UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

[Mainehatlady]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

No, I've been watching, but I'm the eternal optimist when it comes to hockey teams that I follow and coaches that I like.

 

[wildcatdc]

Do you really think he'd walk away with one year remaining on his contract, and only 14 wins (someone confirm) away from the 600 win milestone. I'd like to see him get there.

okay, I think it's time to give this 600-win milestone thing a rest. To believe that this has been an explicit goal of the program would essentially require that we believe that:

- a man who has committed the majority of his adult life to the betterment of the UNH hockey program (and his college years as well) would suddenly become so selfish as to focus on his PERSONAL GAIN over the long-term success of his alma mater and employer

- that in some crude fashion, the athletic department was complicit in this, scheduling patsies for the 600-win plateau rather than recognizing the declining state of affairs and trying to ensure that the program was at least mildly competitive during this nadir. (An athletic department that is allegedly not necessarily in lockstep with the coach, by the way.)

I know it makes for good press, and I've enjoyed the Quest reflections! But to seriously believe that this is what has driven decision-making over the last couple of years goes beyond the pale and really disrespects the guy who has brought us more than our share of great moments over the last 20+ years, even if we didn't land the big one along the way.

I wish the 600 wins and a NC or two were treasures he could take with him into retirement. Assuming (and I am) that he's out, I'm pretty sure only one of those even registers on his radar.

Thanks, Coach, for all you've done/you did.

 

[Nifty16]

okay, I think it's time to give this 600-win milestone thing a rest. To believe that this has been an explicit goal of the program would essentially require that we believe that:

- a man who has committed the majority of his adult life to the betterment of the UNH hockey program (and his college years as well) would suddenly become so selfish as to focus on his PERSONAL GAIN over the long-term success of his alma mater and employer

- that in some crude fashion, the athletic department was complicit in this, scheduling patsies for the 600-win plateau rather than recognizing the declining state of affairs and trying to ensure that the program was at least mildly competitive during this nadir. (An athletic department that is allegedly not necessarily in lockstep with the coach, by the way.)

I know it makes for good press, and I've enjoyed the Quest reflections! But to seriously believe that this is what has driven decision-making over the last couple of years goes beyond the pale and really disrespects the guy who has brought us more than our share of great moments over the last 20+ years, even if we didn't land the big one along the way.

I wish the 600 wins and a NC or two were treasures he could take with him into retirement. Assuming (and I am) that he's out, I'm pretty sure only one of those even registers on his radar.

Thanks, Coach, for all you've done/you did.

Well said. Sick of hearing the whole "round number" stuff all season. Don't think it matters to man who gave more then anyone else to the program. To think that is the only thing he cares about is just plain insulting. No one is happy how the last couple of years have gone, and I am sure that coach is more upset then all of us. I am with everyone else and believe it's time for a change but will not go down the road of throwing dirt over a man who has. Ire passion for UNH hockey then all of us combines. I thanks him for all he has done and wish him luck going forward and hope he gets to sit back and watch the program rise back to the top. After all of it was t for Umile we wouldn't have the high expectations out of the team as we do.

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

okay, I think it's time to give this 600-win milestone thing a rest. To believe that this has been an explicit goal of the program would essentially require that we believe that:

- a man who has committed the majority of his adult life to the betterment of the UNH hockey program (and his college years as well) would suddenly become so selfish as to focus on his PERSONAL GAIN over the long-term success of his alma mater and employer

- that in some crude fashion, the athletic department was complicit in this, scheduling patsies for the 600-win plateau rather than recognizing the declining state of affairs and trying to ensure that the program was at least mildly competitive during this nadir. (An athletic department that is allegedly not necessarily in lockstep with the coach, by the way.)

I know it makes for good press, and I've enjoyed the Quest reflections! But to seriously believe that this is what has driven decision-making over the last couple of years goes beyond the pale and really disrespects the guy who has brought us more than our share of great moments over the last 20+ years, even if we didn't land the big one along the way.

I wish the 600 wins and a NC or two were treasures he could take with him into retirement. Assuming (and I am) that he's out, I'm pretty sure only one of those even registers on his radar.

Thanks, Coach, for all you've done/you did.

Well said wildcatdc

 

[boblav1]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

FYI - Two with Yale next season?

@ChipMalafronte
Yale hockey non-league games next year: home vs UNH, UMass, ASU (2), vs Sacred Heart in Bridgeport; vs. Duluth and UNH at Dartmouth tourney

 

[deltabravo62]

FYI - Two with Yale next season?

@ChipMalafronte
Yale hockey non-league games next year: home vs UNH, UMass, ASU (2), vs Sacred Heart in Bridgeport; vs. Duluth and UNH at Dartmouth tourney

Possibly, UNH will play Dartmouth on the first night of the tourney and if both UNH and Yale win or lose their first game they would meet again.

 

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

What's the "clash question"? And thanks for starting the off season thread

"Should I stay or should I go?"

 

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Just want to tease out something Watcher implied in the earlier thread. Is Glenn Stewart leaving? Assuming he takes the reins, is Souza seeking two assistants or one for next year?

I have no knowledge, but here are the data points I am looking at:

1) they have no real prior relationship, and it would not be unusual for a new coach to want to hire two of his own guys
2) They have not given him a lot of responsibility. The recruiting the past two years * seems* to be Souza, not Stewart
3) the on-ice product does not really scream "gotta keep him"
4) it is not unusual for a guy passed over for a job to move on of his own volition, and with other coaching changes, he may get a better position/security.

pro keeping
1) Some continuity with existing players
2) Stewart has experience recruiting, and if they go with a younger assistant/Souza contemporary, Stewart could provide experience
3) Stewart was UNH's rep at last week's Beantown classic, so it appears they have not phased him out completely
4) loyalty for a UNH alum who took a risk leaving Merrimack.

 

[Greg Ambrose]

I have no knowledge, but here are the data points I am looking at:

1) they have no real prior relationship, and it would not be unusual for a new coach to want to hire two of his own guys
2) They have not given him a lot of responsibility. The recruiting the past two years * seems* to be Souza, not Stewart
3) the on-ice product does not really scream "gotta keep him"
4) it is not unusual for a guy passed over for a job to move on of his own volition, and with other coaching changes, he may get a better position/security.

pro keeping
1) Some continuity with existing players
2) Stewart has experience recruiting, and if they go with a younger assistant/Souza contemporary, Stewart could provide experience
3) Stewart was UNH's rep at last week's Beantown classic, so it appears they have not phased him out completely
4) loyalty for a UNH alum who took a risk leaving Merrimack.

Thanks.

 

[HockeyRef]

"Should I stay or should I go?"

Yeah I finally got it...sigh. I'm better with lyrics/song titles than names of bands (unless it's the Beatles, etc...the Clash wasn't in my listening genre but of course, I knew the song...whatev!) Will say it's is a good thread title!

 

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

"Should I stay or should I go?"

Of course, to the guy making the decision, the Clash is part of that "new music" that the kids like (unaware that the Clash were 30 years ago). Umile strikes me more as a Frank Sinatra kind of guy. Maybe "my way", "one for the road," "it was a very good year," or "the best is yet to come"?

 

[E.J. Smith]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Of course, to the guy making the decision, the Clash is part of that "new music" that the kids like (unaware that the Clash were 30 years ago). Umile strikes me more as a Frank Sinatra kind of guy. Maybe "my way", "one for the road," "it was a very good year," or "the best is yet to come"?

Tom Jones "What's New Pussycat"

 

[chickod]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Of course, to the guy making the decision, the Clash is part of that "new music" that the kids like (unaware that the Clash were 30 years ago). Umile strikes me more as a Frank Sinatra kind of guy. Maybe "my way", "one for the road," "it was a very good year," or "the best is yet to come"?

"One for my baby and one for the road..."

 

[E.J. Smith]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Well said. Sick of hearing the whole "round number" stuff all season. Don't think it matters to man who gave more then anyone else to the program. To think that is the only thing he cares about is just plain insulting. No one is happy how the last couple of years have gone, and I am sure that coach is more upset then all of us. I am with everyone else and believe it's time for a change but will not go down the road of throwing dirt over a man who has. Ire passion for UNH hockey then all of us combines. I thanks him for all he has done and wish him luck going forward and hope he gets to sit back and watch the program rise back to the top. After all of it was t for Umile we wouldn't have the high expectations out of the team as we do.

I don't get this logic at all. Because you were good at your job at one time you can be bad at it now? I'm hoping none of us ever come across any airline pilots or surgeons who follow that way of thinking.

This was a job. He wasn't volunteering with the ORYHA squirts down at Jackson's Landing. A well-compensated and highly visible job at that. He, first and foremost, should have seen that as a stewardship and recognized when he was no longer up to it. But he didn't. I don't know what got in the way - ego, lack of judgement, greed, etc. - but something kept him in the position beyond the time he could do it justice. You act like pointing that out is an insult to him. It's not, this isn't a referendum on his coaching career, or even him as a person, it's a hard but fair look at the current, and recent, state of the program. Which is fairly horrid.

 

[UncleRay]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Maybe a little Ray Charles? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8DRen60X10

 

[wildcatdc]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

I don't get this logic at all. Because you were good at your job at one time you can be bad at it now? I'm hoping none of us ever come across any airline pilots or surgeons who follow that way of thinking.

This was a job. He wasn't volunteering with the ORYHA squirts down at Jackson's Landing. A well-compensated and highly visible job at that. He, first and foremost, should have seen that as a stewardship and recognized when he was no longer up to it. But he didn't. I don't know what got in the way - ego, lack of judgement, greed, etc. - but something kept him in the position beyond the time he could do it justice. You act like pointing that out is an insult to him. It's not, this isn't a referendum on his coaching career, or even him as a person, it's a hard but fair look at the current, and recent, state of the program. Which is fairly horrid.

I'm in strong agreement here. He had earned some latitude, but that ran out some time ago. The "stewardship" word is spot on, and a lack of introspection seems to be contagious among coaches that had a measure of success at one point and then fell on hard times (Bobby Bowden comes to mind).

I still don't have any patience for the 600-win theory, but I do believe that at some point, he should have known when to step aside. I assume positive intent on his part - I think he has stayed on based on a genuine belief that he had the program on the cusp of a turnaround, whether we might have agreed with that assessment or not.

If he is around next year, that (IMO) will show some real tone-deafness.

 

[E.J. Smith]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Introspection that's the word I was looking for. Not much of it on display around the Whitt lately.

It's funny, maybe that served him well early on when he basically had to write the script on the fly to rebuild the program. Not so much now. Maybe one of those paradoxes that catches certain types of coach - the lack of doubt and introspection that kept you from being overwhelmed early on is exactly what sunk you when it was time to figure out how to sustain rather than build a program.

Poor guy, he couldn't help himself, it was ordained

 

[Nifty16]

I don't get this logic at all. Because you were good at your job at one time you can be bad at it now? I'm hoping none of us ever come across any airline pilots or surgeons who follow that way of thinking.

This was a job. He wasn't volunteering with the ORYHA squirts down at Jackson's Landing. A well-compensated and highly visible job at that. He, first and foremost, should have seen that as a stewardship and recognized when he was no longer up to it. But he didn't. I don't know what got in the way - ego, lack of judgement, greed, etc. - but something kept him in the position beyond the time he could do it justice. You act like pointing that out is an insult to him. It's not, this isn't a referendum on his coaching career, or even him as a person, it's a hard but fair look at the current, and recent, state of the program. Which is fairly horrid.

Not saying he doesn't deserve any blame did say it's time for a change. Just don't buy the whole BS that he is only in it for #600. Maybe he actually loves what he is does and that is why. The decline the last couple of years isn't acceptable to anyone and I am sure Umile feels the same. I am one who thinks he will step aside this year and if he doesn't well then it's all on him. I am sure it's not an easy deacon to come to after you have given basically your entire life to a program it's easy sitting in the stands saying he should just step down putting myself in his shoes I am sure it Is not easy and he wants to see the team succeed as we all do. I just respect all he has done for the program and yes do give him blame for the last couple of years to. If this is it I will remember the whole body of work not just the last couple of years and the good will put weight the bad to me. After all it's college hockey and not surgery it airplane pilot

 

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

From today's Concord Monitor

Reporters at the Tsongas Center that evening had their stories done and ready to file long before the final horn. No one needed more than a quote or two from Umile about this game.

There was only one question that truly mattered: Is this Dick Umile’s final post-game presser, or will he return next season?

WEEI’s Scott McLaughlin asked the question. Umile’s response: “No comment on that.”

A contract extension from 2015 keeps Umile, 68, behind the UNH bench through next season. It is believed he will retire either this offseason or next year when the contract expires.

Mike Souza, a 2000 graduate of UNH and Umile’s hockey program, was hired as associate head coach shortly after Umile’s contract was extended. A transition began to take motion as Umile directly identified Souza as the heir apparent.

Souza “will have an opportunity to succeed me and take over the program,” Umile told the Foster’s Daily Democrat in August 2015. “That will be the transition going forward. ... I’m excited about it. I’ll finish my career coaching at UNH.”

In the time since, the Wildcats have endured two of their worst seasons in terms of record in recent memory.

This decade has not been kind to UNH. After qualifying for 10 straight NCAA tournaments from 2002 through 2011, the Wildcats have missed five of the last six. They made it interesting this season with a first-round upset of Merrimack in the Hockey East tournament, but the gap widened to four years since their last NCAA berth in 2013.

Umile has led UNH to four Frozen Four appearances and two national championship games in 1999 and 2003, but neither ended with the team bringing hardware back to Durham. The Wildcats have not been a Frozen Four team since that 2003 season, which closed in 5-1 loss to Minnesota for the title.

We’ll talk to Umile once more on Thursday in his final media session to close the season. The question will be asked again, and perhaps Umile will have an answer.

(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3339, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)

 

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2017 Off-season: The Clash Question

Not saying he doesn't deserve any blame did say it's time for a change. Just don't buy the whole BS that he is only in it for #600. Maybe he actually loves what he is does and that is why. The decline the last couple of years isn't acceptable to anyone and I am sure Umile feels the same. I am one who thinks he will step aside this year and if he doesn't well then it's all on him. I am sure it's not an easy deacon to come to after you have given basically your entire life to a program it's easy sitting in the stands saying he should just step down putting myself in his shoes I am sure it Is not easy and he wants to see the team succeed as we all do. I just respect all he has done for the program and yes do give him blame for the last couple of years to. If this is it I will remember the whole body of work not just the last couple of years and the good will put weight the bad to me. After all it's college hockey and not surgery it airplane pilot

Well I have never been a big fan of the 'road to 600' myself...not to say I haven't enjoyed reading the Quest. I was talking to someone who's been around the program for awhile and I asked them why UNH didn't play the big teams like Minny, Michigan, etc like they had been when I first started following them, their response? "When you're not that good...it's hard for those teams to risk Pairwise rankings to play you". Now I don't know how true any of that is (I do know what a loss to a struggling team can do to Pairwise) and still don't buy our 'cupcake' of a schedule was exclusively derived so that Coach U could get to the NRN. You just can't tell me the powers that be who do the scheduling actually sat around and dreamed up a schedule with the intention it would allow for Dick Umile to reach his milestone. I mean, if this season's schedule was 'weak' what's next year's gonna look like? And if it IS true that his needs were more important than the job at hand...I have no words I see where Maine is playing some big dogs despite their abysmal results but I will qualify that I have no clue how the scheduling works in the first place.

Anyway..totally get what you are saying about the whole thing. It's not easy to let go of something that's become your entire life. To quote one of my fav's Neil Young tunes
"Comes a Time" and even tho we think that time is now, doesn't mean he does...

Here ya go you 70's music fans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TeLSgncU_4