What grade would you give the Gophers hiring of Brett Larson as the new HC?

What grade would you give the Gophers hiring of Brett Larson as the new HC?

Gave him a D. He's won once with Motzko players so hopefully he can do it again, but otherwise an F. Ugh this is such a lazy hire.

El Amin Fan said:

Gave him a D. He's won once with Motzko players so hopefully he can do it again, but otherwise an F. Ugh this is such a lazy hire.

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Those Motzko players were coming off a one seed.

C; people are all butthurt because they think we could hire Carle, Fersch, Barr if we just snapped our fingers.
That said, he's been bang on average at SCSU and bang on mediocre compared to other schools in the state over the last 3 years (3-10 vs UMD 3-3 vs UST, 2-0 vs BSU; 0-2 vs Kato)
Recruiting wise has gotten tough and has been pretty meh recruiting MN but SCSU doesn't exactly have much to offer
Fill out a good staff. Fill in a GM role person who can solicit dollars.

upnorthkid said:

C; people are all butthurt because they think we could hire Carle, Fersch, Barr if we just snapped our fingers.
That said, he's been bang on average at SCSU and bang on mediocre compared to other schools in the state over the last 3 years (3-10 vs UMD 3-3 vs UST, 2-0 vs BSU; 0-2 vs Kato)
Recruiting wise has gotten tough and has been pretty meh recruiting MN but SCSU doesn't exactly have much to offer
Fill out a good staff. Fill in a GM role person who can solicit dollars.

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Coyle didn’t even reach out to some of these top coaches. Yes. Some have even turned around programs and are known as good recruiters. That’s all the fans expect. At least try. Minnesota is a top school for coaching. He picks a guys who winters ago was .500 and this year under .500. What am I missing?

upnorthkid said:

Fill out a good staff. Fill in a GM role person who can solicit dollars.

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The problem with this is that we're already trying to fill holes for a new coach that we literally just hired.

Terribly frustrating hire that will do nothing to generate more interest, donations or revenue for this program IMO.

Process was an F, I'm more than willing to give Larson the benefit of the doubt, Motzo had an excellent recruiting class lined up, hopefully he can keep them on board. Coyle is a trainwreck. I'd disagree with Upnorth that anyone thought making a big impact hire would be easy. I think what a lot of us said was that Motzko was let go because this is a top tier program and Coyle didn't see him leading them back to the National title, that we have the tools in place to be better. Well then prove it, put together a compensation package that will make top candidates think a little bit before saying no. Make it hard to turn down. That said lets get out and support the new coach, the AD, not so much.

USAhockey71 said:

Coyle didn’t even reach out to some of these top coaches. Yes. Some have even turned around programs and are known as good recruiters. That’s all the fans expect. At least try. Minnesota is a top school for coaching. He picks a guys who winters ago was .500 and this year under .500. What am I missing?

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if you watch Coyle give any interview, the final 3 of Larson, Potulny, Raboin was exactly what you would expect. I thought it would be between the last 2 because I didn't think Rabs would back out, but this was predictable to anyone who was asking for Bob to be fired that this type of candidate was who would be hired.

upnorthkid said:

but this was predictable to anyone who was asking for Bob to be fired that this type of candidate was who would be hired.

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How so? It's not our fault the whole program is a shit show. Bob had to go. But now you've set the program back another five years or more probably.

bonin21 said:

How so? It's not our fault the whole program is a shit show. Bob had to go. But now you've set the program back another five years or more probably.

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because we've watched Mark Coyle hire a hockey coach once and he has said who he relies on to hire hockey coaches?

The whole program is not a shit show and that's just stupidity to even say. There are plenty of fans and alums who know the changes that need to happen, but when you, as the decision maker, rely on a small, insulated group of people to make your hires, you knew this was where it was vastly most likely going to end up.

I don't think Larson is a bad coach (and I don't blame him for taking the job). I think he is young enough he will be willing to bust ass (and I have personally watched his assts at SCSU do so) to make it work here in being in rinks, but they need someone to add the "sparkle" a bit as Larson himself isn't going to do that. Some HCs are CEOs who sell you (PJ for example; I don't know if he's a real great x & os guy but he's a vision leader). Some are coaches who coach (by rumor this is what Larson is, and this is probably more the thread Niko falls in for MBB but he does balance the two better).

I think they can be ok if they hire someone in the GM role that can handle that NIL side, schmooze donors, bring in new money and they'll be fine. The program still has prestige, you just need a group willing to step into the next era. I would've rather gone a different way with someone who plays more the style Gopher hockey has been (open, up and down) and would've thrown the bag at a guy like Fersch to do so, but if someone puts in the effort to recruit and fundraise, there are many people who can be very successful here. I mean fuck people hated on Bob and he say he was a bad coach and he was 2 min away from it with the guys he recruited and people think Rabs who has never won anything could stroll in and recruit here. There's zero reason to say the program is a "shit show" (if you wanna rag on Coyle as it pertains specifically to hockey, hey I'm there with you on that).

I went D.

Didn't vote. I don't know the process behind the scenes. When the process truly started and so forth. Perhaps he'll be a great coach, perhaps he'll be a lousy coach. At this point, the jury is out and I'm part of that jury.

I joined the vocal majority that was opposed to hiring Larson as well as frustrated with the lack of transparency in the process Coyle took. I didn't believe Larson had demonstrated the head coaching track record to be successful in such a high profile program as Gopher Hockey. Moreover, the apparent lack of a national search by Coyle didn't seem legitimate. Having said that, Larson has hired a very strong support staff, rid the team of low quality D1 players, and enticed talented transfer/CHL players for the upcoming season. I'm sure some have and will continue to question Larson's coach and player moves, but I will apologize for my initial hiring reaction.

While we don't know how well Larson will recruit future talent, develop players, or actually coach Gopher hockey, he has respectfully earned the right to demonstrate these skills over the next few years!

Now win a national championship in the next 3-4 yrs or I will take it all back (Not!)

My view of the search and initial response to the announcement was pretty much right on track with what you've said, but I too have come around to thinking Larson has earned the right to be given the benefit of the doubt. Just listening to him speak, I get the impression he know's what he needs to do to get this program back to where it belongs and we can already see it with what he's doing with the roster. He has my support.

Similar thoughts here. Didn't like the hire, still not certain it was the best move, but hard to argue against what he has done so far, and he seems to have assembled the right staff. Still TBD how things will turn out of course, but we do have to understand that at this point SCSU is somewhat of a dead end program (and university for that matter). Much more opportunity to succeed here. I hope Brett makes me eat crow for years to come.

Gophers1992 said:

Similar thoughts here. Didn't like the hire, still not certain it was the best move, but hard to argue against what he has done so far, and he seems to have assembled the right staff. Still TBD how things will turn out of course, but we do have to understand that at this point SCSU is somewhat of a dead end program (and university for that matter). Much more opportunity to succeed here. I hope Brett makes me eat crow for years to come.

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This. Perfectly stated from my own perspective, sir.

Two ways to read the question. Grade the hiring which I think we'd score him a bit better now than current score.

And grade the apparent search and process that was conducted by the AD. I think the poor grade more reflects frustration with that.