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We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

FadeToBlack&Gold said:
I'm under the impression that Sertie took the Tech job as a favor until the program could re-evaluate itself and hire a more permanent replacement (ultimately Russell). At any rate, he was only around long enough to stem the bleeding after Watters was canned. I think the general consensus is that Brown and Mancini were promising coaches who both took opportunities to move on to pros/OHL before either could make a long-term impact. From what I can dig up on Boxer, he spent a few years coaching second-tier minor league hockey after his rocky stint at Tech, and was canned midway into his 4th year with the Memphis Riverkings after a 9-23-0 start; hardly what I'd call success.
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Did your research show that Boxer had a winning record in two of his three full seasons at Memphis? Did it show that in the season prior to being fired, that he led the team to the CHL finals? Did it show that his record at Tech was 66-129-8, a .345 winning percentage and that at Memphis he had a record of 112-119-7, a winning percentage of .485 and an appearance in the finals and two playoff appearances in three seasons? His record at Memphis was significantly better than it was at Tech. Why do you think Brown and Mancini moved on after two and four years? Is it possible that they realized there wasn't alot of upside to continuing at Tech and that they had a better chance to advance elsewhere? That being said, why were all of these people able to be more successful, or should I say have better winning percentages with other programs?
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

davyd83 said:
Did your research show that Boxer had a winning record in two of his three full seasons at Memphis? Did it show that in the season prior to being fired, that he led the team to the CHL finals? Did it show that his record at Tech was 66-129-8, a .345 winning percentage and that at Memphis he had a record of 112-119-7, a winning percentage of .485 and an appearance in the finals and two playoff appearances in three seasons? His record at Memphis was significantly better than it was at Tech. Why do you think Brown and Mancini moved on after two and four years? Is it possible that they realized there wasn't alot of upside to continuing at Tech and that they had a better chance to advance elsewhere? That being said, why were all of these people able to be more successful, or should I say have better winning percentages with other programs?
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I don't think that it is fair to compare pro vs. college success. As a pro coach, management gives you a team and tells you to do only one thing with them - do whatever it takes to win as many games as possible, or we'll find someone else who can. In college, you're also responsible for recruiting your own team, and making sure that, to the best of your ability, they stay out of trouble and remain academically eligible. Maybe Boxer couldn't handle the recruiting aspect.

As for Brown and Mancini moving on, don't try to tell me that if you were a young, promising NCAA coach with no loyalty to the school you were employed by, you wouldn't seriously consider an opportunity to get things like recruiting and academic eligibility off your back and coach a team of professionals. That's just the way it goes.

Look, no one is expecting Tech to appear in a Frozen Four anytime soon, and only an idiot would think that a coaching change will have this team back in the Top 15 by the end of the next season. I think overall, we'd just like to see more seasons along the lines of 06-07, and fewer seasons along the lines of anything resembling the last three. As a coach, when an injury plague continues for three seasons in a row, you can no longer just sit there and cry "Bad luck!" You have a culture, not an anomaly, and you need to figure out how to fix the problem.
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

FadeToBlack&Gold said:
I don't think that it is fair to compare pro vs. college success. As a pro coach, management gives you a team and tells you to do only one thing with them - do whatever it takes to win as many games as possible, or we'll find someone else who can. In college, you're also responsible for recruiting your own team, and making sure that, to the best of your ability, they stay out of trouble and remain academically eligible. Maybe Boxer couldn't handle the recruiting aspect.

As for Brown and Mancini moving on, don't try to tell me that if you were a young, promising NCAA coach with no loyalty to the school you were employed by, you wouldn't seriously consider an opportunity to get things like recruiting and academic eligibility off your back and coach a team of professionals. That's just the way it goes.

Look, no one is expecting Tech to appear in a Frozen Four anytime soon, and only an idiot would think that a coaching change will have this team back in the Top 15 by the end of the next season. I think overall, we'd just like to see more seasons along the lines of 06-07, and fewer seasons along the lines of anything resembling the last three. As a coach, when an injury plague continues for three seasons in a row, you can no longer just sit there and cry "Bad luck!" You have a culture, not an anomaly, and you need to figure out how to fix the problem.
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Your pro vs college argument doesn't work. At the CHL minor pro level you are responsible for recruiting your team. Management generally has very little to do with it. Same for the OHL, Bob Mancini was Head Coach and GM in Saginaw. He was also under .500 at Tech and over .500 at Ferris.

So think about this. First, if you make a coaching change, it is highly likely that there will be a record improvement over this season. Now who do you bring in? Do you think there is any chance that some of those marquee names would throw their hat into the ring? And let's just say that the money to hire that marquee coach and his chosen assistants is available, but the rest of the budget and support remains the same. Why might some of these coaches with a record of success not be interested in coming to Tech?
 
davyd83 said:
And let's just say that the money to hire that marquee coach and his chosen assistants is available, but the rest of the budget and support remains the same. Why might some of these coaches with a record of success not be interested in coming to Tech?
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Sir Bedevere: There are ways of telling whether she is a witch.
Peasant 1: Are there? Oh well, tell us.
Sir Bedevere: Tell me. What do you do with witches?
Peasant 1: Burn them.
Sir Bedevere: And what do you burn, apart from witches?
Peasant 1: More witches.
Peasant 2: Wood.
Sir Bedevere: Good. Now, why do witches burn?
Peasant 3: ...because they're made of... wood?
Sir Bedevere: Good. So how do you tell whether she is made of wood?
Peasant 1: Build a bridge out of her.
Sir Bedevere: But can you not also build bridges out of stone?
Peasant 1: Oh yeah.
Sir Bedevere: Does wood sink in water?
Peasant 1: No, no, it floats!... It floats! Throw her into the pond!
Sir Bedevere: No, no. What else floats in water?
Peasant 1: Bread.
Peasant 2: Apples.
Peasant 3: Very small rocks.
Peasant 1: Cider.
Peasant 2: Gravy.
Peasant 3: Cherries.
Peasant 1: Mud.
Peasant 2: Churches.
Peasant 3: Lead! Lead!
King Arthur: A Duck.
Sir Bedevere: ...Exactly. So, logically...
Peasant 1: If she weighed the same as a duck... she's made of wood.
Sir Bedevere: And therefore...
Peasant 2: ...A witch!

Is it the lack of women? Actually, a better broadcast contract would go along ways even if it's expanding to a radio network to cover more of the Western U.P. and Northern Wisconsin.
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

Burnt Orange Husky said:
Pres. Mroz is the person responsible for making a decision about the Head Coach. Unfortunately, he's preoccupied with trying to keep the classroom doors open and figuring out to make Tech a private institution. Plus, I think there's a lot of denial going on. Why else would the University spend the money to build skyboxes in the smallest arena in the WCHA with the worst attendance.

Let's face it, Tech is not a hockey school any more. The hockey program has been losing for as long as the current students have been ALIVE! The basketball and football programs are more successful and less expensive to operate. At a luncheon last year with Pres. Mroz, he did not even mention the hockey program until he was asked about it. And when I asked about a new coach, he just shrugged his shoulders and had a blank "will see" look on his face.

I hope I'm wrong but I don't think the Administration is going to do anything to improve the program and my fear is that when Big Ten hockey starts up, the Administration will take the opportunity to kill the program. It's all about the money these days...
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I don't think the hockey program is going anywhere. I have always been under the impression that Rick Yeo was asked to leave as athletic director after he tried to eliminate the football program. (Of course, he was replaced around the same time Tompkins was fired and Mroz became interim President. I'm too lazy to look up if they both happened in the same year). Also, why would the University let the Opies donate a million bucks for the suites if they won't be used?

Ultimately, you're right, though, about Mroz having to try to keep the doors open. I have it on very good authority that in one of the Engineering departments a professor is retiring and he won't be replaced next year. All this because of State of Michigan budget cuts.
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

Yooper Scooper said:
I don't think the hockey program is going anywhere. I have always been under the impression that Rick Yeo was asked to leave as athletic director after he tried to eliminate the football program. (Of course, he was replaced around the same time Tompkins was fired and Mroz became interim President. I'm too lazy to look up if they both happened in the same year). Also, why would the University let the Opies donate a million bucks for the suites if they won't be used?

Ultimately, you're right, though, about Mroz having to try to keep the doors open. I have it on very good authority that in one of the Engineering departments a professor is retiring and he won't be replaced next year. All this because of State of Michigan budget cuts.
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good god!

Rick Yeo retired to Palm Springs to play golf. he wasn't fired.

Sertie came in to stabilize the program when Watters was fired. he did a d^^n good job in my opinion.

MTU still has a very viable hockey program. we just need to get back into that "any given weekend" status. DU already had their 4 points counted up when we got to Denver.

Suzanne is definitely not losing her job. I think Jamie stays too. he runs a good clean program with alot of alumni support.
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

I agree. Suzanne isn't going anywhere in a million years. And Russell will be back next year as well. I agree about Sertich as well.

You're right. I got my dates mixed up. I'll grant you Yeo wasn't asked to leave. But from what I understand he was the one who spear-headed the effort to possibly eliminate the football team in 2003 due to funding constraints until the alumni stepped up. Go and look at the football All-American display at the SDC. The old ones all had Rick Yeo's signature. A few years ago they were all replaced with new ones without his signature.
 
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Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

Morning everyone.

No Jamie today, Patrick McCadden was in studio for drive time:
His goal against BSU - their goalie was playign the puck and it landed on his stick and he put in the open net
His goal last week against DU, SH he was just trying to put it on net and it went in

A lot of pressure late in the game last friday, felt pretty good when we got the W
Work on his faceoffs a lot, he was brought here to take faceoffs and he's trying to improve
Faceoffs are a lot of anticipation, looking to see what the other guy will do and then come up with a plan of how to beat him, also watch a lot of video for other players

On ice time as a freshmen:
not expecting this much ice
A couple of injuries and couple guys leaving the team, resulted in a lot of ice time
It's been great, just want to help the team

Differences from juniors:
Stregth of the guys in college is a big change

Likes playing with Gubb, been together for a few weekends now and starting to figure out how each other play

On UMN:
Fast team
If we take a body on them we should have some success

Favorite road trip: GLI
Impressive WCHA rink: UW
Major: Marketing
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

So the question is, is Jamie still in town, or is he directing his team from an undisclosed Super 8 in Venezuela?
Also: It's good to see some new posters on here. Keep it up, misinformed nonsense or no.
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

geezer said:
So the question is, is Jamie still in town, or is he directing his team from an undisclosed Super 8 in Venezuela?
Also: It's good to see some new posters on here. Keep it up, misinformed nonsense or no.
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A radical change is in order right now ! I don't know if Tech can come up with the money to buy out the current coaching staff and afford a new coach. They are down about as low as they can go. I still feel trying to grab a coach from a smaller school that has had some success recruiting is the way to go. Maybe a young hotshot USHL coach is another option. But they have to try to go away from the parade of former players. That is just not working !
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

davyd83 said:
Why were Mike Sertich, Newell Brown, Herb Boxer and Bob Mancini able to have better records in their other coaching stops than they did at Tech? Were they much better coaches in other organizations? No matter who has been there since John MacInnes retired, success has been elusive. Why? What are the underlying problems that have hindered all of these guys? What can be done to alleviate them? Because if you can't answer these questions, the next guy, whether the next year, the year after or 10 years from now, won't have much more success than his predecessors.
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You are absolutely correct.

My contention is that the AD, her predecessor(s) and her boss(es) cannot or will not even try to answer those questions which is why the Perpetual Losing Culture is tolerated. They fiddled while the Tech Hockey tradition burned to the point where only fans with gray hair were around when winning was the expectation and 'embarrassment' was a word never associated with Huskies.
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

Houghton77 said:
A radical change is in order right now ! I don't know if Tech can come up with the money to buy out the current coaching staff and afford a new coach. They are down about as low as they can go. I still feel trying to grab a coach from a smaller school that has had some success recruiting is the way to go. Maybe a young hotshot USHL coach is another option. But they have to try to go away from the parade of former players. That is just not working !
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I know that the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers coach's name has been tossed around. I think Shirtless brought him up. Personally, I don't know much about him. I still think it is Cary Eades and then everyone else. Is there a highly regarded assistant on Comley's staff, that may be looking for something different after Comley retires? I wouldn't be too excited about a guy from Comley's staff, but you have to conduct an extensive search, if thats the route chosen.

I hope Penn St. is looking for its coach out east, so we don't have to compete directly with them for a coach, because if we do, we'll get the second choice.

There are 2 excellent examples of what Tech should model the program after, and the potential success that can result from making the right decisions. I hope Suzanne is taking note of what they've done at Merrimack and RPI, because both were in the same boat as Tech not very long ago, and there are several similarities between Tech and these schools, regarding recruiting difficulties.
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

bigblue_dl said:
I know that the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers coach's name has been tossed around. I think Shirtless brought him up. Personally, I don't know much about him. I still think it is Cary Eades and then everyone else. Is there a highly regarded assistant on Comley's staff, that may be looking for something different after Comley retires? I wouldn't be too excited about a guy from Comley's staff, but you have to conduct an extensive search, if thats the route chosen.

I hope Penn St. is looking for its coach out east, so we don't have to compete directly with them for a coach, because if we do, we'll get the second choice.

There are 2 excellent examples of what Tech should model the program after, and the potential success that can result from making the right decisions. I hope Suzanne is taking note of what they've done at Merrimack and RPI, because both were in the same boat as Tech not very long ago, and there are several similarities between Tech and these schools, regarding recruiting difficulties.
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I think Eric Rud from GB would be a good candidate. Eades is another solid choice for any D-I head coaching position that opens up. Don't hold your breath on trying to compete with Penn State for a coaching candidate. Even if, by some stroke of good fortune, Tech could offer the same money, they can't offer the big time atmosphere that the Big Ten schools have. Unless the guys really loves Ambassador Pizza and KBC beer, or has family ties to the area, you wouldn't stand a chance.
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

I am not one of those people that believes that no one would be interested in coaching at MTU. There are only 58 college hockey head coaches, there are only so many openings every year (two or three on a good year, and some years have none). If there is a job opening at the Division 1 Level there are going to be interested coaches.
 
Re: We Cannot Have Nice Things: Michigan Tech 2010-2011 Season Thread: Part Tre

davyd83 said:
I think Eric Rud from GB would be a good candidate. Eades is another solid choice for any D-I head coaching position that opens up. Don't hold your breath on trying to compete with Penn State for a coaching candidate. Even if, by some stroke of good fortune, Tech could offer the same money, they can't offer the big time atmosphere that the Big Ten schools have. Unless the guys really loves Ambassador Pizza and KBC beer, or has family ties to the area, you wouldn't stand a chance.
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Here is my list of candidates from the previous thread.
College Asisstants:
Cary Eades - UND Top Assistant
Steve Rohlik - OSU Top Assitant
Steve Miller - DU Top Assitant
Mike Guentzel - UNO Assitant
Ron Rolston - USNDPT
Mel Pearson - Michigan Top Assitant

USHL Head Coaches:
Eric Rud - Green Bay
Mark Carlson - Cedar Rapids
Mike Montgomery - Dubuque
 
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