Re: UAH Hockey 2012-13: Still breathing
Let's not sling arrows in either direction. I am the only irrational arrow-slinger around here, dammit. [ETA: I didn't realize that this went on for another page. I didn't look at USCHO today.]
I don't give current students guff if they're not jazzed up to see the hockey program but are excited to see hoops. Fifteen years ago, the roles were exactly reversed. Lennie Acuff was just getting started at UAH when I enrolled in classes fifteen falls ago, and he's made the program into a great one. Fifteen years ago, we were winning our second Division II championship in three seasons, and hockey was a rocking place and the thing to go do on a Friday night if you were a semi-connected member of the student body. I don't expect a current student to have that perspective on things (even if I am a current student and have been for the last four semesters), but I'm happy to share it when asked.
If UAHSTUDENT is simply some athlete from another team, know that those of us who are hockey boosters want the entire athletic department to do well. If hockey is cut—and if we don't get into the WCHA, I'm quite sure that it will be—I do not expect 100% of the money that has been going to hockey stay in the athletic department. Last fall, some necessary work for the College of Nursing was listed as a target of post-hockey funds. And UAH continuing to invest in hockey has not foregone upgrades to Spragins Hall and especially Charger Park.
Let's get past this valley. UAH started losing forward momentum in the middle of the last decade when it became apparent that College Hockey America didn't have a long-term future. Findlay folded (2004), Robert Morris was all-but-forced to join (2004), Air Force left (2006), Wayne State folded (2008). All through the dissolution, UAH was the school without a clear place to play. That changed when the WCHA took Bemidji and UNO. But the problem with our CCHA bid was Penn State waiting in the wings. So we didn't get in.
But that's nearly a decade of decay in the viability of our conference situation. We knew things were bad in Findlay when Craig Barnett left in 2003. As the league kept getting worse and worse around us—and as we continued to not be an attractive fit to anyone—the recruiting suffered and the losses mounted. Doug Ross stayed on at least one year ttoo long, NCAA run notwithstanding. The state of the team that you see today is a product of all of that. But it's not a reason to just quit.
In Coach Kleinendorst, I think we've gotten a guy who has had success at levels above college that's ready to bring this program back to its previous ability and take it higher. When we get into the WCHA and have two or three full in-a-conference recruiting classes under our belts, we'll be just fine, and we'll be back to a program that students can take pride in, and then we'll be at the crossroads?
Hockey school?
Basketball school?
How about both. [And don't you forget softball.]
I'm a UAH hockey person, to be sure, but this is my school at all facets. I hold one engineering degree and am working on a second, but I care about the College of Liberal Arts and support it with my time and talents. I care that we still have a very good Nursing program. I'm pleased that the College of Science continues to grow. It seems like every semester brings a few new undergraduate concentrations in the College of Business. It's all good.
GFM
ETA: This kind of stuff tells me that I need to write a "hang-in-there" post for everyone, but especially new students. The hook for hockey when I was a freshman was, "Hockey, yeah, but we win!" We have half of that right now.
