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The Great Badger Coaching Search of '23: Start Drinking Heavily

Had to find the ol' login information to stop by and post a Hallelujah. My tolerance for the ineptitude of Badger hockey in recent years has waned to slightly above zero. Here's hoping they can find a coach that can put a product on the ice worth paying attention to again. It seemed to be feast or famine with Granato. Win the B1G Ten or finish under .500. I flash back to the heady enthusiasm when G2O was a thing. Was the loss of Don G. the key to the eventual end of Tony's tenure or was it always doomed to end this way? In other words, what happened?
 
icebadger said:
Had to find the ol' login information to stop by and post a Hallelujah. My tolerance for the ineptitude of Badger hockey in recent years has waned to slightly above zero. Here's hoping they can find a coach that can put a product on the ice worth paying attention to again. It seemed to be feast or famine with Granato. Win the B1G Ten or finish under .500. I flash back to the heady enthusiasm when G2O was a thing. Was the loss of Don G. the key to the eventual end of Tony's tenure or was it always doomed to end this way? In other words, what happened?
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I think losing Don G. was a big part of it.
 
I think Don definitely had the better coaching chops, esp at the USNDT and experience with younger guys.

But I feel like it was destined to fail regardless when you look at the consistent inability to keep goalies, bad defense, no discerable offensive system or a system that overemphasized individual talent...and consistently bad PK.

I dont think it was ever TG having guys play for the name on the back of the sweater. I think he is a class act and not like that at all. But something was clearly missing in player development & team cohesion to achieve larger goals.

2-23 on the road in the Big10 over two years is exactly what it appears to be, total failure. Calling it anything else is not fair or honest to the prgram, coaches or players.
 
Lost_Husky said:
On other boards, when hockey fans talk about hockey blue bloods/top jobs BC, BU, Minnesota, Michigan, Denver, and North Dakota along with UMD/SCSU are sometimes mentioned. Wisconsin is never mentioned.

Could it be a top job, yes. Right now is it, no.
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I’m not gonna argue about Wisconsin being a better job than the “blue bloods” you mentioned but Bucky has more national titles than three of them and they are all modern era titles - not half from 1836 like some of the others. I’m not sure what “other boards” there are as college hockey is a niche sport but anyone that thinks that UMD and SCSU are in the same neighborhood as Wisconsin is an imbecile. I’ll give you a pass as Bucky has not been consistently good over the past 10 years - and you’re probably 12 or 13 - but at least do a little research before making a statement that is that absurd. Even in its current condition, Wisconsin is a better “job” than UMD and SCSU on their best days.
 
So...how many recruits do you think will bail on UW since Granato was fired? Seems to be a trend in college sports that kids use coach firings as an excuse to go elsewhere. Thoughts?
 
I dont think its relevant how many recruits will bail....if college football is fluid with the transfer portal, college hockey is even more so.

Kids want the best opportunity. If there is a great coach installed then kids will want to stay or transfer in.

And to many of us...it is less about recruits, but more about player development. Just look at the top point getters in college hockey this year. Less about raw talent which UW had plenty of....more about development and ability to perform in a system.
 
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I guess everyone's definition of "blue bloods" may vary, but the Wisconsin job remains desirable for coaches because it's 1 of probably fewer than 10 college hockey jobs that can pay $500,000 a year or more.
 
purpleinnebraska said:
I guess everyone's definition of "blue bloods" may vary, but the Wisconsin job remains desirable for coaches because it's 1 of probably fewer than 10 college hockey jobs that can pay $500,000 a year or more.
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Concur 100%. The cash factor alone will make people look twice at least. If they reel in a high end coach $700K is completely reasonable since TG was at $600/yr
 
Saw this comment on Buckyville. I have no idea if it is true or not: "From what I've heard, Tony had a strict rule that the coaches couldn't yell at the players at all. The players pretty much told Tony how to run the damn team. Therein lies a big problem. They need somebody to throw a trash can or 2 to get their attention, but then get butt hurt when they do. I wonder if egos got in the way. The country club days of coach Sauer don't really work in this day and age. While I really liked Tony a lot and respect him for what he TRIED to do with the program, it was time for a change. It sucks, but that's just the way it is. Things go wrong and the coach is the first to get the axe."
 
WiscTJK said:
Saw this comment on Buckyville. I have no idea if it is true or not: "From what I've heard, Tony had a strict rule that the coaches couldn't yell at the players at all. The players pretty much told Tony how to run the damn team. Therein lies a big problem. They need somebody to throw a trash can or 2 to get their attention, but then get butt hurt when they do. I wonder if egos got in the way. The country club days of coach Sauer don't really work in this day and age. While I really liked Tony a lot and respect him for what he TRIED to do with the program, it was time for a change. It sucks, but that's just the way it is. Things go wrong and the coach is the first to get the axe."
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If this is true and they want a shakeup, maybe give Rick Bennett a call. Dude won a National championship at Union with NO scholarships.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the ‘no yelling’ policy is becoming more and more widespread in hockey and sports in general. You know, because feelings…
 
This team clearly needs a few rubbermaid trashcans thrown into the boards for some motivation. Just my humble opinion.
 
altazo said:
If this is true and they want a shakeup, maybe give Rick Bennett a call. Dude won a National championship at Union with NO scholarships.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the ‘no yelling’ policy is becoming more and more widespread in hockey and sports in general. You know, because feelings…
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He would be a great hire and this exact scenario is what caused his departure from Union...essentially hurt feelings from an out of shape player and being too "mean" in practice.
Bennett is in the ECHL now, I wonder if he'd even be interested in returning to the college ranks given today's perpetually entitled/offended collegiate environments.
 
Rick Bennett? You guys can do better than that. Yes he won a national title and recruited a lot of players on that team but that was really Leaman's baby. So if you are interested in Bennett just make a run at Leaman.
 
Also, are you guys happy with the pipeline of recruits? If not, losing some kids will have little impact on the next HC. Even if you are really excited about the recruits, let's say you get Hastings? If a kid committed to play for Tony Granato, he's gonna look elsewhere after you make a great hire? Doesn't matter either way, all about hiring the best coach.
 
J.D. said:
Also, are you guys happy with the pipeline of recruits? If not, losing some kids will have little impact on the next HC. Even if you are really excited about the recruits, let's say you get Hastings? If a kid committed to play for Tony Granato, he's gonna look elsewhere after you make a great hire? Doesn't matter either way, all about hiring the best coach.
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Completely concur. TGs greatest pull on recruits was the potential of going to the NHL. While that may be good, it certainly left the fanbase frustrated with the lack of team accomplishments and positive results.

We really need the best college oriented coach that is in it for winning Conf and Natl Championships, not getting guys to the NHL.

The NHL piece will take care of itself if they perform to expectations as a team.
 
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J.D. said:
Also, are you guys happy with the pipeline of recruits? If not, losing some kids will have little impact on the next HC. Even if you are really excited about the recruits, let's say you get Hastings? If a kid committed to play for Tony Granato, he's gonna look elsewhere after you make a great hire? Doesn't matter either way, all about hiring the best coach.
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I like next year's class a lot, but sometimes there is collateral damage to get the job done, meaning some guys you want will bolt and some guys you want to keep will bolt. Call me crazy, but I believe if everyone stayed and all the recruits who NLI'ed came, WI can be a top 3 B16 team with a new coaching staff and make the ncaa tourney.

The idea of Fink w/Matt DsP makes me drool.
 
Fink is projected to go somewhere in the 3rd-5th rounds of the draft. Is that because of his size? His scoring numbers are nice
 
Definitely feel like MDsP has a huge year coming his way next yr with the closeout of this year he had.

It's tough waiting because Mac certainly proved he runs a tight lipped ship when it comes to coaching hires and head faked everyone including the media with the football hire.

I think generally speaking we have all mentioned folks that will be in the pool of candidates. How that is pared down is where the rubber meets the road. Leaman from Providence is about the only guy from the East Id consider, and also Muse from the USNDP bc of his USHL and Yale experience.
 
The job posting seems pretty bland. All they prefer is three years of ice hockey coaching experience and at least one year of playing college hockey.
 
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