that if he has a good research topic and / or excellent grades at Muhlenberg, then your son will receive a TA position.



Also, this. This is fairly typical, but your son should not need to pay to attend grad school.

You may also be interested in this site: Graduate Student Cost of Attendance

Respectfully, this is not good information; yarbocker is much more spot on.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

Sadly, he may be right on this one. A full graduating class that went through this school without seeing a winning season definitely killed some of the enthusiasm on campus. However, the freshmen were initiated correctly this season and I think their enthusiasm will hold and bring in more fans.

FWIW, I didn't see a winning season as an undergrad, although in both my freshman and senior years the team was exactly at 500. I also saw winning seasons as a grad student.

 

[Jasma]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

Problems are created solely by false thinking-unawareness-ignorance. Problems cannot be solved by trying to fix the outcome but the thought process is where true change begins. Change requires an open mind-with an open mind all things are then possible.

Instead of trying to be cute, why not respond to a legitimate post? Is everyone here supposed to think the same way and never question anything?
• Seth has slowly built a great base here and most would agree that the program is about to make the leap to the top tier of the ECAC.
• He has made some mistakes, but this is his first head coaching job. He had to learn to be a head coach. I think he has become a good one.
• The team faltered down the stretch this year and the ending was certainly disappointing.
• AAG, Cullen and Helfrich all had disappointing seasons, but they don’t have the same tools as D’Amigo, Pirri and Polacek.
• The defense was average at best, having difficulty getting out of their own end at times and hitting more shins than nets with their shots.
• Attendance has been down at RPI for a decade for many reasons, including poor performance on the ice. The program is still in the top three in attendance in the ECAC every year.
• Leaman and Allain have been very successful. They are good coaches. Hey, Leaman should have won every Coach of the Year award.

Hang in RPI fans. This team is on the verge. Rookie and Player of the Year; Dryden candidate, and several players with down years or injuries. If they have just a little bit of good luck next season, they will be looking down at a lot of teams in the ECAC standings next winter.

 

[burgie12]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

Respectfully, this is not good information; yarbocker is much more spot on.

Yes, I was much too general. However, without knowing the quality of the school that his son attended, or having actually going through the graduate school application process, I was stuck with generalizations and what I've learned from my TAs. A good research topic / history is key because RPI is a research institute, especially on the graduate level.

 

[Beman]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

This confuses me...he has not had a good season yet, we just lost our recruiting coach, attendance has been pathetic, he had more than enough talent this past season with a junior/senior defense core + player of the year + 2nd best goalie in the league + rookie of the year...which all amounted to 6th place in a weak league and a first round loss to a first year head coach.
Sure the team showed glimpses of brilliance, but they had more games where they were just not good.
Ask anyone around campus about hockey and they'll tell you "I don't go because the team is bad".
I've been excited about every single year knowing how good the players are and how good the recruits are, but the result has been the same every year...will more talent even help? will we even get more talent? will another year of experience for Jerry + Pirri help or will they end up like AAG + Cullen playing mediocre hockey for most of the season and only really showing up for a couple games
As a good player would you want to go to a team that is academically challenging, gets low attendance, hasn't showed any ability to win, and has a coach that is young and has openly blamed/insulted his players for losing games?
So theres basically reason to believe that Jerry might only play one more year, same with Pirri, and that Laliberte may not come. So now...explain.

I'm open to opinions, please tell me why he deserves that large of an extension at this point. We should also keep in mind that Yale's coach came in the same time as Appert...look what hes done. Or how about what Leaman has done with significantly less talent.
Persuade me without saying 'our recruits are good' or 'we have talented players', because we did last year and even the year before. Enlighten me on why Appert is such a great coach despite the team making the same mistakes all year long and losing to teams that were not good or teams that were playing without most of their best players

Attendance go see Yale, Brown, Princeton, Harvard play. There is no one there!
Seth had over 15 wins. That's what I wanted and that was what could be reasonably be expected.
SA may be the best recruiter in the East. That is why players will leave because he gets the good ones. RPI will beome a revolving door for talent. That is a good thing.
Seth is young. The hardest thing to do at this level is recruit. He has made mistakes coaching, but thats how you learn.
He insulted players, duh how lame is that statement. What D1 coach doesn't insult players. I ll bet he lost his temper a couple times too.
This is the most exciting time to be an Engineer hockey fan since Murley & Cavosie were lighting it up or Fridgen won the ECAC in LP.
My fear isn't loosing Brandon or Jerry it is loosing Seth

 

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

There is the possibility that SA is trying to stock the club team.

I should clarify that I meant "early departures" in the Reed Kipp/Jordan Cyr/Ben Contini vein rather than in the Brad Tapper/Marc Cavosie vein. I think you at least were following that, Ralph.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

I should clarify that I meant "early departures" in the Reed Kipp/Jordan Cyr/Ben Contini vein rather than in the Brad Tapper/Marc Cavosie vein. I think you at least were following that, Ralph.

Yes, I understood that.

 

[IMO]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

Instead of trying to be cute, why not respond to a legitimate post? Is everyone here supposed to think the same way and never question anything?
• Seth has slowly built a great base here and most would agree that the program is about to make the leap to the top tier of the ECAC.
• He has made some mistakes, but this is his first head coaching job. He had to learn to be a head coach. I think he has become a good one.
• The team faltered down the stretch this year and the ending was certainly disappointing.
• AAG, Cullen and Helfrich all had disappointing seasons, but they don’t have the same tools as D’Amigo, Pirri and Polacek.
• The defense was average at best, having difficulty getting out of their own end at times and hitting more shins than nets with their shots.
• Attendance has been down at RPI for a decade for many reasons, including poor performance on the ice. The program is still in the top three in attendance in the ECAC every year.
• Leaman and Allain have been very successful. They are good coaches. Hey, Leaman should have won every Coach of the Year award.

Hang in RPI fans. This team is on the verge. Rookie and Player of the Year; Dryden candidate, and several players with down years or injuries. If they have just a little bit of good luck next season, they will be looking down at a lot of teams in the ECAC standings next winter.

I wasn't trying to be cute. If you read it and understood it you would know there was legitimate wisdom in those words. Like you said-everyone doesn't think the same way. That is my response to the post and I am pleased with it-sorry you were not.

 

[Ralph Baer]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

And promptly failed to mention it. Standard-Freeloader indeed.

Maybe it should be termed the Substandard-Freeloader.

 

[Red Cloud]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

Instead of trying to be cute, why not respond to a legitimate post? Is everyone here supposed to think the same way and never question anything?

No, but that's not to say that it was a legitimate post. ThePeople is an established whiner who's never had word one to say about the team that was positive.

 

[GreatLakerMohawk]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

Maybe it should be termed the Substandard-Freeloader.

This appears to be a bit more accurate. What a terrible newspaper. That story was filled with more information than anything we've seen out of there all year.

I also don't like being proven correct on the apparent academic issues.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

No, but that's not to say that it was a legitimate post. ThePeople is an established whiner who's never had word one to say about the team that was positive.

This makes me wonder if there would still be something to complain about had we won a national championship. Your faux article comes to mind.

Plus, Yale won as many games as we did in the ECAC playoffs this year. Given their regular season performance, take it for what it's worth, but the same bodes true or nearly true for Colgate (did SLU sweep them? I can't remember). Complaints there?

 

[Jasma]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

No, but that's not to say that it was a legitimate post. ThePeople is an established whiner who's never had word one to say about the team that was positive.

Yes, there was a good deal of whining in that post, but also some legitimate questions. You can't deny that the team made great strides, but that the ending was disappointing. An upgrade in the blue line corps should help next year.

 

[Wholin1]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

Attendance could continue to be an issue as ticket prices will likely be rising with $746M in debt.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=919547&category=&BCCode=&newsdate=4/8/2010

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: RPI Off-Season Thread 2010 -- The Calm Before the Storm

Sadly, he may be right on this one. A full graduating class that went through this school without seeing a winning season definitely killed some of the enthusiasm on campus. However, the freshmen were initiated correctly this season and I think their enthusiasm will hold and bring in more fans.

Sadly, I must agree with you here. Section 33 hasn't been the same since the inception of the Red Army. I do not put anything upon them as reasoning, but it used to be a rocking place, and I was proud to have season tickets there. I spent a lot of time with good local and college friends with whom I still go to games to this day (OK, I graduated two years ago, but it still could have ended when Jackson handed the sheepskins out).