here's a copy of the Boston Globe article with all the copywrited stuff
attached
 
NCAA HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
Berenson has grown into role as keeper of Michigan flame
By Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist, 04/05/98
 
 
 
ed Berenson is not afraid to tell you what he knew about college
coaching when he took the job at the ol' alma mater 14 years ago:
 
 
 
''Nothing.''
 
 
 
Coaching? Well, sure, as Lefty Driesell once said, ''Ah can coach.'' And
so could Red. Berenson came to Michigan after spending the first six
years following his retirement from the NHL as both an assistant and
head man with the likes of St. Louis and Buffalo. Coach? Red Berenson
was the NHL Coach of the Year in 1980-81, leading the Blues to a
franchise-record 107 points (45-18-17).
 
 
 
College coaching presented an entirely different set of challenges.
 
 
 
''The first three or four years were not fun,'' Berenson reflects on the
eve of last night's NCAA championship game against Boston College. ''I
had no idea what I was getting into.''
 
 
 
The Michigan hockey program was like some West Texas oil well run dry.
Once the creme de la creme of college hockey programs (winning six of
the first nine NCAA championships, including the 1948 inaugural), the
Wolverines were so much road kill by the time Berenson, a storied
Michigan name, was summoned to restore the school's sullied hockey honor
in 1984.
 
 
 
After winning title No. 9 in 1964, Michigan put on the ice a succession
of teams whose capabilities ranged from hold-your-nose to reasonably
decent. Whereas fans had once stood around the clock in order to obtain
entrance into the raucous, 2,000-seat Michigan Coliseum to see the
Wolverines play, interest had evaporated by the mid '80s. It was
strictly friends and relatives, and not too many of the latter.
 
 
 
The studious Berenson had a vision, all right, but he wasn't exactly
sure how to make it come to life. He wanted to win, and he wanted to win
in the right way. Life is always easier for a college coach if he is
willing to compromise the latter tenet in order to achieve the first
goal. Berenson wasn't.
 
 
 
He wanted to win with, yes, student-athletes. Remember who we're dealing
with here. Remember that when Gordon (Red) Berenson skated onto the
Boston Garden ice as a star-struck member of the Montreal Canadiens one
day after playing in the 1962 NCAA third-place game as a member of the
Michigan Wolverines, he was the first person ever to go directly from
the American college ranks to the NHL without passing ''Go'' or
collecting the $200. There was an inviolate rule in force at the time.
Over the entrance to every NHL locker room there was a sign that read
EDUCATED COLLEGE PLAYERS NEED NOT APPLY.
 
 
 
''I was lucky,'' he explains. ''Back home [Regina, Saskatchewan] I
listened to the right people. I played for a coach who had been with the
Canadiens and he told me, `Go to school. If you don't make it [i.e. the
NHL], you weren't supposed to make it. Don't be a hockey bum like me. I
never finished high school, and I regret it.'''
 
 
 
Berenson did some research. He investigated until he found the best
academic school that also played high-level hockey, and so he came to
Ann Arbor, where he would become both a hockey legend (78-59-137 in 78
games) and a double graduate (a '62 bachelor's and a '66 master's, both
in business). The man was decades ahead of his time. The lucky ones now
are the players fortunate enough to have him as their coach.
 
 
 
One thing Berenson already knew about was the role hockey could play in
the Michigan athletic scheme of things. Outsiders frame Michigan
athletics in terms of two sports, football and men's basketball, and
that's understandable. The football program takes itself as seriously as
any. An on-campus stadium that has accommodated more than 106,000 people
is testimony to the importance of Michigan football. Crisler Arena seats
13,069 for basketball. Each sport knows from national championships.
 
 
 
But what all good Wolverines know is that there is plenty of room left
over for hockey, or, at least, a hockey team worth watching. Berenson
had played at Michigan when the sport was vibrant and people cared. He
knew it could be that way again.
 
 
 
And it is. It is, in fact, better than ever. The renovated Yost Ice
Arena, built in 1923 as one of the first great multipurpose collegiate
field houses and later known as the home of the Cazzie Russell-era
Michigan juggernauts, is now one of the great pits of college hockey.
Forget about just showing up some night. You won't get in. Every one of
the 6,343 seats is always accounted for. It wasn't that way when Red
Berenson took over, but it sure is now.
 
 
 
''I wasn't worried about football or basketball,'' Berenson says. ''I
knew what kind of hockey school Michigan was. You can talk about
Michigan football or basketball, but if you've ever been to the Yost Ice
Arena you'd know that our atmosphere is second to none.''
 
 
 
''I think the hockey fans at Michigan are the craziest of all three,''
agrees junior defenseman Bubba Berenzweig. ''I wouldn't trade our fans
for anything. I think they're the best fans on campus.''
 
 
 
It took Red Berenson four years or so to get it down, to learn whom and
how to recruit (there are no manuals on the subject lying around NHL
locker rooms) and how to control a college program. It helps that,
unlike many coaches in many sports, he actually enjoys recruiting.
 
 
 
''I do like it,'' he says. ''It's not like the pros. Here you can select
your talent. You can be the scout and the coach. You try to be careful
who you get because it's like you're adopting the kid for the next four
years. You just hope you make good judgments. You don't always get what
you want, of course. We really wanted [Boston College center] Marty
Reasoner. On the other hand, sometimes you get lucky. You get a walk-on
like [Michigan freshman defenseman] David Huntzicker, who makes your
team and you didn't even want him enough to give him a scholarship. So
what do we know?''
 
 
 
False modesty won't get you anywhere, Mr. B. We know you know what
you're doing. When a man is in his fourth consecutive Final Four; when a
man has rung up a record of 259-63-18 in the '90s; when a man can take a
team to the title game in an admitted off-year about which, in all
candor, he says, ''We didn't even expect to make the tournament''; and
when he can do all this while being able to sleep well and shave
comfortably (''We don't want any hockey bums around here'') the man
knows all that's necessary to know about his chosen profession.
 
 
 
Want a safe bet? Expect to see Michigan checking into the hotel for the
1999 Final Four in Anaheim. That's unless Red Berenson decides to take
over the basketball team. Which, if I may say so, would be a pretty good
idea. You can always find X and O men. Good luck trying to find another
Red Berenson.
 
 
 
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist.
 
 
 
This story ran on page C01 of the Boston Globe on 04/05/98.
) Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
 
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