Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
As for MS7 getting a 2-year extension and a raise should the Cats beat the Black Bears again at the Whitt this November, MS7 already got a 3-year extension, presumably with a raise, at the end of last season, although there remains confusion about the details (i.e., is there a buyout clause, etc.?) until our in-house FOIA specialist here obtains a copy of the contract. But, if you mean MS7 might get a 2-year extension added to his 3-year extension, just for his team beating Maine again at the Whitt, yes, I would find that disturbing, and very surprising.
I seem to recall the listings of salaries across the USNH that was recently posted on this thread put MS7 at $240K for this financial/academic year, which would indicate to me he got virtually nothing for a raise this season (maybe a COLA tops?).
Since we have a few days to read the tea leaves before next weekend's home-and-home with the Friars ... if this year's $240K figure is indeed accurate (as we await the FOIA details from db62), it reassures me that our relatively new AD wasn't so impressed with MS7's contract year performance as some of us thought she might have been (which IMO is good BTW), and she basically offered him (and his assistants) basically the same salaries they had at the end of the expiring deal(s). That's a pretty strong message from your new boss, and considering those terms were accepted by MS7, he knows he can't expect to do better than that anywhere else in D-1, prep or minor league pro hockey/entry level NHL scouting etc. That's a pretty humbling admission on his part, and nothing like the huge raises bestowed on Ben Barr at UMaine, or especially his old boss Luce at UConn (wonder if the folks at Storrs are suffering from "buyers' remorse" lol).
Of course, if MS7 hasn't been humbled by his contract renegotiation experience last Spring, and is somewhat resentful about not getting bumped up to $300K or more (assuming again he hasn't, and the $240K figure is accurate) ... that might explain the lack of the same level of activity on his part during the following summer, and discontinuance of his visiting PR trips down to Boston to chat with Brick between periods? Which would be a huge mistake by him, unless he has mentally moved into an "FU mode" where he will do what he wants, when he wants, and if they beat him to it, c'est la vie. Personally, I don't see MS7 as that kind of guy ... but if he is seen to be acting petulantly that way by his boss, he may want to give that a rethink.
Another interesting possibility - and this is pure speculation, so consider it as nothing more than that - is if the newbie AD offered MS7 a renewal on the same terms he finished last season with, in the semi-expectation that MS7 would be offended, and leave the deal on the table? Call this the ultimate in a "passive aggressive approach" from an AD who had very little flexibility both in hard budget terms AND based on overall coaching performance over the life of the deal. Load that sucker up with favorable buyout terms after the first two seasons - and again, we don't know if it's one three year deal or three one-year deals - and that leaves the AD holding all the cards come next Spring, PLUS an extra few months to scan the coaching horizon for new prospects, where maybe she didn't have any acceptable options this past Spring?
Again, some (lots) of this is speculative, but it makes a whole he11 of a lot more sense from the standpoint of the AD and the school, than what it looked like initially, which felt to most of us (I believe) as an unwarranted capitulation by UNH.
I also wonder to what extent the less-than-hoped for terms to MS7 put the kibosh on TDL's previously eager generosity??
Things that make you go hmmmm on a quiet reflective October evening in Effingwoods ...
