If there were 20 more L's on his resume, he could have taken both round number *quests* right down to the wire.
I'd say it's already gone south, to be fair. The problem has been that until last season, the slippage had been gradual, and not readily noticeable -
almost like trying to watch a glacier melt. You come back at the same time every year and the glacier is a little smaller, and while you don't see the steady melting, you still know it has to be melting. Last season, though, the glacier was transformed into a snowball, and popped into the microwave.
And worse still ... we are talking about deep structural damage to everything around the program. First it was the energy getting sucked out of the building due to the forces of political correctness, "acceptable" chants/songs, etc. Then the fabled multi-thousand seat waiting list - the one we used to rely upon when some of us discussed expanding the Whitt - eroded and went away. Next, the long-term base of fans gradually fell away, alienated by an AD who used the Men's Hockey program as the slush fund for everything else they were doing, and the gradual fall-off of the entertainment value of a program that was no longer a serious contender for national (or even league) honors.
The on-ice product has unquestionably deteriorated. A program that used to seek out a challenging schedule and high-profile NC events now looks to paper over the cracks with pseudo-membership in the AHA to try to prop up a head coach who has not only lost the plot, but has also lost his enthusiasm and commitment for basic necessary functions of a successful D-1 head coach. His hand-picked successor is clearly struggling to sell his vision for the program out on the recruiting trails, and the holdover assistant isn't doing much better. I don't even see a concerted effort by the folks in admin to sell tickets (and how late in the pre-season was it before the ST's actually got sent?), unless it's for the new toy across the street. Anyone who doesn't realize Football has passed Hockey at UNH just isn't paying attention.
So has Hockey already gone south at UNH? Obviously yes. To me, the question is just "how far south"? And while some seem to think (hope/whistle past the graveyard) they've gone south in a temporary "let's go to the Cape for the weekend" way ... I see it more like the program is wandering somewhere in between Richmond and Jacksonville, and it's just getting hotter and hotter with each passing month.
< insert Waffle House joke here >
At least in the mid-'80's we could blame a ridiculously difficult interlocking schedule with the WCHA for part of the problems. Who'd ever have guessed it would take an interlocking schedule with the mighty AHA to bring UNH down this time.