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UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

Being in retail for 35 years, when someone "resigns" they usually do so to take another job, I didn't see another job mentioned. That being said, Coach Luongo told me he would find away to get me to the first game, if I could go. I am a season ticket holder! First game is approximately 4 weeks after total hip replacement, I suppose the new coach won't honor this and I noticed $1000 donations for the old Blue Line Club doesn't hold the same water as the "new" Charger Club does. Can someone tell me, if I'm wrong, but things do not look so wonderful, kind of wavering on my next donation........

Let me know how I can help. 256-527-8152 [oh shut up, my phone number is terribly easy to find on the Internet].

GFM
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

I will post my (mildly informed) speculation this week. I'm still making sure that what I think happened makes sense. I'm pretty sure that I'm right. I'm also sure that I may ruffle a few feathers, but ... ehhhhh, okay.

GFM
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

Or.....a DI league has privately signaled to UAH that they will be admitted next year and UAH is reacting by bringing in a top coach.
After almost killing the program, it seems odd that they would bring in a top level coach as part of a do-to list that might get them into a league.
I'd be surprised if there wasn't some more tangible assurances that prompted the action.
Actually, when you have an opening, you try to get the best candidate possible. I wouldn't read anything into or even waste the time to speculate. One could just as easily speculate that Luongo isnt seeing much progress in conference talks, and wants to go somewhere that he knows he'll be in 2 or 3 years and is seeking other spots, Kleinendorst, after moving out of Bingo sees an opportunity to have team to coach for the next year or two and have an up close look at a lot of college players while he waits for the next call from the AHL. That scenario is every bit as plausible as any of the others presented, and likely about as accurate. Nothing more that speculation from an outside source with no inside info. The only one on this board who will come remotely close will be Geof.
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

My only question to that. is why hire someone when you know they are only going to stay a year or two. It is terrible for the players to have to change coaches, philosophies and styles every other year, not to mention what kind of effect that has on recruiting. Somehow I don't think a lot of you care much about the players. At least it doesn't look that way to me!
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

When your old coach departing and your new coach being hired is in the same press release, I'm guessing the previous coach knew he was on the way out. It would seem very cold of UAH to send someone packing with no notice after what the program has been through in the last 12 months. You don't find a coach overnight so this process has been underway for a while.
Ryan J

Considering Luongo sent out an email to Blue Line Club members about seeing them at the coaches luncheon and games next week about an hour before the press release came out, I don't think he had any idea he was on the way out.

College athletics is a tough business sometimes. Luongo inherited a mess that was turned into an even bigger mess by Portera last fall. He deserves better but fate can be cruel so many times. That aside, what a hire. Here's hoping he can get the players to buy in, get his assistants in place, woo the WCHA committee and get on the recruiting trail.
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

Actually, when you have an opening, you try to get the best candidate possible. I wouldn't read anything into or even waste the time to speculate. One could just as easily speculate that Luongo isnt seeing much progress in conference talks, and wants to go somewhere that he knows he'll be in 2 or 3 years and is seeking other spots, Kleinendorst, after moving out of Bingo sees an opportunity to have team to coach for the next year or two and have an up close look at a lot of college players while he waits for the next call from the AHL. That scenario is every bit as plausible as any of the others presented, and likely about as accurate. Nothing more that speculation from an outside source with no inside info. The only one on this board who will come remotely close will be Geof.

I've decided that what I have to say on the subject needs to come after a conversation with Lou. I'm hoping to have beer with him and some of my alumni guys on Thursday night. If ever a man needed to be bought a beer, it is Christopher J. Luongo.

I'll probably run what I have to say past the captains, too. I do not want to blindside our players. They're understandably upset and I'm working to make sure that they know that I've got the best interests of the program at heart.

I was hoping to post something on Friday, but that may be optimistic.

GFM
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

Considering Luongo sent out an email to Blue Line Club members about seeing them at the coaches luncheon and games next week about an hour before the press release came out, I don't think he had any idea he was on the way out.

He sent me an email at 4:22. I got my first text from our old assistant SID at 5:50. I spent the next hour-and-a-half being glad for the fact that Managerial Grid theory was old hat to me because everyone was pinging me for info that I didn't have. Just crazy.

I talked with Lou at 2:54, before all the emails. I made plans to meet him in the office on Wednesday.

He didn't know. 12 days out from starting the season, and this happens. I have a lot of thoughts about this situation, many of them hopeful, but what still gets me more than 24 hours later is that a good friend lost his job yesterday. That sucks.

GFM
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

I only knew Coach Luongo for several months, but he semed like a guy who was easy to talk to, but said what he thought on all subjects. I'll miss him, buy him a beer for me, Geoff! That being said, I hope the new coach is more than just a "yes man" to Brophy and the president of the school! I know when Luongo was a coach at Wayne State, he always had those boys ready to play us. They usually beat up on us good! I wish him the best where ever he goes.
I just hope this guy stays around longer than a year or two, but listening to his interview on the USCHO story, he is just here to scout college players until he can get back with an AHL team........
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

I just hope this guy stays around longer than a year or two, but listening to his interview on the USCHO story, he is just here to scout college players until he can get back with an AHL team........

What interview? In what I've seen there is nothing that would even remotely hint at that.
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

I've decided that what I have to say on the subject needs to come after a conversation with Lou. I'm hoping to have beer with him and some of my alumni guys on Thursday night. If ever a man needed to be bought a beer, it is Christopher J. Luongo.

I'll probably run what I have to say past the captains, too. I do not want to blindside our players. They're understandably upset and I'm working to make sure that they know that I've got the best interests of the program at heart.

I was hoping to post something on Friday, but that may be optimistic.

GFM
It's an odd situation for sure. But better to take time and get it right, than to go about it in a rushed fashion and come up with incorrect or incomplete info. Hope all works out for UAH.
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

I was wrong, I guess I read something somewhere but it wasn't pertaining to the new coach. I'll just vsit back and see, but different people have different assessments on how the players are taking it. Your assessment was good others have not been. So, we'll just have to see.
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

I was wrong, I guess I read something somewhere but it wasn't pertaining to the new coach. I'll just vsit back and see, but different people have different assessments on how the players are taking it. Your assessment was good others have not been. So, we'll just have to see.

No problem, thought maybe I had missed an article/interview some place.
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

Chris Luongo is a good man - he's always been a class act, and I'm sorry to hear this happened to him. I wish him and UAH well in the future, but this is tough to hear just weeks before the season starts. Hope he lands on his feet soon.
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

... I hope the new coach is more than just a "yes man" to Brophy and the president of the school! ...
In general, you should either do what your supervisor desires or leave. A couple of exceptions to this include cases where dramatic changes in your organization are occurring and where your administration has sent mixed messages regarding who your supervisor really is. Needless to say, Luongo's situation with Brophy was difficult at best, placing with the president in a difficult situation where he's pretty much obliged to trust Brohpy first. It looks like the new coach will have the president's trust and has the insight and maturity needed to help the president decide if any further action is needed (hint).
 
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Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

Iuess it comes down to the good ole boy concept! Brophy and the president are good buddies and we know the new coach knew the president from New Jersey. This is what scares me, though, that they are all good friends what ever the president wants will be like Pharoah...."so let it be written so let it be done"! I hope this isn't the case and I hope they gave Luongo some kind of severance package to give him and his family a chance to find something new without going to the poor house!!!!! One other thing, where Brophy came from there was no hockey team, so I'm sure he didn't know squat about the sport and probably didn't care either. I hate to be down on these two people. Uh your first statement is a little off, you've been with the company 2 years you know what is wanted, but the big boss wants it one way and the second boss wants it the other way. So, you try to keep both happy, YOU DON'T LEAVE. I've been in retail for 35 years and that is not the way it is done!
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

Iuess it comes down to the good ole boy concept! Brophy and the president are good buddies and we know the new coach knew the president from New Jersey. This is what scares me, though, that they are all good friends what ever the president wants will be like Pharoah...."so let it be written so let it be done"! I hope this isn't the case and I hope they gave Luongo some kind of severance package to give him and his family a chance to find something new without going to the poor house!!!!! One other thing, where Brophy came from there was no hockey team, so I'm sure he didn't know squat about the sport and probably didn't care either. I hate to be down on these two people. Uh your first statement is a little off, you've been with the company 2 years you know what is wanted, but the big boss wants it one way and the second boss wants it the other way. So, you try to keep both happy, YOU DON'T LEAVE. I've been in retail for 35 years and that is not the way it is done!

This isn't retail. Guys know what they are getting into when they chose to get into coaching. It's not always fair, but that's the way it is in all higher level sports.
 
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Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

... Brophy and the president are good buddies ...
Please elaborate. I had no idea that they even vaguely knew each other before the president arrived. Brophy is an Alabama boy who appears to have arrived through the "good ole boy concept" when Portera was beginning to kill the program. The following is from AL.com ( http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/03/uah_names_3_ad_finalists.html ) when Brophy was interviewing. "Brophy, in his fifth year as athletics director at West Alabama, is a former baseball player at UAB and coached on the collegiate level as an assistant at Samford and Montevallo and was head coach at Wallace Community College in Selma. He returned to his alma mater as assistant athletic director of external affairs in 2005" While it appears that Brophy has never worked outside of Alabama, it appears that Altenkirch ( http://www.uah.edu/president/biography ) is a newcomer to the state. Plus, it doesn't appear that they have ever even worked in the same stratum.
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

Dondowski, you've made a couple of comments in your posts which are at best speculation. I've seen no evidence of Brophy being affiliated with President Altenkirch prior to his arrival on campus. Nothing suggests that the new coach will be jumping ship abruptly in the near future. Now, Altenkirch has reportedly admitted that he knew Coach Kleinendorst, but that's not necessarily a bad thing and certainly doesn't necessarily mean it's a good-ole-boys club issue. What has not been revealed is why Dr. Altenkirch has made this decision. There's also no evidence yet presented, and some against, suggesting Lou was looking to leave.

I can make a number of guesses about all these things, but they'd be just guesses. Same as everyone else here, excepting those who have inside knowledge that they can't share (for good reason).

I liked Lou as a person, and I think the timing was really poor (not that there's a good time to give someone the boot) but Lou's success on the ice wasn't materializing and we need to succeed on the ice as well as in the classroom, particularly if we are going to get into a conference so that we can keep the sport. So, I'm perfectly willing to give Coach Kleinendorst a fair shot and not assume he's being brought in as some "yes man" or any number of other tropes that have been bantered about.

Finally, as Fangers pretty clearly stated, this is NOT retail, this is academia, and within academia it's an even more convoluted subset of collegiate sports. It is nothing at all like how retail functions and you've only got the broadest and most superficial similarities in how the entities function. (Besides, I spent enough time in retail to know there were times when getting out was the smarter option when management couldn't agree on a direction.)
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

If you think that this was EJ Brophy's call, you have another think coming.

GFM
 
Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing

Couldn't agree with you more, Geoff, this came from the top! I knew it wasn't Brophy. I'll stand behind whatever the new coach wants to do, because he is the new man.
 
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