The _Post-Standard_ reports that St. Lawrence assistant hockey coach Don
Vaughan will be offered the head coaching position at Colgate.  No formal
announcement has been made yet, but Colgate has scheduled a news conference
for Wednesday afternoon to introduce the new coach.  Two other candidates,
Clarkson assistant Greg Drechsel and Brown assistant Brian McCloskey, each
said that they were told by Colgate athletic director Mark Murphy that
Vaughan was the school's top choice.
 
Brian Durocher had taken over the head coaching job last December after the
death of long-time coach Terry Slater, and even though he was always
referred to as the "interim head coach", the decision to go with Vaughan
apparently took him by surprise.  Durocher had a 12-10 mark with Colgate,
which was 14-16-1 overall last season.  He was one of the six finalists for
the job; Vaughan, Drechsel, McCloskey, RPI assistant Dan Fridgen, and former
Colgate player Steve Smith were the others.
 
Although Durocher was generally well-liked and supported by the Red Raiders,
winger Sam Raffoul said that Durocher may have had difficulty "developing
the image" of a head coach, coming into such a tough situation after serving
for many years as Slater's assistant.  Raffoul said, "... I also think we
don't have time to fool around with coaches.  We need someone who the
organization thinks can do the job.  It might be a good move in a way, put
everyone on their toes."
 
Vaughan, a 1984 graduate of St. Lawrence, has never served as a collegiate
head coach, but he has been an assistant with the Saints for five seasons
and with Cornell for two.
--
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and probably '94
LET'S GO RED!!
Couldn't pass this one up...
"I can't believe the prizes they have.  I mean, how many ceramic dogs and
 velvet bullfighter paintings does one home need?"
-- Rob Bartlett, about Wheel of Fortune