I have always been split on the idea of whether or not McCutcheon is a good
coach.  On the one hand, during his first four years at Cornell (my time of
undergrad) he put together quite an impressive team, one that had enough talent
to win the league and maybe make noise in the nation during the last two years,
but neither year really panned out.  There were a lot of "fire McCutcheon"
rumblings, but nothing really serious.  After all, the teams were very
competitive and while they did not do as well as expected, they still did quite
well and it seemed a little foolish to fire a coach who was successful, just
not as successful as everyone would like for him to have been. (Similar to Ohio
State's football situation with Earle Bruce a few years ago...all he did was
coach teams that went 9-3 every year...now we have John Cooper.)
 
At the same time, Cornell just doesn't seem to play with much heart or fire a
lot of the time.  They play very flat.  McCutcheon's teams are usually
well-disciplined, but they often play with the demeanor of Mr. Spock instead of
showing the occcasional fire and flare of Dr. McCoy (for all you Trekkies out
there :-).  A little emotion and a little reckless abandon would have gone a
long way towards doing some national damage and winning the ECAC when they had
the talent a couple years ago.  More disturbing to me is a couple of
conversations I have had with parents out here who say their kid passed up
Cornell because McCutcheon was cold and distant.  I am afraid his personality
may be creating an environment where players don't want to play and don't get a
lot of joy out of playing.  I have heard some **rumors** to that effect that
supposedly came from team members, but no direct confirmation.
 
As anyone who ever went to Cornell knows, hockey has quite a following and it
is a lot of fun to go to games.  Lynah used to be a scary place to go play, but
I am disheartened by the reports of dwindling attendence and unenthusiastic
fans.  I am afraid that if Cornell doesn't turn the corner a bit this year, it
may lose its other main recruiting advantage, its rink with its fans.  Fire
McCutcheon?  If there is any truth to the rumors that the players don't want to
play for him and he is just not personable enough to ever effectively motivate
a hockey team, then yes, I agree with firing him.  However, I have no
confirmation of that so based on performance, the man has coached some very
good teams.  A couple were underachievers, but did quite well nonetheless, and
I am hesitant to call for the firing of a coach just because of a couple of
down years, especially after last year with the team so young and so plagued
with injuries.  I think the jury is still out.
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        *        Dave [log in to unmask]         *
        *                  Cornell '91 OSU Med '95                     *
        *        The only problem with being on call every other       *
        *             night is that you miss half the cases            *
        *          (my resident was serious when he said this)         *
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