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Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

ericredaxe said:
No idea. But the examples you gave of Lowell and Merrimack have had one NCAA as well. Will they make it back within the next few years? Who knows, the jury is still out.
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It's not just about making it back to the NCAAs. UMass has had plenty of terrible finishes under Cahoon since they made the NCAAs. That's part of my point. It's a simple question really. Can UMass do better? Hire the right guy and I think they can.

Hokydad said:
duh
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:confused:
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Maybe I'm really bias (and I am), but UMass absolutely can do better than what Cahoon did in hockey. Aside from BC and BU there's no one currently in the conference UMass can't catch up to in the next 10 years. Maine has already started falling back down to earth and UNH is one bad coaching hire away from joining them.

I have no inside information, but right now, I think the Athletic Department is focusing on Football and Basketball. They'd be stupid not to. As boring as I find it, UMass is a basketball school. They play in a really good basketball conference and just had a pretty decent NIT run with a fairly young team. They are being picked to finish in the top 3-4 in the A-10 and will hopefully make the NCAAs again. It's pretty obvious to me you get basketball as much exposure as possible right now.

Football just made the upgrade to FBS. The team is going to play in a 68,000 seat stadium. These next few years are arguably the most important in UMass Football history. You have to promote the hell out of the team right now. You have too.

Right now, those two sports are the top two priorities for the athletic department. Is there a division 1 athletic department that has FBS football which wouldn't have those two sports ahead of hockey? Even at BC- isn't football and basketball more of a priority than hockey? Maybe I'm wrong about this, but I don't think that means there's a lack of institutional support. I just think that's how the world works.

I'm worried about this next coaching hire. It comes a year too early. UMass just fired Kevin Morris, who was the worst head coach in all of college football. He still has I believe two years left on his contract they're paying off, as well as his staff, on top of Charlie Molnar and his new staff. Now they have to pay Cahoon not to coach too.

I don't know what to hope for right now. Obviously, I want the best coach possible. But I want the best long term coach possible. I'm worried the AD will screw this up like he screwed up hiring Kevin Morris a few years ago. Basically, the Football coach left right before National Signing day and they needed someone fast. Morris was the offensive coordinator (and not a great one at that) and came cheap, so they picked him and gave him a long contract and watched as he took a FCS power house and drove it to mediocrity.

Just thinking aloud here, I wonder if the best course of action isn't to bite the bullet for one year, hire one of the assistants as an interim head coach for cheap, and start the search for real next year with a clean slate.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

jjmc85 said:
Maybe I'm really bias (and I am), but UMass absolutely can do better than what Cahoon did in hockey. Aside from BC and BU there's no one currently in the conference UMass can't catch up to in the next 10 years. Maine has already started falling back down to earth and UNH is one bad coaching hire away from joining them.
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If Maine brings in a good coach, their recruiting, which is already looking pretty **** good, will get better. Don't expect them to fall too far.

jjmc85 said:
Just thinking aloud here, I wonder if the best course of action isn't to bite the bullet for one year, hire one of the assistants as an interim head coach for cheap, and start the search for real next year with a clean slate.
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I would think that would just kill recruiting, wouldn't it?
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

UMLFan said:
I would think that would just kill recruiting, wouldn't it?
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I have no idea. Long term, I just want the right guy. If that means losing out on a year of recruits, I'm ok with that. Obviously, if the University is willing to shell out enough money to land the right guy right now, then that's better. I'm worried they are not with all that is going on with paying two people to not be head coaches and also with upgrades to the football stadium.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

HATSOFF said:
At least there are hockey guys on the search committee. The makeup makes me think they're serious about improving the program, and not about to repeat the Morris football fiasco. Time will tell.
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I love that one of those guys is named Rocko. Guess Mugsy and Lucky were too busy.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

According to the Boston Herald, Toot's 2011 salary was $247,168 and he made $251,046.50

Bazin's salary was $178,938.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

joecct said:
According to the Boston Herald, Toot's 2011 salary was $247,168 and he made $251,046.50

Bazin's salary was $178,938.
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Money well spent by the UMass system. ;)

Smaller recruiting and all around budget for Lowell, nothing new here.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

departmental support is 99% bs/excuse making. Go gett he job done. If you get in front of a recruit, sell them right, have very good facilities, which U Mass does, the rest will be fine.

Tootie is a good coach but if the AD was in his corner or not had nothing to do with a single recruit not going there. Simply mad because he didnt get an extension and he didn't deserve/earn it

Tell Dennehy/Walsh and many others over the years that the key to recruiting is "support" BS

get in the car, on the plane and go watch games and talk recruits into coming. The coaches do that, not the AD
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

This is scary, but I agree with hoky. The biggest factor for success is the head coach himself.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Jim Montgomery is your man he has assistant experience at the NCAA level (Notre Dame,RPI) is a excellent X's & O's coach. He's a stand up guy and an excellent recruiter. He has a good eye for talent in fact there are 3 most likley 1st round draft picks from Daboque in this years NHL draft,from a team that has only been in existance for 2 years. My gut felling w/Jimmy is BC/BU shoukd look out because some of those players whom everyone just figures will go to BC/BU would be in play and he would get his share. He's that good! So if he's not at or near the top of the list someone is making a severe underestimation. That I'm sure of !!!!!!!!! Remember Shawn Walsh was an assistant at Bowling green and Michigan State and went to Maine w/no head coaching experience that seemed to have worked out OK for them.
 
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Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Monty will be hc at Maine......
Dennehy at U Mass
2 quality guys who are loyal to their players and builds a great team atmosphere. So many ruin the chemistry
Monty would be great in Amherst
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

troyboy said:
Shawn Walsh was an assistant at Bowling green and Michigan State and went to Maine w/no head coaching experience that seemed to have worked out OK for them.
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Of course you mean other than the cheating...

:rolleyes:
 
Hokydad said:
Monty will be hc at Maine......
Dennehy at U Mass
2 quality guys who are loyal to their players and builds a great team atmosphere. So many ruin the chemistry
Monty would be great in Amherst
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So you're saying Dennehy is leaving MC to take UMass job? That's your prediction?
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Hokydad said:
Yup
Would be good for progranm as well as him and his family
Already has time in mass system for state retirement

Probably wrong as usual
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Yup, you'll be wrong, no way UMass has the cash to buy out Merrimack.
 
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