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UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

You might. But I think there are some factors going on here. First they need to at a minimum to make sure that some name coach isn't interested. Hence the leak of an outreach to Pecknold. My guess is neither UConn nor Pecknold had any interest in the other, but you almost had to make the call if you're Manuel. And UConn has a history of being pretty quiet about its hiring. There have been a few rumors that they are talking to another major program coach. My guess is that at the end of the day, it will be Berard, but I think thye need to say they checked out all the other options first.
 
Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

I think one other thing, maybe 2 related things, that plays into all this is where UConn stands and where its going. UConn isn't like, Denver or BU, a major program that has lots of successful former players/coaches associated with it. And they are headed into a new, bigger much much better league as well. And the head coach left a bit earlier than anyone anticipated on top of that. I think most folks just assumed that Bruce would take the team into Hockey East before stepping down. So it isn't like they really had a succession plan like BU probably did. And it isn't like they can just give the job to anybody as they quite honestly could have done in AHA. Not that nobody cared but as long as they were in the AHA they were always going to be a low profile operation facing limited pressure. So if you made the wrong choice you could let it work out then move on a replacement in a few years. With the step up in class which comes next year, you really need to feel confident that you have the right guy, but you also have to balance long term program development with making a quick splash, so to speak.
 
Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

RSTuthill said:
What leak of an outreach? When?
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there was a report from Rich Cappolla that both UConn and Ohio State had contacted him. About a week ago. I suspect it was for UConn to be able to say "we asked but he said no," and for Pecknold to go to Jack McDonald and say "See how popular I am. Pay me more money!" At least as far as UConn goes, I doubt either side really had much interest in the other.
 
Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

Jim, I have seen a couple Clarkson v QU games in the QU barn. It is an amazing facility. So my first reaction is that he would never come here. Also, given the reaction of their loyal fans, I do not think he would consider moving to someplace this close. But the family might love the idea of staying in CT with a lot more money. One never knows.

But I think Gwoz is really interested and is the real competition for Berard. The other guys that were let go did not have anywhere near the success that Gwoz has had. And as good as the assistants that are interested might be, Berard should beat them hands down.

Now that signing day is past, I suppose they can take their time.

Btw, a 5,000 seat barn is really big. Add 1,500 to 1,750 to QU's barn. That is big.
 
Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

IMO stakes got raised when Yale won National Championship and QPac was runner-up. Coach Berard seems to have done a fine job but the Huskies might have to make a big splash with the hire. Gwoz would be a game changer for the program. When UCONN takes on Yorkie and the Eagles, Gwoz being behind the opposing bench would lend instant cred.
 
Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

The fact that Berard is in the conversation is comical. Sure, he did an admirable job this year in the Atlantlic league---butit is not even remotely close to the challenge that lies ahead. Berard has hockey east experience---and he failed miserably. Providence's recruiting was in shambles---and he was in charge of recruiting. He has not proven an ability to land top recruits. And the current staff at Providence IS landing top guys---so to say it can not be done is false. The state that berard/army left providence in is simply embaressing. Also, it worries me that if Berard did in fact get the job, one would assume he would keep Rich McKenna on staff. Is that the guy UConn needs recruiting for them? LOL. That kid would get crushed. He has no "big conference" experience--NONE, not as a player or as coach. Where did he play? I could see if he was a young guy and former big time college player, but his lack of experience is alarming for Hockey East coach.

Gwoz would be a great hire, but his age would worry me. If I was the UConn AD i would want to hire a guy with hopes of him putting in 15-20 years.

I think you go with a proven assistant who understands recruiting and has proven his ability to land top players. Mike Cavanaugh should be the guy. No one can argue with the success BC has had and Cav is interested in the position.

Rick Bennett would have been a slam dunk--but I think Union just extended him.
 
Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

dover
you might be right, but he was hired at Providence by Pooley and he was the recruiting coordinator through 2005, Army's first season. While I'm certain he did recruiting, he wasn't their chief recruiter. I can only tell you what I saw after watching UConn hockey on and off for at least a decade. This team was well coached, and played hard. As for Mckenna, I have no idea what his thinking is. I will say that McKenna is sort of the typical UConn assistant during the Atlantic era. He is young, inexperienced and pretty talented. UConn, and all the AHA programs actually, have not typically had long term assistants, nor have they stayed long. For what its worth, they sometimes have had fewer full time assistants than major programs have. UConn typically had 1 full time assistant, a grad assistant or 2. McKenna would be typical.Glenn Stewart at Merrimack was an assistant at UConn and so was Joe Dumais at Union off the top of my head. Both are in charge of recruiting at their respective programs and both held the job at UConn, again for what its worth. Berard was an unusual hire based on his background and experience for UConn. He would not have been unusual for UNH or BC, or at least a guy with that kind of experience wouldn't be. In any case, expect the nature and experience of the coaching staff to change with the Hockey East move just like everything else about the program will change. By the way, I agree with you about the nature of the competition changing dramatically. I also agree that Gwoz's age worries me, and I'd also be worried that he'd simply not be satisfied being a builder of the program. He's been there done that. And that Bennnett would have been the perfect choice had he been available..
 
Jim said:
dover
you might be right, but he was hired at Providence by Pooley and he was the recruiting coordinator through 2005, Army's first season. While I'm certain he did recruiting, he wasn't their chief recruiter. I can only tell you what I saw after watching UConn hockey on and off for at least a decade. This team was well coached, and played hard. As for Mckenna, I have no idea what his thinking is. I will say that McKenna is sort of the typical UConn assistant during the Atlantic era. He is young, inexperienced and pretty talented. UConn, and all the AHA programs actually, have not typically had long term assistants, nor have they stayed long. For what its worth, they sometimes have had fewer full time assistants than major programs have. UConn typically had 1 full time assistant, a grad assistant or 2. McKenna would be typical.Glenn Stewart at Merrimack was an assistant at UConn and so was Joe Dumais at Union off the top of my head. Both are in charge of recruiting at their respective programs and both held the job at UConn, again for what its worth. Berard was an unusual hire based on his background and experience for UConn. He would not have been unusual for UNH or BC, or at least a guy with that kind of experience wouldn't be. In any case, expect the nature and experience of the coaching staff to change with the Hockey East move just like everything else about the program will change. By the way, I agree with you about the nature of the competition changing dramatically. I also agree that Gwoz's age worries me, and I'd also be worried that he'd simply not be satisfied being a builder of the program. He's been there done that. And that Bennnett would have been the perfect choice had he been available..
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Dave Berard and Stan Moore shared recruiting duties, and Berard was def the guy making the decisions in the final year there. Their recruiting was a disgrace to the league. Berard was an unusual hire for uconn given his experience, but it was more to do with the fact that he did such a poor job at providence that it was his only option. I' agree he did a good job there this year---and maybe he would make for a better head coach. That said, he should go to the ushl and prove himself before he gets a crack at being a head coach in hockey east---especially at a program with uconn's potential. The recruiting job he And McKenna are doing now at uconn scares me---how many players are they going to take out of selects hockey academy?

In terms of McKenna, there is a big difference when comparing him to the likes of glen Stewart and joe Dumas---Stewart in particular. Stewart played at unh and had a long pro career. When you play at a place like unh, for dick Umile, and play 10 years of pro hockey you learn an awful lot. You step into the job with a strong knowledge base and a pretty good network from your time as a player. Joe Dumais played for Sean Tremblay and then qunnipiac. Again, he had playing experience at a high level and a network to some degree. McKenna never played at a high level and doesn't have the network to compete in hockey east from a recruiting perspective. It would be foolish to keep him on and think he could get recruits over guys like Greg brown, mike bavis, and Scott borek. Recruiting is all about relationships and unless there is a top player at castleton state looking to transfer to uconn I'd say McKenna would struggle immensely.
 
Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

dover4345 said:
Dave Berard and Stan Moore shared recruiting duties, and Berard was def the guy making the decisions in the final year there. Their recruiting was a disgrace to the league. Berard was an unusual hire for uconn given his experience, but it was more to do with the fact that he did such a poor job at providence that it was his only option. I' agree he did a good job there this year---and maybe he would make for a better head coach. That said, he should go to the ushl and prove himself before he gets a crack at being a head coach in hockey east---especially at a program with uconn's potential. The recruiting job he And McKenna are doing now at uconn scares me---how many players are they going to take out of selects hockey academy?

In terms of McKenna, there is a big difference when comparing him to the likes of glen Stewart and joe Dumas---Stewart in particular. Stewart played at unh and had a long pro career. When you play at a place like unh, for dick Umile, and play 10 years of pro hockey you learn an awful lot. You step into the job with a strong knowledge base and a pretty good network from your time as a player. Joe Dumais played for Sean Tremblay and then qunnipiac. Again, he had playing experience at a high level and a network to some degree. McKenna never played at a high level and doesn't have the network to compete in hockey east from a recruiting perspective. It would be foolish to keep him on and think he could get recruits over guys like Greg brown, mike bavis, and Scott borek. Recruiting is all about relationships and unless there is a top player at castleton state looking to transfer to uconn I'd say McKenna would struggle immensely.
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I'm not saying McKenna is the answer. I'm just saying he is a "typical" AHA/UConn assistant...relatively inexperienced and new to the business. Dumais, Stewart and a couple of other guys who are assistants at programs came up that way, too. Actually Paul Pearl at Holy Cross and I think Pecknold were on the UConn staff early in their careers, too. Basically, the UConn assistant job was an entry level job from which good coaches looked to move on in a year or two. But that was the old days and things will be changing at the assistant level too. I have no doubt that whoever is the new head coach he will be both expanding the staff and upgrading it. the days of 1 assistant, a grad assistant or 2 and a volunteer are over. You can't base what UConn will do in the future on what they did in the past. If McKenna stays on the staff, I suspect he'll have a different assignment than being in charge of recruiting. They will bring in someone with experience and ties for that. it is something they didn't have the luxury of doing in the past. they will going forward or they won't be successful. As far as Berard as a head coach, if he's up against Gwoz, its no contest. But if you watched his team last year they were organized, played hard, played smart, and it showed in the record. A win over Merrimack, a tie with Union, 3 wins over Robert Morris, First winning record in a decade. All the things you look for he did. If Bruce had stepped down last year rather than this year, and UConn had named Berard head coach when nobody cared, would you still be saying he hadn't earned it? Or that Bruce Marshall hadn't if he stayed around another couple of years?
 
Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

Jim said:
there was a report from Rich Cappolla that both UConn and Ohio State had contacted him. About a week ago. I suspect it was for UConn to be able to say "we asked but he said no," and for Pecknold to go to Jack McDonald and say "See how popular I am. Pay me more money!" At least as far as UConn goes, I doubt either side really had much interest in the other.
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First you make your uniforms as boring as ours, now you're getting rejected by Pecknold? Geez. Stop trying to be UMass :mad::p
 
Jim said:
Pearl I know was a UConn assistant. Pecknold I thought I heard that but it could be wrong.
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You're confusing UConn with Connecticut College. As far as McKenna goes, I'm not sure he is a high level assistant but that has nothing to do with his playing D3 or as this other minion said "didn't play anywhere" - that's the worst argument going and I laugh everyone I hear it.

Peter Laviolette played at Westfield State, I think Jon Cooper played baseball in college...I could go on forever...
 
Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

hockeyjunkie10 said:
You're confusing UConn with Connecticut College. As far as McKenna goes, I'm not sure he is a high level assistant but that has nothing to do with his playing D3 or as this other minion said "didn't play anywhere" - that's the worst argument going and I laugh everyone I hear it.

Peter Laviolette played at Westfield State, I think Jon Cooper played baseball in college...I could go on forever...
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Yes, you can make a list of coaches who did not play at a high level. That said, I can make a list 10X longer of great coaches who did in fact play at a high level. To assume that you do not learn the game from playing at a high level, for great coaches, is moronic. Of course you learn alot and have an advantage over those without those experiences. Why do you think so many NHL coaches and GM's are former players? Its because of their experience and the wisdom they picked up from playing the game.

And btw...yes, Laviolette played at Westfield State, but he also played in the NHL.

My point on McKenna was simply that NOTHING on his resume is competitive with that of other Hockey East coaches.
 
Re: UCONN Hockey 2012-13: Hockey East Here We Come

If UConn lands George Gwozdecky then the state of hockey in the Connecticut with Quinnipiac, Yale and UConn will be tremendous.
 
dover4345 said:
Yes, you can make a list of coaches who did not play at a high level. That said, I can make a list 10X longer of great coaches who did in fact play at a high level. To assume that you do not learn the game from playing at a high level, for great coaches, is moronic. Of course you learn alot and have an advantage over those without those experiences. Why do you think so many NHL coaches and GM's are former players? Its because of their experience and the wisdom they picked up from playing the game.

And btw...yes, Laviolette played at Westfield State, but he also played in the NHL.

My point on McKenna was simply that NOTHING on his resume is competitive with that of other Hockey East coaches.
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We're on the same page regarding McKenna, and I agree wholeheartedly that any experience an individual has in their field (in this one as a player or coach) is influential in their development. My point was ultimately that playing at the highest level is much less indicative of a successful coach then ability to identify and groom talent along with all the other attributes required of a coach.

Your original post had many other great points, so it was probably the wrong one for me to highlight this whole "coach as a player thing" but you get where I'm coming from...
 
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