UNH- How Far West Do We Go?

[JB]

Dan - I have missed you... and this, this is how you fix programs. I had spotted Miami OH basketballs record this year and figured you were enjoying. It is rarely "if you build it they will come". It is go find somebody who believes they can sell ice to Eskimos and when they start turning it around the rest follows.

Look I know Potluck wants to thinks I am a useless nothing that knows nothing because I don't agree with him. 15 years ago I spotted a part of the company I worked for at the time that was actively cratering - on the way to 50% drop in sales in one year. Now I am not a salesmen but I wanted to take a shot at running a business, so I volunteered to jump on that sinking ship to try and save it. I believed I knew how to do it. I convinced a couple of good sales guys to jump on with me and 6 months later we bottom 50% down in one year and 12 months after that we had revenue back to where it was before the crater started with 600 bps higher profit. We did it as a team and the first thing we did was convince the team we had we could do it. The people in that business liked the direction and dug in, put in the effort. Once we got it turned only then did the corporation that owned this business unit start investing. Same path different environment.

 

[HockeyRef]

I have not watched a single minute of UNH Hockey this season. So I won’t comment on Souza or the Wildcats, but I will tell you a quick story about what I have been doing with my time - watching another woebegone program that never had a chance…

It’s a program that had a decent season 20 years ago, but whose last great season was nearly 30 years ago. Even then, the coaches, team and fans complained about an aging facility better suited as an auditorium than an arena, and even worse ‘under the hood’. How could they ever be expected to compete again in such an antiquated building, and with so little money/funding relative to their more notable peers…

Fast forward to today, they’re playing in the same building - now nearly 60 years old, full of asbestos and falling apart.

From 2013-2022, in the years following the departure of a legendary coach, the program posted a meager record of 129-183 (.413). The program’s outlook was bleak. Funding was blamed. Facilities were blamed. State politics were blamed. Location was blamed. There was no solution. The program was what it was.

A funny thing happened ahead of the 2022-23 season. The program hired a new coach. And the coach brought a lot of energy.

He was certain the team would win. He raved about all the ‘advantages’ the program boasted. He promised he could recruit elite talent, and spoke of building something special. Many fans would dismiss his enthusiasm as ‘rah rah talk’, and the grumbles grew even louder when the coach finished his first season with the team 12-20…

The next season the team was 15-17, a modest improvement.

In 2024-25 they went 25-9! And this is where things got interesting!

The school with no money found a reason - and a way - to offer the coach an extension and a raise. They chipped in some meager NIL funding. Two players left for bigger programs and cash offers, but the rest of the team stayed.

This season? Well, they choked this morning, but they’re currently 31-1.

Attendance - which averaged 1800 early in the season - jumped to over 10,000 per game down the stretch. Donations have poured in to the university. Applications have soared and acceptance rates will fall similarly. The state’s governor - an alum - attended a game with much excitement! The school has enjoyed 100s of millions of dollars in earned media, not yet including an all but certain at-large trip to the NCAA Tournament…

The coach earned himself ANOTHER contract offer/raise.

Most shockingly, the university proposed and approved a 240-280 million dollar new arena to be built almost exclusively through private funding and development. Furthermore, the school plans to raise significant NIL money to pour into the program.

The program that had nothing, would always have nothing and should never expect any more than nothing, suddenly had everything.

And all it took was a spark of belief, a bit of enthusiasm and a reason…

—

If Miami (OH) Basketball is to apples to oranges for anyone’s liking, the RedHawk ice hockey program improved from 3 wins to 18 wins in the second year of the Anthony Noreen era. Recruiting has ‘off the charts’ improved despite zero changes to budget, salaries or facilities following the Bergeron regime (35-116-16)…

Great post Dan! A kids gonna give 1000% if they feel it's worth it and appreciated. Sometimes I think Souza's complaining about why he doesn't have this..or that filters down to his players. Of course this is an assumption on my part...but if he only has to be seen at a pre season barbeque...and his pressers are limited to a choice few...what else are we to think? Oh I know he shows up on Channel 9 from time to time and maybe a Bruins game.
Attitudes are contagious and especially from coach to player. We fans heard there were issues within the team - it happens..maybe next season those will be resolved.

 

[Robert Balin]

You either have a great comedy act or are clueless. Judging you dont know the game is tomorrow, I think that answers that.

Oh the games Friday my bad. Another thing I could give a crap about that also.

 

[cinnamoroll]

hi, hope im not interrupting anything important....

turns out Kyle Chauvette is getting to TD Garden anyways despite the loss. San Jose Sharks are playing the Bruins tonight and Askarov has some injury and there isn't time to get a callup here, Chauvette has been given EBUG duties.

 

[HockeyRef]

hi, hope im not interrupting anything important....

turns out Kyle Chauvette is getting to TD Garden anyways despite the loss. San Jose Sharks are playing the Bruins tonight and Askarov has some injury and there isn't time to get a callup here, Chauvette has been given EBUG duties.

Wow!!!

 

[JB]

hi, hope im not interrupting anything important....

turns out Kyle Chauvette is getting to TD Garden anyways despite the loss. San Jose Sharks are playing the Bruins tonight and Askarov has some injury and there isn't time to get a callup here, Chauvette has been given EBUG duties.

So undrafted... wonder how San Jose "found" him. Scout? some 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon link?

Great for him.

 

[FlagUp17]

hi, hope im not interrupting anything important....

turns out Kyle Chauvette is getting to TD Garden anyways despite the loss. San Jose Sharks are playing the Bruins tonight and Askarov has some injury and there isn't time to get a callup here, Chauvette has been given EBUG duties.

Good for KC! The dream came true (kinda) much sooner than likely anticipated for him.

Even if he doesn’t play, what a surreal experience I imagine it will be for him.

I forget - Do EBUG take part with the warm up skate? And does he get an NHL check even if he doesn’t play?

 

[Snively65]

hi, hope im not interrupting anything important....

turns out Kyle Chauvette is getting to TD Garden anyways despite the loss. San Jose Sharks are playing the Bruins tonight and Askarov has some injury and there isn't time to get a callup here, Chauvette has been given EBUG duties.

Ha, ha, ha, gives up five goals in his final game with UNH but still gets to the Garden, which MS7 has not been able to do in his 11 years at UNH. Gotta love the irony.

 

[Felger]

Good for KC! The dream came true (kinda) much sooner than likely anticipated for him.

Even if he doesn’t play, what a surreal experience I imagine it will be for him.

I forget - Do EBUG take part with the warm up skate? And does he get an NHL check even if he doesn’t play?

What is an EBUG? What to know about NHL backup goaltenders

Emergency backup goaltenders, also known as EBUGs, serve a unique role in the NHL. Learn more about the rules of the position now.

www.espn.com

 

[cinnamoroll]

So undrafted... wonder how San Jose "found" him. Scout? some 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon link?

Great for him.

my guess is probably the Fitzgerald connection. Brendan went to Sharks dev camp this summer, his uncle Scott is Sharks director of player personnel. plus a bunch of random Boston connections in the entire Sharks org.

 

[Potluck]

Good for KC! The dream came true (kinda) much sooner than likely anticipated for him.

Even if he doesn’t play, what a surreal experience I imagine it will be for him.

I forget - Do EBUG take part with the warm up skate? And does he get an NHL check even if he doesn’t play?

He get $500 and a Sharks game jersey. Literally . Pretty funny.

 

[cinnamoroll]

Video from warmup. doesn't look too bad, the colors are in the same stratosphere and in the white away jerseys it is easier to smooth over. sometimes the color clashes look funky

 

[Potluck]

If Chauvette is going to get a game jersey the Sharks is probably tops, although the aqua uniform is the best. Next best? I’ll go with Blackhawks.

 

[FlagUp17]

Curious what people think about when we will hear about the AD situation? I imagine she is on the books until end of June, but I presume if they are replacing her there may be an announcement beforehand? Or perhaps her resignation if she has something lined up elsewhere?

Or maybe a contract extension. I know some mentioned she was in “good standing” with the president, but the state of athletics (especially male athletics) at UNH has been abysmal this year.

Outside of maybe football (who got absolutely thrashed in the first round, and since lost their coach only to be replaced with an alum with no prior HC experience) what other male sports at UNH have improved under Rich? Soccer was good/great but certainly a step back since Hubbard left…

20+ loss seasons from hockey and basketball, both of whom she either extended or hired herself.

For women, I’m most familiar with hockey, who she also extended and have since been mediocre it seems (a bit of a step up from the men, but no significant jump).

I’m likely missing some, so please fill me in for glossing over the ones I neglected. Still… at least on the mens side, it isn’t a strong resume.

Do people think she will be retained?

 

[norbert]

They looked at the Wednesday box score for most GA and signed him....

 

[cinnamoroll]

They looked at the Wednesday box score for most GA and signed him....

hey, i had more confidence in him than the EBUG we had in philly earlier this season. he was a geologist that was at least a decade older. the goalie room in the sharks system is pretty crowded, so I don't think he'll get anything long term. They have DU goalie Matt Davis in the ECHL. he should get a contract somewhere though

can confirm Chauvette's services were not required outside of opening the bench door and looking happy to be there. got to see a nice win too, you can see him coming through the celebration line and hanging in the locker room in post game festivities. he gets some sharks gear and a unique experience right before the rules around ebugs change.

 

[cinnamoroll]

right after i finish posting i see sharks beat writer Max Miller has some quotes from Chauvette-

#SJSharks EBUG Kyle Chauvette on his last 24 hours: "It was pretty crazy. I mean, last night obviously didn't end the way I wanted my college career to end. A lot of emotions, like the last 24 hours. Then, today, my agent called me up and asked if I wanted to come back up in Boston for San Jose. And yeah. So I was like, absolutely, I remember right before that, I just had a class. I had an exam. We had a team meeting, actually, at three o'clock, and so I had to kind of rush out, go to the rink, pack up my gear, and, yeah, I was off down to Boston."

his parents, sister, and girlfriend all made it down for the game too. also said he want to go pro next season, likely ECHL.

edit: video of the whole availability

 

[Snively65]

Curious what people think about when we will hear about the AD situation? I imagine she is on the books until end of June, but I presume if they are replacing her there may be an announcement beforehand? Or perhaps her resignation if she has something lined up elsewhere?

Or maybe a contract extension. I know some mentioned she was in “good standing” with the president, but the state of athletics (especially male athletics) at UNH has been abysmal this year.

Outside of maybe football (who got absolutely thrashed in the first round, and since lost their coach only to be replaced with an alum with no prior HC experience) what other male sports at UNH have improved under Rich? Soccer was good/great but certainly a step back since Hubbard left…

20+ loss seasons from hockey and basketball, both of whom she either extended or hired herself.

For women, I’m most familiar with hockey, who she also extended and have since been mediocre it seems (a bit of a step up from the men, but no significant jump).

I’m likely missing some, so please fill me in for glossing over the ones I neglected. Still… at least on the mens side, it isn’t a strong resume.

Do people think she will be retained?

Why do you and others think that the AD might be leaving? There have not been any compliance infractions, have there?

Last year a skier on the UNH ski team won a national championship in giant slalom.

So, no, I do not think that the AD is leaving UNH.

 

[norbert]

So undrafted... wonder how San Jose "found" him. Scout? some 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon link?

Great for him.

If Chauvette is going to get a game jersey the Sharks is probably tops, although the aqua uniform is the best. Next best? I’ll go with Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks by far have the best uniforms in all of sports. But this comes from an unintelligent poster as you defined me earlier.

 

[norbert]

I do appreciate this post. I'll just let you in on a little history. My history of posting started very thoughtfully. But I quickly noticed a few posters that sort of treated this Board like a lower intelligence 6th grade bully treats a playground. I also noted the complete lack of respect and decency they showed to Souza and people that disagreed with them. Finally, I noticed that the group was not particularly bright. I really don't mean to be insulting. I'm coming with the truth.

Souza is a very good man. Indeed, nobody that I know that has met him had a negative word to say about him. He's not been a successful coach but he's unquestionably a man of high integrity. In addition, he works for people and for an institution that are currently very mediocre. The personal abuse that was foisted at him on this Board was outrageous. The people that have attacked him most are very mediocre in their own lives and they really abused him. They continuously critiqued his salary, which, frankly, is not a very impressive income. Nevertheless, because these very mediocre people have very mediocre incomes, they viewed his salary as a princely sum. Jealously took over.

Many even made derisive comments about Souza's life story, including his wife. Once again, it's a case of mediocre men and women living mediocre lives who married mediocre spouses attacking a good man for not having much success professionally. I'm talking about Buford a/k/a Chuck Murray, Elwood a/k/a JD, Meathead a/k/a Norbert, The Grouchy Cat a/k/a The Dumb Cat and Emily a/k/a Emily the Flunky. These people also were vicious in how they treated Ryan Conmy.

Morever, the mediocre posters that attack Souza simply don't have the intellectual fire power to see the bigger picture - a under-performing university that has been abandoned for the most part by the taxpayers. That's the REAL issue. Yet, these people have found a scapegoat in Souza.

So I decided to treat the group of mediocre posters in the same spirit they treated Souza and Conmy. Frankly, it's been amusing. They aren't bright enough to see the irony but a bunch of posters on this Board have and have messaged me with amusement.

I know having an intelligent conversation is hard for you even though you are the smartest and richest man in the room. Please, just find one post where we talked about MS7 as a person, his wife, or his family? The wait is over since you won't find anything. The critique has been about him as a coach, which is his job, and the performance of the team.

Let's make a deal, you can come back once you find a comment about Coach as a man or his family. Until then, go away, sit on your high perch and hang out with the likes of Mike Hickey, another Kool-Aid drinker that follows your sad existence,