Re: Sense of urgency
Re: Sense of urgency
That last "alternative" is already in the process of becoming a reality. I'm personally aware of at least a dozen long-time UNH fans who are at various stages of losing interest in the program. Some have non-renewed season tickets, and others are very close to doing the same. Based on observations around The Whitt this past season, it doesn't appear they're isolated cases.
Frankly ... one of the driving reasons why I've begun posting more actively on these boards (after a long time away in read-only status) is that seeing these negative trends/developments has given me a clear sense of alarm and urgency. Referring back to the "Open Letter" thread ... those of us who've been around the program long enough have seen this all happen before, back in the mid-'80's. And having been there, I don't want to see it happen again.
We didn't have the Internet back then, and it was a very different world for sure, but there are parallels, and some of them are striking. Take a look-see at Charlie Holt's year-by-year UNH coaching record - paying particularly close attention to the trends in the early '80's - and see where it all went:
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?encode=TRUE&pid=43052
And for everyone who points out (including me) that Coach Umile has only recorded a single losing season at UNH ... guess what? So did Coach Holt, until the inaugural season of Hockey East ('84/'85). After that ...
Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it ...
Chuck, I'm not sure you can describe these folks as "long time fans" of the program if they are bailing because, what, they didn't win 20 games this year? Or with a pretty average team came within one game of the FF for the second year in a row? To me a fan (short for fanatic) is one who follows a team through thick AND thin. I've been a Red Sox fan all my life. My formative years were spent watching Don Buddin, et al slog through a 152 game schedule with no chance of playing .500 ball. I like baseball, the Sox are my home team, so I watch, root and go. Same with the Wildcats. I've been a big fan since the first time I set foot in Snively 40 years ago this coming December. Even during the very lean years (more on that below) my wife and I dragged our toddler daughter (now 24) to games at Snively and beyond. I'll admit it was hard to watch the Wildcats in those years, they were badly outclassed not only by BU and BC, but were mincemeat for the WCHA powers. They were probably the worst team in college hockey back then. But I hung in there. Do I dare say that, with the opening of the Whit, my faith was rewarded? I really don't have much use for people who are bailing now. I'd like them to stay, but if they are not being rewarded because their team isn't living up to the lofty expectations that they and others have set for them, so be it.
Now, onto your comparison of the latter Holt years and now. I agree, there are similarities. Back then, Charlie was not doing much recruiting, leaving most of it up to Bob Kullen. Bob had very big shoes to fill when he took over for Bob Norton and Dave O'Connor, both of whom had enormous success recruiting highly talented kids from Eastern Mass. and Ontario. Of course, things were a lot more informal back then, word of mouth, relationships with a few coaches would go a long way in helping UNH. The best story I ever heard was how Cap Raeder was recruited. Charlie saw that Cap had been named All-Scholastic by both the Globe and Herald in his senior year. Charlie told Norton to go down and see him and his parents, see if he would be interested in UNH. All this six months before he would be a freshman! The pinnacle of their recruiting was never more evident than 1977 when there were eight guys (Ralph Cox and Tim Burke were not among them) on the team who played in the NHL, this in an era when most NHL lifers still looked down their nose at college players.
Bob Kullen was a great guy. Charlie loved him a lot, especially since he had played hockey for his good friend Sid Watson at Bowdoin. And in Bob's first few years as an assistant, he did bring in a few good guys - Steve Leach, Peter Douris, James Richmond, these guys had talent, a lot of it. But the supporting cast wasn't much. The problem was that the competition for recruits had gotten a lot more fierce and, frankly, Charlie and Bob were not up to these new challenges. Some of the kids they brought in after, say 1975, would have had a hard time playing D2 hockey, never mind D1. Add in the interlocking schedule with the WCHA and it was all down hill. Things really did not start to turn around until some new assistants were hired - Wayne Wilson (now RIT coach) for one year, Sean Coady and, of course, Umile. The class of '92 (Morrows, Flanagan, Mitrovic, Amodeo etc.) came a long way in four years and basically rejuvenated the program.
The similarities today are there. We are no longer getting completely hosed in the recruiting wars by almost all of college hockey like we were 35 years ago, but we are definitely losing the battles with the top echelon of college hockey. I think the coaches do a pretty good job in making the team competitive every year and the games (at least to me) are still exciting. I do agree that every organization has to reassess itself periodically and I would like to think that the hockey program, in conjunction with the AD, has been doing that. I can't imagine that they don't recognize that things have stagnated. I'd be very much surprised if either of the assistants were shown the door, but perhaps a retooling of both, along with the recruiting philosophy is in order.
