St. Norbert -- Building Toward 2010-11 Season

[pete99race]

With the national search for our first ladies' coach underway, post any related comments here. Looking forward to start playing in the NCHA for the 2010-11 season.

[gojackets]

With the national search for our first ladies' coach underway, post any related comments here. Looking forward to start playing in the NCHA for the 2010-11 season.

Welcome to the lighter side Pete. Hopefully SNC isn't too good out of the gate :)

[pete99race]

Any word on job applicants for the SNC head coaching job? I see that it's still posted on the SNC womens site.

[pete99race]

Heard that the announcement of SNC's first women's hockey coach will happen shortly..

[NorthernPike]

SNC will name it's head womens coach very soon. I understand that an offer has been made and accepted.

[GB Puck Fan]

Rob Morgan

http://www.snc.edu/athletics/pressrelease/?i=614

DE PERE - St. Norbert College has named Rob Morgan as its first women's ice hockey head coach, athletics director Tim Bald announced today.

Morgan has spent the last six years as the associate head coach at Dartmouth College, helping the Big Green to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons. Dartmouth was 128-53-18 during his six-year coaching tenure.

"St. Norbert College is among the best liberal arts colleges in the Midwest, and boasts a very strong athletics program," Morgan said. "Our team will represent St. Norbert College with a great sense of pride and competitive spirit within the National Collegiate Hockey Association."

Morgan will have the opportunity to build the women's ice hockey program at St. Norbert from scratch, with the Green Knights taking to the ice for the 2010-11 season.

"Rob Morgan's background and experience identified him to be the ideal architect of this program, building it from the ground up," Bald said. "Rob and his family will be a great fit for the St. Norbert community and we look forward to them joining us."

In his time at Dartmouth, Morgan had a hand in the Big Green going to four NCAA Tournaments, five ECAC Final Fours and two Ivy League championships. Morgan coached four Olympians, 13 U-22 national team players and one All-American. Morgan coordinated recruiting and also coached the defensemen.

"We at St. Norbert are delighted to have Rob joining us as the founding coach of our women's hockey team," St. Norbert president Thomas Kunkel said. "He is an outstanding coach, and he has great experience recruiting top student-athletes to high-quality programs. Rob has succeeded everywhere he's been, and with great class. We can't wait until his first team takes the ice."

Prior to arriving at Dartmouth, Morgan was the head hockey coach at North Country Community College in Saranac Lake, N.Y., finishing with a 15-4-1 record and leading the team to the 2003 NEWCHA championship. During the 2001-02 season Morgan was the head coach of the Medicine Hat Hawks, and was later selected to coach one of eight teams at the Alberta Winter Games, where his team went undefeated and won the gold medal. In 2000-01, Morgan led the University of Lethbridge's team which finished fourth in the Canada West Universities Athletics Association, finishing 16-11-3 while being named Canada West Hockey Coach of the Year.

Morgan graduated from the University of Alberta in 1992 and earned his master's degree from the University of Lethbridge.

[gojackets]

so this guy went from being the head coach at dartmouth to SNC? kinda strange...but confirms SNC's committment to be all-stars when they start

[D2D]

so this guy went from being the head coach at dartmouth to SNC? kinda strange...but confirms SNC's committment to be all-stars when they start

He was the "associate" head coach, not THE head coach (Mark Hudak remains in that capacity).

[gojackets]

He was the "associate" head coach, not THE head coach (Mark Hudak remains in that capacity).

oh ok...wasn't sure what was meant by associate, so he was like an assistant?

[D2D]

oh ok...wasn't sure what was meant by associate, so he was like an assistant?

I checked the Dartmouth website and yes he is still listed as an assistant. When a school gives an assistant coach the title of "associate head coach" it denotes that the person is definitely considered to be the No. 1 assistant, oftentimes with special responsibilities and/or a higher pay grade!

[Blues78]

What a great addition to St, Norbert. Rob will definitely build this program the right way and will no doubt be successful. Good Luck Rob!

[altazo]

so this guy went from being the head coach at dartmouth to SNC? kinda strange...but confirms SNC's committment to be all-stars when they start

Trust me, SNC's men's team were no "all-stars" when the program moved to varsity status in the late eighties. It wasn't until Coghlin arrived in the mid-nineties that SNC gained respectability...

[statsjunkie]

What a great addition to St, Norbert. Rob will definitely build this program the right way and will no doubt be successful. Good Luck Rob!

I agree! Rob obviously knows his hockey, (I say obviously because he recruited my daughter ;) ) but wouldn't going from a successful D1 program to D3 be a step backwards career-wise? Either way, St. Norbert and its future hockey players are lucky to get him.

[wihobserver]

...but wouldn't going from a successful D1 program to D3 be a step backwards career-wise?...

thanks for insulting all of us who played or are still playing d3 hockey...you really showed your ignorance with this statement...have you looked around at how many current d3 head coaches used to be d1 assistants?...guess not...the chance to be a head coach instead of just an assistant coach is what has drawn so many d1 assistants to the d3 game and look at how the d3 game has grown and improved over the last 5 years or so...it's not just that the players are better but the coaching is better too...we accept your apology in advance...:)

[statsjunkie]

Thanks for accepting my apology in advance wihobserver. I certainly did not mean to offend anyone. I was hoping that my question would be taken for what it was meant to be, simply a question.
Showing my ignorance does not embarass me in the least. I am definitely green when it comes to NCAA hockey practices and protocols and I have learned a lot from this fan forum. I always have dozens of questions in my mind and I just keep reading...usually my questions are answered by the knowledgeable fans or the links to the articles they provide. (Thankyou everyone.) I guess I jumped the gun on this one.
I can see that being a head coach would be both challanging and rewarding, and I was simply wondering about the change in jobs as a career move. As I said, I am new to this world - I've been aware of movement from team to team of both players and coaches. But in the less than a year that I've been following this, I hadn't been aware of movement of coaches from D1 to D3. I was actually thinking of Paul Nemeth-Carlson - he went from being the head coach of the very successful Elmira to the assistant coach of Yale. It just seemed to be an opposite move to what Rob Morgan has done.
I sincerely apologize to anyone that may have been offended by my question. And thanks, wihobserver, for your insight into the growth of D3 hockey. :)

[gojackets]

Thanks for accepting my apology in advance wihobserver. I certainly did not mean to offend anyone. I was hoping that my question would be taken for what it was meant to be, simply a question.
Showing my ignorance does not embarass me in the least. I am definitely green when it comes to NCAA hockey practices and protocols and I have learned a lot from this fan forum. I always have dozens of questions in my mind and I just keep reading...usually my questions are answered by the knowledgeable fans or the links to the articles they provide. (Thankyou everyone.) I guess I jumped the gun on this one.
I can see that being a head coach would be both challanging and rewarding, and I was simply wondering about the change in jobs as a career move. As I said, I am new to this world - I've been aware of movement from team to team of both players and coaches. But in the less than a year that I've been following this, I hadn't been aware of movement of coaches from D1 to D3. I was actually thinking of Paul Nemeth-Carlson - he went from being the head coach of the very successful Elmira to the assistant coach of Yale. It just seemed to be an opposite move to what Rob Morgan has done.
I sincerely apologize to anyone that may have been offended by my question. And thanks, wihobserver, for your insight into the growth of D3 hockey. :)

statsjunkie....feel free to ignore wihob at anypoint...s/he likes to be a bully. Not sure if you are new to the womens board or USCHO all toghether. Many would think that going from a top d1 team to a d3 team would be a step down, but if you are going from D1 to Plattsburgh, Middlebury it is not as big of a step as say D1 to say Concordia-wi, chatham(sorry icemom), or neumann(threw that one in just for MIC). I think this move shows SNC's committment(altzao) to entering the NCHA as the top dawg. (ghetto spelling intended)


yes people....this is my first drunk post of 2009-10.....mark your calendars folks!

[GB Puck Fan]

Here's an anology from profession - the media.

It's not unusual to see people move from Green Bay to a smaller TV market like Eau Claire for the chance to be an anchor.

While a smaller pond, it's a "promotion" in terms of the position. It may not be possible to jump to the position you want in the pond you want without the experience in that position first.

So, you move from assistant head coach in the bigger pond to the head coach in a smaller pond, and then hope that combination of experience eventually lands you the job you want - which could be (I don't know this guy, so I'm speculating) a D1 head coaching job.

We've seen other D3 coaches move to D1 - Mike Eaves, for example, went from an assistant coach with the Calgary Flames to his first head coaching job at UW-Eau Claire on his journey to Wisconsin's top job.

[5 4 Fighting]

What a great addition to St, Norbert. Rob will definitely build this program the right way and will no doubt be successful. Good Luck Rob!

Rob Morgan is an experienced coach with plenty to offer a new program. He has given a great deal of time and was fully committed to the Dartmouth program over the years he has spent there. It must have become obvious to him that his chances of actually becoming the head coach there were limited and this may have influenced his decision to jump at the chance to become the bench boss at St. Norbert.

Good Luck Rob from all your friends in Western Canada and beyond....

[MW4Bucky&SNC]

To piggyback on what those are saying about D1 top Asst. to D3 head coach, I think the big thing here is having an opportunity to truly build your own program from square one. Some guys would love this challenge and without meeting Mr. Morgan I'll have to assume he is one of them. This is truly his program to build his own legacy and he won't sink or swim based on anyone else's prior efforts. Looking at where SNC is on the men's hockey side as well as many other sports he is recognizing the committment the school has made to it's athletic programs. He gets a brand new facility to work with, an Olympic Sheet barely a year old at a facility 9 or 10 years old at the most.

[Mitterman]

Great Coach,Great Guy from a great program. He is a top notch recruiter.
Good Luck Rob!