UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

Yeah, we know.

[Darius]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

Coach has typically played Freshman forwards, defensemen almost never. Statements from former players indicate that they have very strong relationships with Coach. I have heard indirectly, I think in jest, but probably with a grain of truth that Coach does not speak to Freshman.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...ysI/story.html

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

Yeah, we know.

It is amazing to me how a bunch people who, in all likelihood, have never met the man have been able to psychoanalyze him. I think it is ridiculous to think that on a squad of no more than 25 players, all of whom spend inordinate amounts of time with the coaching staff from the time they drift onto campus in August through the end of the season in March, that he would not get to know these people is beyond ridiculous. Whether you believe it or not, Umile is a people person. If he has a fault when it comes to his relations with the players is that he sometimes allows personalities to get in the way of making sound hockey decisions, witness the continuous faith in underperforming upperclassmen. And I'll also ask this question. For any of you who played high school sports, do you remember your freshman year? I do. I was pretty irrelevant, the coach barely knew my name. I was probably half way through my junior year before he actually came up to me and talked to me by name. Not saying Umile is the same way, I doubt he is since there are scholarships involved, but some of the comments here are really ridiculous. Carry on.

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

Coach has typically played Freshman forwards, defensemen almost never. Statements from former players indicate that they have very strong relationships with Coach. I have heard indirectly, I think in jest, but probably with a grain of truth that Coach does not speak to Freshman.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...ysI/story.html

Darius, I can think right off the top of my head several freshmen defensemen who played regular shifts, going back to Tim Murray. The dmen on the team this year all played significant minutes as freshmen. As for his relationship with them, Steve Saviano told me once that as a freshman, he was actually afraid of Umile at first because of his gruff manner. He softened up pretty quickly though, especially since he SS was Italian and from the Middlesex League.

[sonar]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

It is amazing to me how a bunch people who, in all likelihood, have never met the man have been able to psychoanalyze him. I think it is ridiculous to think that on a squad of no more than 25 players, all of whom spend inordinate amounts of time with the coaching staff from the time they drift onto campus in August through the end of the season in March, that he would not get to know these people is beyond ridiculous. Whether you believe it or not, Umile is a people person. If he has a fault when it comes to his relations with the players is that he sometimes allows personalities to get in the way of making sound hockey decisions, witness the continuous faith in underperforming upperclassmen. And I'll also ask this question. For any of you who played high school sports, do you remember your freshman year? I do. I was pretty irrelevant, the coach barely knew my name. I was probably half way through my junior year before he actually came up to me and talked to me by name. Not saying Umile is the same way, I doubt he is since there are scholarships involved, but some of the comments here are really ridiculous.

Carry on.

Permission accepted and appreciated ......

[Darius]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

Darius, I can think right off the top of my head several freshmen defensemen who played regular shifts, going back to Tim Murray. The dmen on the team this year all played significant minutes as freshmen. As for his relationship with them, Steve Saviano told me once that as a freshman, he was actually afraid of Umile at first because of his gruff manner. He softened up pretty quickly though, especially since he SS was Italian and from the Middlesex League.

Hey Greg, no doubt. Edit my "almost" to "relatively". It is the nature of the position. 12 forwards, 6 d-men each night and also the importance of the position, defensive mistakes vs. offensive mistakes. Sometimes I am surprised that a player is a Senior because I don't recall him having played that many previous years. This is more often with a d-man who had no Freshman and little Sophomore playing time.

[Chuck Murray]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

It is amazing to me how a bunch people who, in all likelihood, have never met the man have been able to psychoanalyze him. I think it is ridiculous to think that on a squad of no more than 25 players, all of whom spend inordinate amounts of time with the coaching staff from the time they drift onto campus in August through the end of the season in March, that he would not get to know these people is beyond ridiculous. Whether you believe it or not, Umile is a people person. If he has a fault when it comes to his relations with the players is that he sometimes allows personalities to get in the way of making sound hockey decisions, witness the continuous faith in underperforming upperclassmen. And I'll also ask this question. For any of you who played high school sports, do you remember your freshman year? I do. I was pretty irrelevant, the coach barely knew my name. I was probably half way through my junior year before he actually came up to me and talked to me by name. Not saying Umile is the same way, I doubt he is since there are scholarships involved, but some of the comments here are really ridiculous. Carry on.

Greg, serious question, and FWIW my (very limited) interactions with Coach in the past tells me he is a genuinely nice, stand-up guy, and UNH has been lucky to have him running the program back in his heyday ...

... so how is it that a "people person" largely washes his hands of the recruiting part of his job - you know, where you determine the future people in your program, and maximize your people skills ... while a guy who is a few years older, has accomplished a whole lot more, and has a (minor but noticeable) speech impediment, is off traipsing across North America year round to keep his program at or near the top?

If Coach Umile is indeed a "people person", why is he leaving the "face time" part of recruiting mostly (if not entirely) to his assistants? Isn't that recruiting with an arm tied behind your back? Shouldn't a "people person" be able to close with top level recruits and their families? Or is he a "people person" only in other settings?

I'm honestly struggling with this. Maybe Coach York sets an impossibly high standard ... but he is being pushed by younger guys in his own league (Bazin, Leaman and now Quinn) and is still out there battling. Jeff Jackson (*gulp*) is enjoying a renaissance at NICC. I just don't see Coach Umile keeping up with any of them. This year's UNH recruiting results have been modest at best. If the next 2 seasons are just going to be the "Dick Umile Farewell Tour", just let us know now so we can set our expectations accordingly. You know?

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

Greg, serious question, and FWIW my (very limited) interactions with Coach in the past tells me he is a genuinely nice, stand-up guy, and UNH has been lucky to have him running the program back in his heyday ...

... so how is it that a "people person" largely washes his hands of the recruiting part of his job - you know, where you determine the future people in your program, and maximize your people skills ... while a guy who is a few years older, has accomplished a whole lot more, and has a (minor but noticeable) speech impediment, is off traipsing across North America year round to keep his program at or near the top?

If Coach Umile is indeed a "people person", why is he leaving the "face time" part of recruiting mostly (if not entirely) to his assistants? Isn't that recruiting with an arm tied behind your back? Shouldn't a "people person" be able to close with top level recruits and their families? Or is he a "people person" only in other settings?

I'm honestly struggling with this. Maybe Coach York sets an impossibly high standard ... but he is being pushed by younger guys in his own league (Bazin, Leaman and now Quinn) and is still out there battling. Jeff Jackson (*gulp*) is enjoying a renaissance at NICC. I just don't see Coach Umile keeping up with any of them. This year's UNH recruiting results have been modest at best. If the next 2 seasons are just going to be the "Dick Umile Farewell Tour", just let us know now so we can set our expectations accordingly. You know?

I'll start by saying that I was on the FOH board from 1992 to 2012. With my good friend Andy, I produced the Bluelines newsletter for almost that entire time. In both capacities, I got to interact with Umile on a weekly basis throughout the hockey season. On top of that, I got to know McCloskey and Lassonde and they would talk about the recruiting process. I got the impression that Brian's mission was a lot more involved than David's,, although I will say that the goaltending quality we had for most of those years was because of Lassonde. But Brian was on the road to the USHL and BCHL towns constantly. He told me more than once that Umile was only used as a closer. That once they had honed in on a recruit who might be on the fence, Umile was brought into the process to seal the deal. From talking to both of these guys, the impression was left with me that Umile left the nuts and bolts of recruiting to them. He wanted to know what was going on, of course, but he was comfortable delegating authority to them.

I spoke to a good friend of mine the other day about this "hands off" issue. My rhetorical question is, "if his emphasis on delegating authority was okay 15-20 years ago, how come it is not now?" Well the obvious answer is that we don't get the quality of players we used to. You know, there was a 10 year span from the late-90's on when UNH had at least one All-American every year, and in most years had two. It peaked in 2008 when we had four first teamers. Those guys - Regan, Flashians, Radja, Fornataro - were signed, sealed and delivered in the fall of 2004, one season removed from the Buffalo FF. After that the results were less spectacular. And why? Because the level of talent dropped off. And here is where I can see dropping some of the blame on the coach. He was stuck in the old model of letting his assistants do the work, having the faith in them to bring in the right players. But every year, just like a leaky faucet, there was this drip, drip of increasing mediocrity. Sure, we got some pretty good ones - Butler, JVR, TVR, Pesce, etc. - but you need more than a first line and one defense pairing to win in HE, and often we had less than that.

For whatever reason Umile did not call out his assistants on this diminution of talent. That's his fault. I'm not excusing him, and this is a bit of speculation, but he had operated one way for over 20 years with great success and probably never got past the idea that if it's not broke, don't fix it. I guess that is where he has shown weakness, in being unable to shift gears when the evidence that he needed to was right in front of him. In hindsight, there were many things besides the drip, drip which should have grabbed his attention - the email fiasco, the ill informed decisions to defer LaLeggia and Vechionne, the admissions stuff with White and Reid - but he was, and is, probably too set in his ways to change. The same thing happened to Parker I believe. As for York, as Dan says, he is the exception that proves the rule. And btw, we have no evidence that York is getting out on the road save for visits to local rinks.

Another, more important, BTW. I was told by the same friend referred to above that a good friend of his has a daughter who is a freshman at UNH. He was told by said friend that there is no two languages requirement at UNH, only two years of one language. If true (and I have no doubt that it is), there has been a lot of misinformation spewed out on this forum in the last few months.

[NCAA watcher]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

And btw, we have no evidence that York is getting out on the road save for visits to local rinks.

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/c..._of_1000th_win

Many come because BC is a place rich in hockey tradition, a perennial national power. But they also come because York still pursues recruits with the zeal of a man half his age.

Case in point: The weekend before Christmas he wasn’t wrapping presents for under the tree with his wife Bobbie in Watertown. He was on a plane to Edmonton to watch a kid someone told him was worth seeing and he headed there with the joy of anticipation that for many college coaches fades over time.

I would bet money that the recruit is Ian Mitchell from Edmonton, who will be another Laleggia.

[HockeyRef]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

I'll start by saying that I was on the FOH board from 1992 to 2012. With my good friend Andy, I produced the Bluelines newsletter for almost that entire time. In both capacities, I got to interact with Umile on a weekly basis throughout the hockey season. On top of that, I got to know McCloskey and Lassonde and they would talk about the recruiting process. I got the impression that Brian's mission was a lot more involved than David's,, although I will say that the goaltending quality we had for most of those years was because of Lassonde. But Brian was on the road to the USHL and BCHL towns constantly. He told me more than once that Umile was only used as a closer. That once they had honed in on a recruit who might be on the fence, Umile was brought into the process to seal the deal. From talking to both of these guys, the impression was left with me that Umile left the nuts and bolts of recruiting to them. He wanted to know what was going on, of course, but he was comfortable delegating authority to them.

I spoke to a good friend of mine the other day about this "hands off" issue. My rhetorical question is, "if his emphasis on delegating authority was okay 15-20 years ago, how come it is not now?" Well the obvious answer is that we don't get the quality of players we used to. You know, there was a 10 year span from the late-90's on when UNH had at least one All-American every year, and in most years had two. It peaked in 2008 when we had four first teamers. Those guys - Regan, Flashians, Radja, Fornataro - were signed, sealed and delivered in the fall of 2004, one season removed from the Buffalo FF. After that the results were less spectacular. And why? Because the level of talent dropped off. And here is where I can see dropping some of the blame on the coach. He was stuck in the old model of letting his assistants do the work, having the faith in them to bring in the right players. But every year, just like a leaky faucet, there was this drip, drip of increasing mediocrity. Sure, we got some pretty good ones - Butler, JVR, TVR, Pesce, etc. - but you need more than a first line and one defense pairing to win in HE, and often we had less than that.

For whatever reason Umile did not call out his assistants on this diminution of talent. That's his fault. I'm not excusing him, and this is a bit of speculation, but he had operated one way for over 20 years with great success and probably never got past the idea that if it's not broke, don't fix it. I guess that is where he has shown weakness, in being unable to shift gears when the evidence that he needed to was right in front of him. In hindsight, there were many things besides the drip, drip which should have grabbed his attention - the email fiasco, the ill informed decisions to defer LaLeggia and Vechionne, the admissions stuff with White and Reid - but he was, and is, probably too set in his ways to change. The same thing happened to Parker I believe. As for York, as Dan says, he is the exception that proves the rule. And btw, we have no evidence that York is getting out on the road save for visits to local rinks.

Another, more important, BTW. I was told by the same friend referred to above that a good friend of his has a daughter who is a freshman at UNH. He was told by said friend that there is no two languages requirement at UNH, only two years of one language. If true (and I have no doubt that it is), there has been a lot of misinformation spewed out on this forum in the last few months.

Greg, having just had a daughter go through UNH I believe your comment regarding having a 2 year language requirement is true. (not two languages..) In fact, and I believe those who work at the U that come to this board can verify, I found this:

Admission Criteria

Baccalaureate Admissions

Most first-year students accepted to a bachelor's degree program have completed rigorous coursework with solid B+ grades, or higher.

Students should complete the following sequences of college preparatory coursework to be considered minimally* qualified for baccalaureate admission to the University:
##Four years of college preparatory English
##Three years of mathematics including Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II
##Three years of science, two of which must be laboratory sciences
##Three years of social sciences (including U.S. History)
##Two years of a single foreign language (three years is preferred)

http://admissions.unh.edu/apply/first-year

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

[QUOTE=NCAA watcher;6276720]http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/c..._of_1000th_win

"In other words, BC recruited New England, a hotbed of hockey talent. It was enough then. York still does, but the pursuit of players now takes him to the ends of the hockey earth, which is why he’s got a goalie from San Diego, a forward from Florida and kids from across the country, across town and across Canada."

Ya think that just might be a bit of hyperbole there?

"Case in point: The weekend before Christmas he wasn’t wrapping presents for under the tree with his wife Bobbie in Watertown. He was on a plane to Edmonton to watch a kid someone told him was worth seeing and he headed there with the joy of anticipation that for many college coaches fades over time."

This separates him from Umile, Parker and all the others who are over 65.

I sold my insurance business at the age of 66. Why? Because, after 40+ years it was time to do something else. The guy who bought my business? He's now 72, loves the chase, loves landing a client, the whole thing. People are just wired differently. For someone like Umile, who was a high level athlete, highly competitive, I know there are many aspects of his job he still loves. There were for me as well. Over the years I adapted, did so nicely. But after 40 plus years, you get to the point where you want to do other things. Which I am doing (save for this). Watcher, come back to me when you're pushing 70 and tell me you have the same enthusiasm for whatever it is you do for a living as you did when you were 30. If so, you're a rare bird, believe me.

[Greg Ambrose]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

Hey Greg, no doubt. Edit my "almost" to "relatively". It is the nature of the position. 12 forwards, 6 d-men each night and also the importance of the position, defensive mistakes vs. offensive mistakes. Sometimes I am surprised that a player is a Senior because I don't recall him having played that many previous years. This is more often with a d-man who had no Freshman and little Sophomore playing time.

Darius, to satisfy my curiosity, I ran down UNH rosters from the 1995-1996 season until now, checking the playing time for freshmen defensemen. Here is a list of those who played less than 20 games their freshman year - Sean Austin, Tim Horst, John Doherty, Chris Murray, Kevin Kapstad, Nick Krates, Mark Campanale, Mike Beck, Harry Quast, and Dylan Chanter. This does not count the 2010-2011 season when both freshmen - Justin Agosta and Eric Knodel was redshirted. That's 12 out of 44 and includes the likes of not only Jayme Filipowicz, Steve O'Brien, Garrett Stafford, Brian Yandle, Brad Flaishans, and Trevor vanRiemsdyk, but also Mike Lubesnick, Michael Hutchins, Damon Kipp and a bunch of guys who are playing right now. Glad to help.

[Darius]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

Thanks, Greg. I'll take your word for it as I am too busy working to check it out myself.

[Snively65]

Re: UNH Commits & Recruiting: 2016 and Beyond

Darius, to satisfy my curiosity, I ran down UNH rosters from the 1995-1996 season until now, checking the playing time for freshmen defensemen. Here is a list of those who played less than 20 games their freshman year - Sean Austin, Tim Horst, John Doherty, Chris Murray, Kevin Kapstad, Nick Krates, Mark Campanale, Mike Beck, Harry Quast, and Dylan Chanter. This does not count the 2010-2011 season when both freshmen - Justin Agosta and Eric Knodel was redshirted. That's 12 out of 44 and includes the likes of not only Jayme Filipowicz, Steve O'Brien, Garrett Stafford, Brian Yandle, Brad Flaishans, and Trevor vanRiemsdyk, but also Mike Lubesnick, Michael Hutchins, Damon Kipp and a bunch of guys who are playing right now. Glad to help.

Just to clarify, the latter list played in more than 20 games as freshmen (not wanting to look it up)?

[Dan]

Fast and skilled '99 New Hampshire native Alex Steeves commits...

...to Notre Dame.