Crosby
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2016
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I think 92 and Bleeds both make good points here. I think the Lucia tenure is generally underrated by Gopher fans. He just happened to be the unfortunate guy in charge when we moved to Big Ten Hockey. That move was hated by most of the fan base. People quit coming to the arena. I would argue that the fan base quit on Don and the Gophers. At the same time, Big Ten hockey was not great initially. The teams, in general, were not top tier. So part of the Gopher success was the fact we were actually playing lesser competition than what we would have played in the old WCHA. I think the 'participation trophy' attitude came from that perception that "Big Ten Hockey sucks, nobody cares, and we can only be successful because we play an uninspiring schedule." Then, I admittedly do think that Don got tired of it and lost interest toward the end. Things have now changed. Big Ten hockey is very good... better than when Don was here. Bob has indeed had success against that stronger schedule. And now the people are back. Given a choice between Lucia and Motzko, I think I'd take Motzko.It's really weird how Don got treated. During that span you are talking about, people on this board were saying things like "national titles are all that matter" and characterized the conference titles, frozen fours, and even the title game appearance as "participation trophies." Then we got rid of Don, and the first time Motzko made the tourney, some of those same people were excited about how he "brought us back to relevance."
The Don is one of only two coaches to win a Natty in our history, so until someone else gets multiple NCAA titles to their name here, he is still number two behind Herb in my book.