At 8:55 PM -0500 2/24/97, Greg Ambrose wrote:
> David Josselyn writes:
> >That idea is one of the reasons that accomplishments like Anderson's,
> >Walsh's, and Pooley's draw consideration for the award. With less talented
> >players and poorer first-half performances, I think the assumption is that
> >the coaches for those teams made intentional choices to change a team's
> >approach that led to vastly improved performance.
>
> You ignore my point that Umile had the same cast of characters last year
> and finished 12-18-4. Is his coaching achievement this year tarnished by
> the fact that it occurred over a whole season rather than just one half?
You're drawing the conclusion that by not touting Umile for the award,
people are putting him down. That is not the impression I get. Rather,
what I have heard from folks is the opinion that there are a number of
impressive coaching accomplishments this season in HE and that it is
difficult to choose among them. Somehow these have to be all weighed
against each other, and whoever wins, it does not mean that the others were
not also worthy. But what I hear you saying is that if Umile does not win,
it will be an injustice, and my response is that that is simply not the
case.
As an example, since you mention records last year and this year:
1995-96 1996-97
W-L-T PTS W-L-T PTS
UNH 8-12-4 20 17-5-0 34
Merrimack 4-18-2 10 10-10-2 22
On the basis of points, UNH has improved by 14, or 70%. Merrimack has
improved by 12, or 120%. So UNH has improved a little more in terms of
sheer numbers, while Merrimack's improvement is more drastic
percentage-wise. Merrimack also had the same "cast of characters."
Objectively, if you want to use a comparison between last season and this
season, I think you have to admit that the improvement in both teams is
quite similar.
I throw these numbers out only for consideration, and I am not touting one
candidate or another.
>But, isn't this what Umile has done all year? As one who has watched all
>but 4 of UNH's games this year, believe me, there has been a change. Just
>because you have the "talent" doesn't mean you will peform.
This has been the case with Merrimack too. I have seen enough of both
teams to know that both have significantly improved with virtually the same
personnel. The biggest single addition to either team was Sean Matile, but
Brian Larochelle's fine performance when he was allowed to play shows that
it goes way beyond that.
> I think it should go to a coach who has brought his team to a level beyond
> expectations.
Then the overwhelming choice should be Tim Whitehead, whose Lowell team was
picked 9th and could finish 6th. He is another strong candidate.
UNH was picked 2nd and will be 2nd or 1st. Merrimack was picked 6th and
will be 4th, 5th or 6th. Lowell will be 6th or 7th.
If Lowell finishes 6th, then hasn't Whitehead exceeded expectations more
than Umile? What if UNH winds up 2nd and Merrimack 4th or 5th?
> I don't necessarily think that the first place coach should win it
> every year (and they don't), but UNH has a good chance to from nearly the
> outhouse to the penthouse in one year. For that alone, Umile should win.
UNH finished 6th last year (not exactly the outhouse since three teams
finished below them) and could finish 1st this year. Merrimack finished
9th last year and could finish 4th this year. In both cases, it would be
an improvement of 5 spots in the standings.
My only point is that Umile is not the obvious choice you make him out to
be. I can see a number of different coaches winning the award. For just
about any criteria you choose, I suspect that another coach can be found
whose team meets that criteria - except of course if UNH finishes 1st
outright. :-)
I do not know who I would vote for, although I am probably impressed more
by Maine's second half performance than anything else. That has been truly
remarkable and out of Maine, BU, and UNH (and Merrimack), Maine put
together its best run against the toughest schedule faced by any of the
teams. And out of all of the coaches who we think are strong candidates,
Maine is the only situation where I think we can definitely point to the
coach as being the biggest factor in a team's drastic improvement.
But if we are talking about who *will* win (as opposed to who "should"
win), I don't think Walsh has much of a chance because he was out half the
year. (I won't suggest that his peers would refuse to vote for him simply
because of his suspension; rather, that they might prefer a candidate who
coached the whole season.) Yet what he has done the last two months is
amazing.
--- ---
Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93
***** (Part-Time) Color Voice of Merrimack Hockey WCAP 980 AM *****
***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at: *****
***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html *****
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