On 20 Jun 96 at 0:10, Mike Machnik wrote:
 
> What I will be interested to hear is just how Lowell let him get
> away.  It seems as if he was at least interested and willing to stay
> if he got the deal he wanted.  The people I feel badly for are those
> who worked extremely hard to bring Bruce to Lowell and build the
> Lowell program into a very good one.  AD Dana Skinner, a Merrimack
> grad, has done wonders in improving the Lowell athletic department
> and interest in Lowell hockey, and I suspect that if it was up to
> him, Bruce would have been signed, sealed and delivered long ago.
 
Personally, I don't think we should be patting Skinner on the back,
considering the Lowell Sun Journal quoted him as saying, "Bruce knows
what our offer is."  I don't know how others read into that, but it
sounds to me like it's pretty firm.
 
Also, Skinner has reportedly been in charge of Crowder's extension
and he's been working on this since winter, and it never got done.
In the same article Skinner is like, "The extension will get done
eventually."  This extension was supposed to put Bruce in the top 10
percent of coaches, and I imagine NU's offer is near that number as
well.  But it is now summer, and Skinner has had what 4-6 months to
get this done.  If nothing else, he is at fault for not working
quicker before relations soured as they aparently did.
 
Who do you blame here?  Skinner is on record as being in charge of
trying to sign Crowder to an extension, and after Crowder won the
Spencer Penrose, was it Skinner dragging his feet, was Crowder asking
for too much, or does someone else figure in here?
 
The point is Lowell screwed up royally here, and let one of the best
coaches in the nation just walk out, and to another HEA school
none-the-less.  Remember, Crowder said that he wasn't interested
initially, but as time went on he seemed to become less interested in
Lowell and more interested in Northeastern.  Something has happened,
and certainly Skinner figures into this.  We shouldn't be pinning any
medals on his chest, at least not until we see what happens with a
replacement for Crowder.
 
> On the face of it, it seems that Lowell alumni and fans have a right
> to be very upset at how their administration handled this.  One has
> to question their commitment to the excellence of the program - not
> the commitment of Skinner or the athletic department, but that of
> the people above them.
 
I think I covered this above, but it is not so cut-and-dry where we
can just absolve Skinner of responsibility, especially since he was
saying in the papers, "Bruce knows what our offer is."
 
Skinner will show his commitment to the program in the next 2-4 weeks
as a replacement must be found.
 
> At Lowell, there seem to be some big questions.  Will the job go to
> Tim Whitehead, Bruce's very well-liked and respected assistant?
> Will the school react by going out and getting an established head
> coach to replace Crowder?  And if so and if they do give such a
> candidate the kind of deal that Crowder wanted, why didn't they just
> give that deal to Crowder in the first place?  If they wind up with
> an unknown as coach or an unproven guy like Whitehead, what will it
> do to Lowell's ability to recruit the kind of players they need to
> be one of the upper echelon teams in HE?  Bruce has already found, I
> think, that his presence alone isn't enough to attract those players
> to Lowell, although I can't imagine a player who would not want to
> play for him.  How can it not get more difficult with him out of the
> picture?
 
Something to consider when thinking of Lowell's coaching situation
now, is who is out there now?  With the situation here in Maine, many
of us are considering we'll need a new coach, but with so much
movement in the coaching ranks, are their top quality coaches left
looking to make a move?  Maybe, but it's less likely that Lowell, or
even Maine if need be, can land the kind of guy that they might
following the upcoming season.  I just don't know who is out there
looking to make a move right now.  There are others who could comment
better on this, perhaps Scott from LSSU could at least be general and
give us a clue as to the quality of coaches available?
 
Also the future of Lowell hockey is up in the air IMHO.  Publically,
Skinner and the admin might be talking about maintaining the high
level of their program, but when push came to shove, they couldn't
sign the most intrigual part of the program.  Lowell failed this
test, and it will take a lot of work to repair the damage done by
this, both on and off the ice.  Crowder was a big part of the Lowell
hockey community, and I'm sure will be sorely missed.
 
> This is a big setback for Lowell, but they do have some things to
> look forward to, like the new rink opening in a year.  I hope
> they're able to rebound from this, but it won't be easy.
 
Agreed.  That new rink very well might have some empty seats in it.
 
> NU looks to be in for a tough season given the amount of talent they
> have lost and relative unknowns coming in.  But even if the Huskies
> exceed expectations this season, the real test will come several
> years down the road when Crowder has his players in there.  Crowder
> is, in my mind, one of the two or three best coaches in the country
> (especially with Jeff Jackson gone), and he has proven his ability
> to do more with less.  NU has been a program that historically has
> gotten less in terms of player talent and area interest.  Will
> Crowder be able to make history and recruit top talent to NU where
> others before him have failed, and will he be able to generate the
> kind of interest that Lowell enjoyed with him as coach?  Will AD
> Barry Gallup prove to be a prophet when he said that he felt that NU
> hockey could be the school's flagship sport and compete for a
> national title soon?
 
Gallup has had a busy offseason, "stealing" a men's basketball coach
as well, Rudy Keeling.  Keeling was coaching at Maine, a NAC rival,
and is highly regarded in coaching circles.  This was certaily a good
move, but Gallup has pulled off the largest coup in getting Crowder,
and is clearly working to improve NU athletics this offseason.
 
I'll be interested to look back three and four years from now and see
what has happened at Northeastern, and Lowell.  Northeastern appeared
to be on a downward spiral, and while signing Crowder might not stop
that, certainly he will do things that otherwise might not have been
done at NU.  Lowell, under the guidance of Crowder, was a growing
program with a new rink, and everything else in front of them, but
for whatever reason the admin has let it all come crashing down.
Lowell can still be a competitive team, but right now there is
uncertainty behind the bench, where a less experienced Lowell team
will need it.  Time will tell.
---
Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask]
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