Greg Ambrose writes:
> That said, the bottom line with any coach is winning. Ron Anderson has not
> had a winning record in HE since Merrimack joined the league. At some
> point the school has to ask if it can continue competing in a league such
> as HE with the current coach at the helm. The answer was partially given
> last year when Anderson was given a one year contract. Clearly, he had to
> produce this year or he was gone.
I am sure I answered this adequately in my other message, but the level of
commitment in so many ways has been so low, easily the worst in the league,
that it was unfair to ask anyone to produce in that situation. There is no
question about that.
> The fact that he has only won 4 league games this year despite having some
> very prolific scorers makes one wonder. Yes, the defense was suspect and
> he started the year with no experienced goaltender but, who recruited these
> guys? To be a D-1 head coach, you have to be proficient at both coaching
> and recruiting.
In any given year Merrimack has had either good defense and goaltending or
good scoring, but rarely both. The situation they are in, I believe, has
made it difficult for them to be able to put it all together. Part of the
problem, especially today, is that they are a low profile but very
expensive private school. As the cost has ballooned and NCAA scholarships
have been cut back, the ability to land good walk on players or
part-scholarship players has decreased.
One could rightly ask in hindsight whether or not it would have been better
to play Classen more last season to prepare him for this season, I agree.
On the other hand, goaltenders have come in and done well off the bat
before, such as Legault in 1993-94.
And given that there is not a long list of players out there who Merrimack
had a shot at but turned down and they went on to do well elsewhere, one
could ask who they could have gotten that would have made enough of a
difference.
Finally, one could ask who as another coach might have been willing to take
the job given all of the circumstances around it and do better.
> Yes it is a hard job, but most of these guys get paid
> pretty handsomely for taking on the task.
Let's not even get into the issue of pay.
And until this season, the school refused to pay even a single assistant
coach full time.
> One other point. I do not buy the excuse that it is impossible to win at
> Merrimack while playing at Volpe Rink. Yes, it is cold, the benches are
> hard and the concessions are mediocre. But it is an on-campus facility, in
> metropolitan Boston and, while not Harvard, the school has a solid academic
> reputation. If teams at UMass-Lowell, with a rink 5 miles from campus, can
> win so can teams from Merrimack. If this is not the case, then you will
> not have the the slew of applications that I anticipate Merrimack will
> receive.
You're right. They should still be able to win at the Volpe. Tully Forum
was in terrible shape until the school made the commitment to fix it up.
Why was a similar commitment not made to do the same with the Volpe? Why
was a marketing effort not made at the same time that we watched Lowell
drastically improve its own marketing and reap the benefits? Why was it
left to the students and community on their own to find out when the games
were? Why is the extent of the effort to procure advertising on the boards
a sign that says "call this number to advertise"? Why does the roof over
my head in the press box still leak nine years later? Why does the school
not allow the existence of a Friends of Merrimack Hockey like most other
schools have?
The answer, simple as it may seem, is that the necessary resources were not
committed, even though they were asked for time and time again.
Things do not happen in a vacuum.
> Greg Ambrose
>
> P.S. Jim Vecsey was not, as Mike Machnik erroneously posted, the Hobey
> Baker winner in 1988. I believe he was a finalist but Minnesota's Robb
> Stauber won the award that year.
Yes, Stauber was the Division I winner. They also awarded Division II-III
Hobeys that year at the same dinner. Vesey won the Division II-III East
Hobey, and Ken Hilgert of Mankato won the Division II-III West Hobey. I
have the awards banquet program from that year.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93
***** Color Voice of Warrior Hockey WCAP 980 AM *****
***** Unofficial Warrior Hockey home page located at: *****
***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html *****
>>> U.S. College Hockey Online http://www.uscollegehockey.com/ <<<
"I'm disgusted. Merrimack's problems have nothing to do with Ronnie.
(Bruins coach) Pat Burns couldn't win coaching in that rink."
- 1988 Hobey Baker winner and all-time leading scorer Jim Vesey on the
school's decision not to renew the contract of Ron Anderson, 2/17/98
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