Subscriber article on Sneddon's lack of job security:
https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com...pens-up-entering-lame-duck-season/2379591001/
But really by the second paragraph you can tell this is just for show in UVM's eyes. Sneddon nor Schulman or Gervais seem like they're even evaluating on-ice performance in it and are talking up the "give him a chance in the renovated Gutt" talk that really has been the backroom story since the season ended. It all reads as pretty par for the course which is to say the standards just keep getting lowered and Sneddon joking around and the faux humbleness about telling Schulman not to talk extension because he doesn't deserve it (we all know Sneddon would have been very upset at the backlash and bad PR he would have gotten if they did it, we all know how much he hates even the slightest of critiques from fans or media). He knows nothing is going to happen to him regardless of what happens record-wise this year. That's how it reads.
Some choice selections from the article because probably not everyone will read it behind the paywall:
"Kevin Sneddon does not know if he will be the head coach of the University of Vermont men’s hockey team a year from now.
Instead he enters his 17th — and perhaps final — season as the Catamounts’ head man with one word to describe his lame-duck status:
“Good!”
UVM has not offered Sneddon an extension beyond the upcoming season, the final year of his current three-year contract. Whether Sneddon is still on the bench for the 2020-21 season will depend upon the judgment of UVM athletic director Jeff Schulman that the Catamounts have — or have not — shown significant improvement this winter."
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"Such a determination by Schulman as well as Joe Gervais, the associate athletic director and Sneddon’s immediate supervisor, likely will not depend solely upon the Catamounts’ overall and Hockey East records this winter. They are expected to also evaluate progress in style of play and recruiting as well as other factors such as academic success, team chemistry and player citizenship.
In March, Schulman offered unqualified support for Sneddon for this season and optimism that Sneddon can produce enough significant improvement to merit a new contract and the opportunity to try to reap the benefits of a revamped Gutterson Fieldhouse and sparkling new ancillary facilities such as locker room, players’ lounge, training and video rooms and medical/rehabilitation areas."
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“I met with Jeff and he said, ‘You know, you have a vote of confidence from me but we’re not at a point right now where we can talk about a lengthy contract extension. We certainly need to see improvement,’” Sneddon said.
“That’s how I felt anyway,” said Sneddon. “I could have walked into that meeting and they could have said, ‘Hey, we’re looking for a new hockey coach. Here’s your remaining year on your contract and go find work’.”
Because Schulman and Gervais were so forthright, Sneddon said, “In their mind this was actually a vote of confidence that I can turn things around with the boys and so do I.”
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"Quite honestly, I probably thought in my mind that over 20 years of coaching I’d get fired a number of times. You just don’t know,” he said. “I joke about it (that) we’re all lame ducks. It’s whether you get a year to go find a job or if it’s last minute.”
Instead, Sneddon said this year gives him and the staff the opportunity to continue a process of re-evaluating and implementing changes begun a year ago. Whether all that shows on the ice to an extent worthy of a new contract will be the question only Schulman will answer."
