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Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Just put the names in a hat and select one. That's the new head coach.

But considering what a fustercluck this has been, they'd probably mess THAT up.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Here's my question...

If Cav is only now pulling out of contention for the job, why the hell did UMass go after Rand Pecknold and Paul Pearl first?
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

J.D. said:
Here's my question...

If Cav is only now pulling out of contention for the job, why the hell did UMass go after Rand Pecknold and Paul Pearl first?
Click to expand...

According to USHR:

Cavanaugh talked to McCutcheon by phone early in the process but never made it to UMass for a formal visit.

Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (USHL) head coach/GM Mark Carlson is now a strong candidate for the job.
Carlson was a candidate for both the Northeastern and UMass-Lowell jobs.
 
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Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Men's Coaching Hires in three biggest sports at UMass under McCutcheon:
Basketball- Travis Ford leaves for OSU 4/16, Derek Kellogg named head coach 4/23. This took one week.

Football- Whipple resigns 1/22. McCutcheon named athletic director 2/4. Don Brown named head coach 2/9. This took 18 days in total, though McCutcheon was only AD for 5 days before it happened.

Don Brown leaves for Maryland 1/9. Kevin Morris named head coach 1/19. This took ten days.

Kevin Morris fired 11/21. Charley Molnar was hired 12/8. This took 17 days, but these 17 days include the Thanksgiving holiday. Also, during this time the NCAA football season was still going on, so it's a bit different as many you might want to interview were still coaching.

Hockey- Don Cahoon leaves 6/19. It's been 20 days.

I'm not including the Whipple replacement, since McCutcheon was named AD in the middle of that.

Also, this is completely different than the hiring of Charley Molnar, and is much more similar to the Kellogg and Morris hirings. Cahoon stepped down, much like Brown and Ford did. He wasn't fired like Morris. This occurred in the offseason, like it did with Brown and Ford, not still during the NCAA season like MMorris. The two similar searches took a combined 17 days. Yet McCutcheon says "It might feel like it's been a long time but it really hasn't... This hasn't been different than any other search."
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

JJ, I guess that ushr info adds to my point. It sounds like cav was still a candidate up until today/a couple days ago...why were they more interested in pearl/pecknold?
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

J.D. said:
JJ, I guess that ushr info adds to my point. It sounds like cav was still a candidate up until today/a couple days ago...why were they more interested in pearl/pecknold?
Click to expand...
I honestly don't know for sure, but I wonder if it isn't because of budget constraints. They're paying off the old football coach for 2 seasons and Cahoon for this year. That has to be at least 600K for people to not coach. How much more is left for a hockey coach? How much would someone with a great job winning national championships as an assistant at the premiere program want to leave said position? You figure it would probably be more than the Q-Pac and HC guys.

It's either that or incompetence, or maybe McCutcheon never seriously considered Cavanaugh cause he hasn't been able to land a head coaching job anywhere else. Mabye McCutcheon figured there had to be something preventing other teams from taking him.

But like I said before, I have no idea and this post is filled with frustrated speculation.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Carmine Scarpaglia said:
HC experience?
Click to expand...

mookie1995 said:
Yeah. Even though cav is probably the most qualified assistant applying for ANY job you can get questioned if you hire him and it doesn't work out as opposed to some middling coach who has been a head man before....
Click to expand...
Maybe, but neither Kellogg (basketball HC) nor Mulnar (football HC) had any prior HC experience. Morris was only a DIII head coach (and a terrible one at that). So I don't buy that.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Just read on ushr that Mark Carlson hc/gm of the cedar rapids ushl club is a strong candidate for the job.
 
jjmc85 said:
Maybe, but neither Kellogg (basketball HC) nor Mulnar (football HC) had any prior HC experience. Morris was only a DIII head coach (and a terrible one at that). So I don't buy that.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. Though isn't Kellogg an alum? That counts for a lot.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Yes, Kellogg is an alum, which is a very fair point to make.
 
mookie1995 said:
Fair enough. Though isn't Kellogg an alum? That counts for a lot.
Click to expand...

And wasn't Dennehy really "just" an assistant (1 year at Fairfield as HC) when Merrimack gave him a shot. Fair to say he's proven his worth. Not pursuing Cavanaugh b/c he is 'only" an assistant says all you need to know abt UMass. Toot seems to be the lucky one. Complete gong show. .
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Huge fan of Carlson. He would do very well in Hockey East. I thought he should've gotten the UMass-Lowell job.......
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

J.D. said:
JJ, I guess that ushr info adds to my point. It sounds like cav was still a candidate up until today/a couple days ago...why were they more interested in pearl/pecknold?
Click to expand...

Sounds like Cav (fanboy nickname:D) was never really a serious candidate.

I think the same thing is working against him that prevented Quinn from getting PC. Yeah they can both coach and recruit, but they've done it only at major brand name schools (save for 3 years in the early '90s) recruiting at UMass and PC is an entirely different animal than BC and BU and that is something they don't have experience with.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Agganis said:
Sounds like Cav (fanboy nickname:D) was never really a serious candidate.

I think the same thing is working against him that prevented Quinn from getting PC. Yeah they can both coach and recruit, but they've done it only at major brand name schools (save for 3 years in the early '90s) recruiting at UMass and PC is an entirely different animal than BC and BU and that is something they don't have experience with.
Click to expand...

When Cav arrived at BC in 95, BC hockey was one helluva brand.

Last 4 years having 4 head coaches, and a combined 49-80-15
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

My comments on the situation:

Pecknold and Pearl are both very good coaches but they were probably not offerred any more or little more to coach at UMass and given the current state of affairs their coaching careers could hit a dead end at UMass. Someday they both should get the chance at a bigger name hockey school than they have at present. Cavanaugh would not be offerred enough either to make the move and UMass knows it so that is probably why that stalled. UMass is in poor shape financially and given their upgrade in football they do not have the resources to spend what they need to get the coach they want. An excellent coach from a lower level( USHL, Div.2 or 3 program or even HS) that would make much more at UMass is where they can only go. Would Mike McShane from Norwich be interested in coming back to Hockey East? It is ironic that UMass Lowell was in the same predicament just a couple of years ago and the thought was that the UMass system could only maintain one Division 1 program. Maybe the thought is still there but the UMass-Amherst program is the one in danger instead.
 
Re: Toot Cahoon Steps Down as UMass Head Coach

Agganis said:
Sounds like Cav (fanboy nickname:D) was never really a serious candidate.

I think the same thing is working against him that prevented Quinn from getting PC. Yeah they can both coach and recruit, but they've done it only at major brand name schools (save for 3 years in the early '90s) recruiting at UMass and PC is an entirely different animal than BC and BU and that is something they don't have experience with.
Click to expand...

This logic makes zero sense. Let's not select coaches that have succeeded at the highest level, because it's too easy to succeed there, and let's offer the job to coaches that have been average, or slightly above average, in lower level conferences.

This is fact, no other candidate knows what it takes to win at the highest level than a coach that has been an instrumental component in 4 of the last 11 college hockey national champions. Pecknold and Pearl are great guys, but in terms of recruiting and coaching ability, they are not even in the same stratosphere.
 
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