UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

"UNH Freshman Patrick Grasso: Speedy, Scoring Chance Generator"

[e.cat]

Well, maybe not, but we had Guy Smith back in the day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/sp...game.html?_r=0

Guy was da man! Looks like his son wasn't too shabby either

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

Guy was da man! Looks like his son wasn't too shabby either

Hey there how has your off season been? Hope to see you at the 'Whitt this season at some point!

[C-H-C]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

"Mike Souza, UNH Associate Head Coach, Reflects On Season, Looks to Future"

[E.J. Smith]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

"Mike Souza, UNH Associate Head Coach, Reflects On Season, Looks to Future"

I’ll be interested to hear what others think but that interview didn’t do anything to improve my outlook on UNH hockey. Vague, general, salesy answers to everything – “I don’t know, Mike, I think we’ll be ok if we do what we need to do”, not literally a direct quote but definitely captures the tone of all of his answers. Maybe it’s just me, and I know I’m biased at this point, but my BS detector never stopped going off as I read that.

In contrast to the interview with the AIC coach – thank you for the link to that – where you could feel the passion, interest, intensity in his answers, not to mention the detail contained in them. There was none of this “yeah, well, this is sort of the idea of what we think we might want to do when we get to the right point to do something.” The AIC coach seems into it, period, end of story. He’s got the passion, he cares enough to have thoughtful, detailed positions and approaches, he’s clearly been thinking about his program, a lot, and that’s at AIC. I’m not saying UNH is a flagship program at this point but there’s a lot more to be excited about there than there is at AIC, yet you wouldn’t know it from the tone of the two coaches.

Thanks for this interview, nice job, and thanks again for linking to the AIC interview.

[sonar]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

I’ll be interested to hear what others think but that interview didn’t do anything to improve my outlook on UNH hockey. Vague, general, salesy answers to everything – “I don’t know, Mike, I think we’ll be ok if we do what we need to do”, not literally a direct quote but definitely captures the tone of all of his answers. Maybe it’s just me, and I know I’m biased at this point, but my BS detector never stopped going off as I read that.

In contrast to the interview with the AIC coach – thank you for the link to that – where you could feel the passion, interest, intensity in his answers, not to mention the detail contained in them. There was none of this “yeah, well, this is sort of the idea of what we think we might want to do when we get to the right point to do something.” The AIC coach seems into it, period, end of story. He’s got the passion, he cares enough to have thoughtful, detailed positions and approaches, he’s clearly been thinking about his program, a lot, and that’s at AIC. I’m not saying UNH is a flagship program at this point but there’s a lot more to be excited about there than there is at AIC, yet you wouldn’t know it from the tone of the two coaches.

Thanks for this interview, nice job, and thanks again for linking to the AIC interview.

For what it is worth ....I greatly respected Souza as a player and the interview does not diminish my view of him. Secondly, I believe that IF he was currently the head coach there would have been a different "feel" with respect to his comments. In other words .... something like .... "this is MY team, this is where WE are going, and this is how I am going to try and get us there."

Until the albatross is gone I suspect that the first sentence in the E.J.Smith post will be what we have to live with.

But then who knows about these things ..........

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

For what it is worth ....I greatly respected Souza as a player and the interview does not diminish my view of him. Secondly, I believe that IF he was currently the head coach there would have been a different "feel" with respect to his comments. In other words .... something like .... "this is MY team, this is where WE are going, and this is how I am going to try and get us there."

Until the albatross is gone I suspect that the first sentence in the E.J.Smith post will be what we have to live with.

But then who knows about these things ..........

Agree completely. Souza is between the proverbial "rock and a hard spot" if anyone ever was.

AIC fans also have lots of additional excitement with their move into the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, 8000+ seats less than a mile from their campus.

[HockeyRef]

"Mike Souza, UNH Associate Head Coach, Reflects On Season, Looks to Future"

Awesome article Mike!! Appreciate the stories in the recent days about the upcoming recruits, and now Coach Souza's perspective...thank you!! I would like to add it's great to hear ANYTHING about the team; it's been so (too) quiet...I've had the chance to listen to Mike Souza on a couple of occasions; I know he will be a great HC.

[e.cat]

Hey there how has your off season been? Hope to see you at the 'Whitt this season at some point!

Ditto!

It's been a great summer but I'm looking forward to the upcoming UNH football and hockey seasons

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

Souza is between the proverbial "rock and a hard spot" if anyone ever was.

I wouldn't call it "reflections" as there is very little insight provided. I also wouldn't call it "bs." He doesn't overpromise or try to sell anything about the team or its future. Its pretty bland. The most excited he gets is in the full paragraph gushing about Dick Umile and his impact on the program.

Because of the lack of content, I think the interview merely confirms what any party wants to think going in. Don't buy my thoughts below, because as you know, its what I feel going into the interview. I'd love to hear from those who feel positive about the structure going in, and how this advances their predictions.

So, to be as neutral as possible, my read of what he says between the lines:

1) He recognizes last year’s team talent level -- the effort was there, but still lost close cames. Difference is lack of talent.

I thought our guys competed very hard every night. We didn't get the result we wanted, more occasions than not but I think if you look at the one goal games that we were in, it was a testament to the fight we had.

to be honest with you because I know they put everything they had into this year and they didn't get the results they wanted.

2) Sees hope in this year’s freshmen

I think we're going to have some players that are going to have the opportunity to step up in more offensive roles and I think that's what college hockey is all about. Guys graduate, guys sign, new guys step up and I think we're confident in some of the players that we have. They have the ability to come in and step into a more prominent role and be good players for us and I like our freshmen coming in. I think our freshmen have nice balance, speed, skill and size and grit and all those things that can help to make us a formidable team this year in our league.

Lowry: Do you think there will be any problems scoring goals or it will be more a question of keeping the puck out of the net?

Souza: I think that's a tough question to answer because I don't think it's fair to say that we're not going to score goals when maybe there's some players that are going have the opportunity to be in roles to score goals. Maybe they'll have the ability to score and get in a more prominent role.

3) Not all that sure about defense. Keeps mentioning goaltending as the reason they'll keep goals down.


4) Provincialism -- while mouthing the words that he's willing to recruit in Europe, he seems to dismiss the talent there (for example, an NHL first rounder), saying he could get the same "in Boston." Well, he passed on recruiting the Finns who could have helped this year. Denver added an NHL first rounder late in the spring. BC passed on the leftover Boston kids, and took two Finns to complete their class. Providence passed on the leftover Boston kids and took a Finland's World Junior Team, a second round NHLer. So Souza's view is like saying "i'd date a girl from anywhere, but you can get a Kate Mara from Malden." Sort of hints that you don't recognize good looks if its not from your hometown Malden.

Souza: This gets back a little bit to the recruiting philosophy. I do think there's a lot of really good players in Europe, certain countries in particular. I also think there's a lot of really good players here in North America. I always say there's a really good play in Helsinki but there might be a better one in Boston so I think that just because the kid's a European doesn't mean it's going to help your program more than the kid from North America. But I do believe that there are a lot of benefits to having international players. It's a market that we've been involved with so we'll see where it goes. I think that when I was at Connecticut and at Brown we were able to bring some European kids to both of those programs. We want to get the best possible players for our program and it doesn't matter necessarily where they come from.

5) Effort
He keeps talking about effort and character. I would like him to be far more assertive about the need to recruit talent. The reason your 99 team was so good was because of talent.


Compare his the gold standard: first year reflections with those of Shawn Walsh.
When hired, Walsh recognized recruiting was the most important aspect of winning
https://news.google.com/newspapers?i...1494%2C1951728

"In terms of recruiting, there is a difference between recruiting players who can play Division I and players who can win in Division 1," stated Walsh, who won't take a back seat to anone in the recruiting battles. "The days of Maine giving up on top quality players are over," said Walsh."

Two months into the job Walsh already had a plan and specific goals:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?i...5098%2C3322295

Note, the statement he is going after the top player in the country, Eric Weinrich, who was a priority.

At the one semester into the job, he immediately sent the signal -- hurtful to the current team but a signal to recruits -- that the talent level was inadequate and would not be tolerated.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?i...2716%2C6624535

"You can't expect to beat teams with 15-20 NHL draft choices with a team that has three NHL draft choices," said Walsh. "I'm somewhat disappoi8nted because I think we've gotten as much out of our players as we can, and we've been in 15 of our 17 games well into the third period. To have only five wins is a bit of a disappointment, but not unexpected." "And the second layer of the foundation may be even stronger because of the tremendous work done by our two assistant coaches in recruiting," said Walsh. "I wouldn't trade the verbal commitment we have now with anybody's in the country. What we've accomplished since April is satisfying."

at the end of his first year, he reflected:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?i...1232%2C5173577

At the beginning of his second year, he already had secured the monster recruiting class, and acknowledged
https://news.google.com/newspapers?i...1635%2C3596575
"let's not kid ourselves, we were not even close enought to competing in the league a year ago."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Look, I understand Souza is in a bad position. First, he has two more years working under a boss he clearly, clearly loves, who got him the job. It's not his job or position to be Walsh -- the new Sherrif who can call a spade a spade, set standards and send a "shape up or ship out" message.

Yet, that is exactly the message that needs to be sent to recruits. Excellence, not effort. Yet, Souza either can't or won't say it because it would be a criticism of Umile. As a result, the interview focuses on selling a program because "UNH is a neat school that I really love, and Dick is a great guy" -- moments after telling the interviewer nobody remembers or cares about 99 or even the 2000s -- doesn't give an indication of how Souza is aggressively recruiting. And the results suggest not a lot of aggressive recruiting is going on. He can be as loyal and as supportive of the current players --'come on guys, work harder, study harder, I'm in your camp" -- but that is not going to do anything to improve the team next year.

They desperately need a kickstart. By dint of his allegiance, Souza either does not feel the need for a new start, or can't say it. Either way, he's hamstrung, so the interview is bland, doesn't really reveal the plan to make america great again. I understand he could not really speak his mind about this year, so his answers are "our team will work really hard, last year's games were close and this year we could [get lucky and] win." I won't hold that against him, given the talent level is locked in. But as we see from Shawn Walsh's quote, the key is recruiting, first, second and third. Until they find a message that resonates with recruits (and the results say no), all of the hard work won't matter. And the longer Souza struggles to find that message -- something that is hard enough without being tied to the anchor of a boss who deprives you of the ability to sell the "new sherriff, new excellence" message -- Souza will have lost credibility. You only have a limited window of the "new sherriff" message, and Scarano destroyed that.

[E.J. Smith]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

Besides the AIC coach, the other name that constantly came to mind while I read that interview was Shawn Walsh. My thought was this is the polar opposite of what an interview with Walshy would have sounded like at a similar point in his career – thanks for providing the links that bear that out. (I didn’t mention that in my reply because of the baggage any mention of Walsh has on a UNH thread and I’m sure a number of people would think, “good, we don’t want someone like that.”)

But the lack of passion, intensity, urgency really was glaring. This is a young coach getting his shot and he seems about as excited about it as he would be if he stumbled upon a 25 cents off discount at the pumps at Cumberland Farms – “hey great, exciting…has anyone seen my black pen laying around, I thought I had it…”

Maybe there is a plan, and he sees no benefit in letting us in on it, which is fine, but we’re well past the point of having a plan. Any plan should be being executed by this point, and there is very little to no evidence that that is the case. I hear and agree with Watcher that through ineptitude and/or self-importance Scarano and Umile have bungled this transition in ways that are out of Souza’s hands but succession plans are often less than ideal. Some people react by pushing the envelope a little, challenging the status quo a bit, asking for forgiveness instead of permission, while others react with deference, with inaction, with passivity. You can argue about which approach is more effective during the transition but I really hope the reaction in this case isn’t an indication of what we’re going to get when the transition is, finally, over.

[Felger]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

I'm a huge Souza fan, but that was cringeworthy.

Hope there's more passion when he's talking to a kid is some locker room, or to his parents in a living room

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

There are already lengthy and insightful analyses on the Souza interview posted (thanks EJ and 'Watcher) that reflect a lot of my initial thoughts in reading through what felt like a very uncomfortable interview. I think Mike did an excellent job of guiding the interview into areas many of us wanted to hear about, and Souza either was unable or (hopefully) unwilling to divulge or expose his future plans beyond just bland pablum. Maybe this, perhaps that, don't want to say that, etc. Rock and a hard place, no doubt. Lots of content but very short on anything approaching substance.

Ultimately, I think the last paragraph of EJ's last response is where I'm most interested in seeing progression this season. Souza can't afford to pi$$ away the next two seasons like the program did this past season, or else his *regime* is going to be DOA the day he is finally confirmed as the top guy. He has to try to push that envelope, steadily and progressively, and the transition needs to be active now - not just a 3 year apprenticeship of sucking up to the guy who made him the fair-haired boy out of virtually nowhere. Souza has to understand there is a very good chance this will be the ONLY and BEST chance he'll EVER get to succeed as a head coach at this level or beyond. And if he fails here, he is probably never going to get a second chance somewhere else (other than maybe in Italy or Wakefield HS?) to be the top guy of any program of significance. He has already gotten the hardest part right - getting the chance. Now he has to have a plan and execute on it to make this his life's work. Or else he just goes back to being someone else's trusted assistant (see Borek, Scott) for the rest of his career. Not that it's anything to sneer at ... but head coaching is a dream, assistant coaching is a job.

So let's chalk up last season as a one-year apprenticeship. Year Two, Souza has to be pushing to do more, and to influence the program in what HE wants it to be like in two years' time. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, as EJ said. Chase guys who the incumbent thinks are out of reach. Commit a Euro or two to come in for the 2018-2019 season, if not sooner (I'm sure DU will be psyched). Figure out if you and Coach Stewart are going to be able to co-exist in the future, and if you have even the slightest of doubts, force BS35+5 or Coach Umile to push him out, and then get your preferred top assistant in a year ahead of time for the 2017-2018 season. And when we get to Year Three, then you should be the one setting the tone at the practices, before/after games, in between periods, etc. Otherwise ... why did UNH even bother with the so-called "transition* if it was just going to be sitting politely on your hands for 3 years?



It doesn't have to rise to the level of Machiavellian scheming ... but the patient, polite and deferential route in a failing, fading program is only going to make you a footnote, and render you a brief unsuccessful and inconvenient blip on timeline of UNH Men's Hockey, especially when the next guy comes in and gets it right. Kinda like that BC guy in between Ceglarski and York. Then if you're lucky, maybe the AIC guy will be looking for a new assistant?

Time is ticking, Coach Souza ... and believe it or not, it's really not on your side. The future does not begin in two years, it begins now. Channel your inner Walshy, just leave that retroactive financial aid stuff alone ...

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

There are already lengthy and insightful analyses on the Souza interview posted (thanks EJ and 'Watcher) that reflect a lot of my initial thoughts in reading through what felt like a very uncomfortable interview. I think Mike did an excellent job of guiding the interview into areas many of us wanted to hear about, and Souza either was unable or (hopefully) unwilling to divulge or expose his future plans beyond just bland pablum. Maybe this, perhaps that, don't want to say that, etc. Rock and a hard place, no doubt. Lots of content but very short on anything approaching substance.

Ultimately, I think the last paragraph of EJ's last response is where I'm most interested in seeing progression this season. Souza can't afford to pi$$ away the next two seasons like the program did this past season, or else his *regime* is going to be DOA the day he is finally confirmed as the top guy. He has to try to push that envelope, steadily and progressively, and the transition needs to be active now - not just a 3 year apprenticeship of sucking up to the guy who made him the fair-haired boy out of virtually nowhere. Souza has to understand there is a very good chance this will be the ONLY and BEST chance he'll EVER get to succeed as a head coach at this level or beyond. And if he fails here, he is probably never going to get a second chance somewhere else (other than maybe in Italy or Wakefield HS?) to be the top guy of any program of significance. He has already gotten the hardest part right - getting the chance. Now he has to have a plan and execute on it to make this his life's work. Or else he just goes back to being someone else's trusted assistant (see Borek, Scott) for the rest of his career. Not that it's anything to sneer at ... but head coaching is a dream, assistant coaching is a job.

So let's chalk up last season as a one-year apprenticeship. Year Two, Souza has to be pushing to do more, and to influence the program in what HE wants it to be like in two years' time. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, as EJ said. Chase guys who the incumbent thinks are out of reach. Commit a Euro or two to come in for the 2018-2019 season, if not sooner (I'm sure DU will be psyched). Figure out if you and Coach Stewart are going to be able to co-exist in the future, and if you have even the slightest of doubts, force BS35+5 or Coach Umile to push him out, and then get your preferred top assistant in a year ahead of time for the 2017-2018 season. And when we get to Year Three, then you should be the one setting the tone at the practices, before/after games, in between periods, etc. Otherwise ... why did UNH even bother with the so-called "transition* if it was just going to be sitting politely on your hands for 3 years?



It doesn't have to rise to the level of Machiavellian scheming ... but the patient, polite and deferential route in a failing, fading program is only going to make you a footnote, and render you a brief unsuccessful and inconvenient blip on timeline of UNH Men's Hockey, especially when the next guy comes in and gets it right. Kinda like that BC guy in between Ceglarski and York. Then if you're lucky, maybe the AIC guy will be looking for a new assistant?

Time is ticking, Coach Souza ... and believe it or not, it's really not on your side. The future does not begin in two years, it begins now. Channel your inner Walshy, just leave that retroactive financial aid stuff alone ...

But, Mike Souza is not the coach, and will not be until 2018-19, which is the bizarre part of this transition. Can anyone identify a transition like this one in college hockey history? When Shawn Walsh and Eric Lang came to Maine and AIC, respectively, they were both head coach from Day 1, which no doubt made it a lot easier for them to promote a plan. Lang played four years and assisted two years at AIC, before being a head coach for one year in Div 3 and assistant for four years at Army. I think that this coaching transition at UNH is completely dysfunctional, and that Souza would have been better off staying at UConn for three more years, and then pursuing the head coach position at UNH, assuming that DU was willing to step down without hand-picking his successor. And, the latter was BS35+5's job to make happen. What a mess.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Wildcats 2016 Offseason Thread - Searching for Direction

But, Mike Souza is not the coach, and will not be until 2018-19, which is the bizarre part of this transition. Can anyone identify a transition like this one in college hockey history? When Shawn Walsh and Eric Lang came to Maine and AIC, respectively, they were both head coach from Day 1, which no doubt made it a lot easier for them to promote a plan. Lang played four years and assisted two years at AIC, before being a head coach for one year in Div 3 and assistant for four years at Army. I think that this coaching transition at UNH is completely dysfunctional, and that Souza would have been better off staying at UConn for three more years, and then pursuing the head coach position at UNH, assuming that DU was willing to step down without hand-picking his successor. And, the latter was BS35+5's job to make happen. What a mess.

Agreed, it's potentially a complete mess. There's a good reason why most programs don't go down this path, and some of these speed bumps are just the surface reasons as to why not.

But as one of the prior posters said ... most transitions are not smooth ones, but you still have to figure out a way to manage it. And Souza has to make sure he protects his long-term interests, which may not be 100% consistent with the "(Pass the) Baton Death March to 600" that BS35+4 and Coach Umile seem committed to. The way I see it, if he sits back passively and waits until he's officially in charge, he is probably going to be professional roadkill, because keeping status quo in a program trending in the wrong direction is just going to make your job harder when it's officially yours, and you will have already established a recruiting *personality* or reputation out there that you're not going to be able to credibly change overnight. Coach Souza's interview might sell well to an accounting firm looking to flesh out its "bench strength", but if that tone in any way resembles his approach to the recruits, that answers some of our questions about why we're missing out on the top of the pool talents.

So you either sit back and eventually become professional roadkill, or you grow a pair and push the envelope.

What's the worst that can happen? Does anyone really think BS35+4 is going to fire the hand-picked successor?

As long as whatever he does to *push* can be justified as something he sees as advancing the best long-term interests of the program that's been promised to him, I think that should carry the day with his boss(es). If not - then maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, and Souza can walk and do so with dignity, and not just be a "yes man" for two more seasons as the UNH program circles the drain?

Sure, you can say Souza's hands are tied ... but so are UNH's - this was their *genius* idea after all- and I think Souza needs to make it work for him. Firing the hand-picked successor before he even takes control is a BAD look for both Coach Umile and (especially) the uber-experienced, smartest guy in the room they both still answer to. I would ride that horse as early and as often as possible, if I were Souza. It's his long-term professional career that's on the line here ...