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UNH Offseason Contract Edition.
- Thread starter norbert
- Start date
HockeyRef
Well-known member
yeah, you could see it on his face in the box which led to their first goal. Still its hard to get to that point in the season (a game 7) and he proved he could bring it,
although not overly thrilled about getting major penalties. Panthers were not going to be denied and to lose that game after holding a 3 game lead would have been
a disaster (but would have loved to see it!)
He's a UFA I think at this point? Wonder what will be up next for Warren...as we all know 'there's always next season'...
Did the MacPherson twins skate on the same line at Penticton this past season? If so, I would keep them together on the second line at UNH and make the first line same as last season, which was formidable once all three were healthy. Although the MacPherson’s were not nearly as prolific scorers as were the Nadeau bros were the year before at Penticton, I think that they could make up an excellent scoring threat with Morgan Winters on a second line at UNH. Plenty to like about bottom six depth this coming season also. And, of course, the blue line should be the strongest suit this coming season, regardless its future, which admittedly looks pretty grim. Big question is whether these latest two portal goalies can come close to our portal goalie Hellsten last season. Who is the goalie couch at UNH now?
d.gerry
Five for Fighting
This is great and unexpected news! I realize it’s been discussed recently, but until then I don’t think anyone saw this coming.
So my questions is what happened to Shank after 25 or so years? Does Torts have a plethora of goalies we can bring in? I have 4 days 2 hours and 38 minutes to shell out $1600 for my tickets....
HockeyRef
Well-known member
Not sure where he's living now but when he was coaching with UNH I believe he lived in the seacoast..prob tired of the trek to Boston. I'm excited about this;
and not trying to imply he will have any influence on the coaching (would love that) but I know he knows his stuff.
It's a great hire if you ask me!
I have been away for my own sanctity, but this position is really a travel agent. Is he bringing in a goalie that we know? Fixing a power play? I'd even go with replacing MS7?
I am away for the BBQ but would have loved to have another Q&A.
HockeyRef
Well-known member
Hey there yeah am aware of the what the position basically entails still he's a great resource. Of course
no clue about any direct team stuff maybe find out at bar b que.
What does “the position basically entail”? Is there a link to CHC’s report that might illuminate? Was I close in my suggestion that maybe he would be a liaison between posters on this board and the UNH AD’s office? To make up for the loss of Friends of UNH Hockey?
d.gerry
Five for Fighting
This can be found as a job posting on USNH website.
Job Duties
Team Administration:
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Game Day Preparation/Operations:
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Recruiting Support: Support Coaching staff in all aspects of recruiting visits both official and unofficial.
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Student-Athlete Development:
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HockeyRef
Well-known member
Collin Shank was the former DOHO...BTW that position was established and fought for by the FOH as they saw a need....don't quote me on that just something that came up at one point...that other schools had such a position and UNH needed one as well...How long been in place am unsure?
Looking at the job description guess JT will be quite busy! And as was pointed out to me the NCAA only allows for a particular # of asst coaches so dont think he will be involved there.
Thanks for the background, HR, as I did not realize that Colin Shank did all that work. But I cannot imagine why Torts would want that position given all the mundane paper-shuffling tasks, other than I suspect that the position pays well?
NCAA watcher
Registered User
Admins used to be guys like Colin Shank. About 10 years ago Director of Hockey Ops became the third coach before the NCAA allowed 3rd coaches (can help on ice but were not permitted to do road work). Bu hired Scott Young. Since the NCAA now allows 3rd assistants, the position has become a hodgepodge. Some go with veteran former coaches BG picked Buddy Powers, others picked essentially third assistants (Michigan and Topher Scott), and some recent alums trying to get into coaching (NU with Mike Jamieson, Denver with Ryan Massa and Brett Kostolansky), etc.
These guys (CC has a woman's coach) are not booking flights. And for reference, Tortorella will turn 65 in September, so retirement/staying somewhat active near his north shore home fits the bill. The only negative is it shows the continued Umile outsized influence on Souza, not using this as a way to bring new energy and blood into the hockey program. I'm still not sure that what ails UNH is Xs and Os rather than recruiting.
These guys (CC has a woman's coach) are not booking flights. And for reference, Tortorella will turn 65 in September, so retirement/staying somewhat active near his north shore home fits the bill. The only negative is it shows the continued Umile outsized influence on Souza, not using this as a way to bring new energy and blood into the hockey program. I'm still not sure that what ails UNH is Xs and Os rather than recruiting.
Absolutely, 100%, spot on 'Watcher.
I would be more excited if Tortorella was taking over for Teflon Glenn. Even then the thought of adding a sixty-something coach to the staff wouldn't exactly have blown my skirt up. Still, it would have been a serious upgrade.
But it doesn't seem like the ideal choice for Director of Hockey Operations with all the challenges facing any college program in the ever changing world we are living in. What, Bob Norton wasn't available?
But seriously, and more to 'Watcher's point it is yet another failure to inject some new ways of thinking into the UNH hockey program. Rather, it remains as inbred as backwoods Appalachia.
I'm pretty sure that Colin Shank is the only "Director of Hockey Operations" UNH has had. He was the student manager before that. When he was named as DOHO I just assumed it was Coach Umile creating a position and finding a job for one of his guys when his college days were over. I wasn't aware that the Friends were involved. Perhaps both could be true, and Umile killed two birds with one stone. In any event I don't recall a wide ranging search. And Colin deserves credit for starting the position and making it his own. (I doubt that the post pays well - most UNH jobs don't - which is why you see coaches like Jimmy Allen and Casey DeAndre leaving basketball and football respectively.) But its not like he brought a lot of outside experience to the table.
Unfortunately, its not the exception. Remember when Souza took over for Umile six years ago? There was rampant speculation that the choice for the vacant assistant post was Mark White, from Woburn, Mass., former UNH player and classmate/teammate of Souza. The two had coached together at Brown. When that didn't work out Souza moved outside the family, but not that far. Nashua's Jeff Guliano played at BC during the same years Souza was playing at UNH. Like Souza and Stewart, he played professional hockey after college, albeit with more success. After hiring Guliano the new UNH coach reached out, (begged sounds like a more accuate term,) to alum Ty Conklin to be the goalie coach. The result was a coaching staff with limited expereince and/or success, consisting of three alums and another from just down the road, who all decided to become coaches after their professional days were done. Not exactly a diversity of professional experiences and all of the knowledge that comes with them.
During the heydey of UNH hockey, assistant coaches like McCloskey and Lassonde were young and upcoming, at various points on the path to crafting their coaching careers. Neither were UNH alums, nor were they guys who just decided to become coaches when they're playing days were over. Lassonde, for instance, might have been from Rochester but he attended Providence and was an assistant coach at Spaulding High School when he started helping Coach Kullen with the goalies at UNH. The he got some seasoning at Wisconsin and won a (since vacated) National Championship, and also was on the staff at Miami. Only then did he return to UNH and played a key part in the best years of the program. But instead of following the blueprint from the successful years of the program the past decade has been more like Groundhog Day.
I have often wondered what the past few seasons would have been like if Coach Souza had eschewed the UNH comfort zone or echo chamber when it came to his coaching staff and reached out to some people who could really help him. I was not at all a fan of the "s*** show" that was the search for the men's basketball coach. But I was very impressed with what Allison Rich did with the rest of the basketball staff. (I think the loss of Allen is significant.) I really wanted to see her to do something similar with hockey. I hope this wasn't a missed opportunity.
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Whenever UNH makes a personnel decision, the key issue is money. UNH is not properly funded and hasn't been for at least the last 40 years. New Hampshire tax payers pride themselves on doing more with less. I think there's at least some evidence they don't succeed in that goal, but I'll leave that argument to others. Hiring a 65 year old man that apparently is seeking a lifestyle accommodation in his career as he nears retirement (btw, good for him) is a strong indication that the job is lower paying relative to similar jobs with other Hockey East programs. This type of personnel decision is UNH to the core.
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
So gentlemen, here's the best take I can muster on the apparent pending Tortorella hire. As the AD has already made her decision on what the next three seasons are going to look like, quibbling over the issue of whether Tortorella is appropriate to be the face of the future of UNH Hockey is kind of moot for the short term. If given the opportunity to add a sage older advisor to the mix among the UNH coaching staff, you just have to go ahead and do it. There's clearly no big financial commitment to JT, and his presence probably functionally doubles the D-1 experience of the other 3 guys combined PLUS it probably forces some advisors of top-end talent to give UNH a second thought, rather than shutting the door on Durham altogether. With a modest platform of a one-season winning "tradition" to build upon, JT probably will prove to be super-helpful with filling the gaping hole on the blueline that MS7 & Company are currently staring into at the conclusion of the upcoming season. His presence is likely to at least solidify UNH as a "middle of the pack" HEA team for the short term, which not only is preferable to where we've spent most of his decade away from the program, but also mirrors where the program was the last time he was here. I think overall, that is good (not great) news.
So flash forward three seasons, and let's say Tortorella becomes the "wise elder mentor" to the program, like a cut-rate version of what Grant Standbrook did for UMaine for so long, and UNH settles into the 5-7 slots in HEA. Does that make MS7 into a modern day Walshy? Hardly. I'm pretty sure it also doesn't make MS7 into Timmy Whitehead for that matter. What it does do is make for a very challenging decision from the AD - who may or may not still be here by then - on whether middle-of-the-pack UNH Hockey is what her version of the program is OR if at some point along the line, it dawns on her that UNH Hockey used to be regularly in the high-rent district of HEA, and arguably the NCAA as well. Will a better version of mediocrity be good enough to earn MS7 another contract? THAT will make for some interesting discussions.
Let's say the AD's patience with the MS7 Era finally expires in early Spring '27 (if not sooner). Will it make even the smallest difference if JT was still part of the coaching team once that time arrives? I doubt it. A new coach will no doubt want his guys with him at UNH, so guys like Stew and Jules will leave with MS7. Tortorella, on the other hand, could be a helpful liaison to an incoming staff who might need to learn the ropes in Durham for the first year or so. OR the new guy will decide he doesn't need JT either. No big deal, either way.
In the meantime, if a guy like Tortorella can at the very least consolidate last season's improvement, and help stabilize the program far from the cellar, it raises the platform for the next guy to start from. And it at least keeps hope alive that the program isn't stuck in the basement any longer, and has some postseason hopes within reach. He's a big plus IMHO when added to the current staff. It's unlikely he'll generate a return to former glories - he didn't do that even when he was an official assistant - but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. JMHO.
So flash forward three seasons, and let's say Tortorella becomes the "wise elder mentor" to the program, like a cut-rate version of what Grant Standbrook did for UMaine for so long, and UNH settles into the 5-7 slots in HEA. Does that make MS7 into a modern day Walshy? Hardly. I'm pretty sure it also doesn't make MS7 into Timmy Whitehead for that matter. What it does do is make for a very challenging decision from the AD - who may or may not still be here by then - on whether middle-of-the-pack UNH Hockey is what her version of the program is OR if at some point along the line, it dawns on her that UNH Hockey used to be regularly in the high-rent district of HEA, and arguably the NCAA as well. Will a better version of mediocrity be good enough to earn MS7 another contract? THAT will make for some interesting discussions.
Let's say the AD's patience with the MS7 Era finally expires in early Spring '27 (if not sooner). Will it make even the smallest difference if JT was still part of the coaching team once that time arrives? I doubt it. A new coach will no doubt want his guys with him at UNH, so guys like Stew and Jules will leave with MS7. Tortorella, on the other hand, could be a helpful liaison to an incoming staff who might need to learn the ropes in Durham for the first year or so. OR the new guy will decide he doesn't need JT either. No big deal, either way.
In the meantime, if a guy like Tortorella can at the very least consolidate last season's improvement, and help stabilize the program far from the cellar, it raises the platform for the next guy to start from. And it at least keeps hope alive that the program isn't stuck in the basement any longer, and has some postseason hopes within reach. He's a big plus IMHO when added to the current staff. It's unlikely he'll generate a return to former glories - he didn't do that even when he was an official assistant - but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. JMHO.
Sparkee
Blackbear
Probably he does stabilize UNH in that 6-7 slot like you said, which will earn MS7 a very lengthy extension.
Chuck Murray
WIS & Effingwoods Hockey Almanac
That's my concern. Better than taking up permanent residency in the basement, but if you're not winning things, does it matter?