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UNH Hockey Off Season Thread 2026
- Thread starter HockeyRef
- Start date
Congrats to Borek on his newest contract extension with Merrimack.
…perhaps this provides a solid idea for MS7 to earn his own contract extension. Win HEA and get a nice payday.
Ive only read it is a “multi-year” extension. I presume it is 3, but perhaps 5? Borek isn’t getting any younger, so I wonder how much longer he will want to be running the show.
Hope everyone’s summer is going well. Hockey will be back soon enough!
…perhaps this provides a solid idea for MS7 to earn his own contract extension. Win HEA and get a nice payday.
Ive only read it is a “multi-year” extension. I presume it is 3, but perhaps 5? Borek isn’t getting any younger, so I wonder how much longer he will want to be running the show.
Hope everyone’s summer is going well. Hockey will be back soon enough!
UNH targeting a Bucknell grad for AD.
Nathan Davis sleeping better.
Can't make this stuff up.
x.com
Nathan Davis sleeping better.
Can't make this stuff up.
Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) on X
Sources: New Hampshire is targeting Richmond’s Ryan Colton as the school’s new athletic director. Colton is the deputy AD and Chief of Staff at Richmond. He worked prior at Holy Cross and Providence and has a law degree from New England Law.
2013hockeyfan
Well-known member
Can't make up what? That they may hire an AD with a shared previous employer as the basketball coach? Not sure that is cause to write the guy off lolUNH targeting a Bucknell grad for AD.
Nathan Davis sleeping better.
Can't make this stuff up.
Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) on X
Sources: New Hampshire is targeting Richmond’s Ryan Colton as the school’s new athletic director. Colton is the deputy AD and Chief of Staff at Richmond. He worked prior at Holy Cross and Providence and has a law degree from New England Law.
2013hockeyfan
Well-known member
It does seem this guy is in the model of Doc Rich tho...Lawyer with a background in compliance...Oof
richmondspiders.com
Ryan Colton - Deputy Director of Athletics & Chief of Staff - Staff Directory - University of Richmond Athletics
Ryan Colton joined Richmond as UR's Associate Athletics Director for Compliance in June 2018. During the fall semester in 2020, he was elevated to Senior Ass...
Honestly there's a lot I like about it other than another visit to the compliance aisle.
Jellsville USA
Registered User
Geez. Ho hum.UNH targeting a Bucknell grad for AD.
Nathan Davis sleeping better.
Can't make this stuff up.
Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) on X
Sources: New Hampshire is targeting Richmond’s Ryan Colton as the school’s new athletic director. Colton is the deputy AD and Chief of Staff at Richmond. He worked prior at Holy Cross and Providence and has a law degree from New England Law.
2013hockeyfan
Well-known member
Difficult to quantify. He raised the profile of Penn State hockey dramatically, particularly powerful coming off a Frozen Four appearance that had also burnished their rep.
Reminds me of my annual trip to the garden this year for the HE playoffs when I somehow ended up in the section that housed a group of 12 year olds running around wreaking havoc. Most of the kids were wearing some form of a Hockey East team's merch. Not one of them had anything UNH related on. I suspect there are kids running around with PSU hockey gear on due to McKenna's presence. Whether the popularity now will materialize into applications, enrollments, and $$$ is anyone's guess.
I agree with 2013 here. Additionally I imagine it is nearly impossible to quantify McKenna’s impact on ticket sales for Penn State last year. How many people simply went just to see him, regardless of their college hockey fandom? Fairly early on he was pegged as at least a top 3 draft pick and I’d say he largely met most expectations playing at a very young age. That alone is worth the price of admission for some people.
While Penn State didn’t bring home any hardware this year, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do so in the next 1-3 years. If they do, you can likely attribute some of that success to McKennas one year presence.
I almost think of it similar to the Makar effect on UMA. Mind it he stayed long enough and was successful in bringing home multiple trophies (HE and national title), but his legacy certainly lives on as UMA has maintained itself as a perennial top/near the top dog in HEA in most of the years since he left.
One has to wonder though, if Makar matriculated now in this day and age of NIL, would he have chosen UMA or gone to a bigger school with deeper NIL pockets? When will NIL dollars overcome good recruiting/scouting for the top players interested in college hockey?
Last edited:
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
It does seem this guy is in the model of Doc Rich tho...Lawyer with a background in compliance...Oof
Ryan Colton - Deputy Director of Athletics & Chief of Staff - Staff Directory - University of Richmond Athletics
Ryan Colton joined Richmond as UR's Associate Athletics Director for Compliance in June 2018. During the fall semester in 2020, he was elevated to Senior Ass...
Gotta admit, the compliance thing was the first thing that jumped out at me, too. Had heard some vague rumblings but no specifics recently. Hope we find out soon if there is any fire behind the potential smokescreen.
I guess the modern-day complexities of all things NCAA is behind this drive to plug lawyers into AD roles, at least in Titletown. The wide reputational chasm between Princeton and New England Law is staggering, so here's to hoping IF this turns out to be the new guy, that will turn out to be a plus for UNH Athletics.
Things turned out pretty well the last time UNH plucked an underling with a Providence College background to take on a prominent sports leadership position ...
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
I don't fault Penn State for taking a shot at McKenna - totally ambitious, and obviously they were a program on the rise before he got there. But staying only the one year, I'd be hesitant to give him too much (if any?) credit for what happens afterwards. Also, there were some distractions that dogged him and his program during his short stay in Happy Valley. I think the best thing Gadowsky can say about it is that the school backed him in bringing in McKenna, so for future hotshots that may come down the pike, he and his staff can pitch those kids against more established "big dogs" and show how they got McKenna safely to the next level. And it will be Gadowsky, who is now 15 years into his stay at Penn State, who either finishes the run to the top, or comes up short.
Time will tell, but I think you are giving McKenna too much credit in the comparison to Makar. UMass was transformed almost oversight by Makar, and while they didn't win the D-1 title while he was in Amherst, his fingerprints were all over the team that eventually did get there. Respectfully, I would also point out that UMass has fallen off gradually in the years that have followed - kind of the way UNH gradually fell off after the Buffalo FF in 2003. Mind you, they're still eons above the decades of mediocrity that preceded Makar, but UMass had the benefit of two full years of Makar and two deep postseason runs to draw on after he left. Other than a bunch of headlines - not all flattering BTW - McKenna really didn't push things beyond the foundation that Gadowsky had already accomplished.
There's probably a decent argument to be made that JvR's two seasons at UNH impacted his program at least as much as McKenna's single year at PSU.
Putting that aside ... I can't ever remember both UNH and DRW looking to replace their heads of hockey operations (AD/GM) at the same time before ...