Rather I want the AD to have her ducks in a row so that the non renewal of MS7 is not followed by 3-4 months of crickets, no head coach and every thing in limbo. Uncertainty like that for the players means they will go find certainty some place else. In the transfer portal world that means rats off the sinking ship, whoever is leaving last turn the lights out, etc. etc.
As to how to get them to stay... well hopefully you are hiring a new coach that has a clue about selling a future to 17-23 year old hockey players. That skill is probably the biggest requirement to be a college coach. Getting them in the door is no longer enough, you need to sell it every day to keep them. You could also point out a couple of B1G transfers 1-13 in conference play, 9-13-4 overall, they might have had a better year staying put.
It is up to the new staff for the make up of the team. It is up to the AD to not put that new staff behind the 8 ball by not acting with urgency.
To add to Scott's post regarding the Men's Hoops decision, and Coach Davis' success to date, it's also encouraging to note that AD Rich moved nearly as quickly to replace Coach Hubbard with Coach Weinrebe for Men's Soccer. Neither of the replacements were from existing staff, so the quickness of the two hires was especially laudable, and at least in the case of Men's Hoops, Coach Davis seems to have been an inspiring choice.
Given her track record to date, there's no reason to think AD Rich won't be ready to move quickly if necessary, should she come to a decision to non-renew. As with Herrion, she'll have had a year to prepare and plan for potential replacement options, and get some significant due diligence done well ahead of time on some long-term potential targets on her list. Hopefully her process will be agile enough as well, should a surprise or two emerge as viable candidate(s). Ideally, of course, MS7 will get the boys to run the table, get two games in both in Boston and at the site of the assigned Regional, and make this an easy decision to give Souza a modest extension.
As things presently stand, one cannot rule out the possibility of a bare-bones one year extension being given if it's a close call, and the AD is not totally pleased with the quality of replacement candidates under review. Neither can we rule out the possibility that MS7 finishes decently but AD Rich is super-smitten with the perfect replacement candidate, and makes a tough call to non-renew that she might not have made, had the quality of replacement candidate(s) not been as palatable. In hindsight, this may explain her Hoops decision last March, as Coach Herrion may have been back for another year if Coach Davis hadn't appeared on her radar?
As they say ... in life, sometimes timing is everything. Gonna be a very interesting 60 or so days, folks, so buckle up ...
