{"id":45354,"date":"2012-10-04T05:00:19","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=45354"},"modified":"2020-08-24T21:17:37","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T02:17:37","slug":"for-six-first-time-college-head-coaches-year-two-can-be-make-or-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwproxy.uscho.com\/2012\/10\/04\/for-six-first-time-college-head-coaches-year-two-can-be-make-or-break\/","title":{"rendered":"For six first-time college head coaches, year two can be make or break"},"content":{"rendered":"
In many ways the second year is the most vital one for a first-time college hockey head coach.<\/p>\n
Year two usually represents a coach’s first recruiting class and also the year that new systems may finally take hold. More importantly, it is the year that new coaches really start to put their stamp on their program.<\/p>\n
However, the second year is when the honeymoon period starts to wear off. Excusable losses during the first year of a new regime stain more in the second. Plus, with programs generally loaded with large freshman classes in that second season, progress can be slow and wins hard to come by.<\/p>\n
This season, six head coaches who led a college hockey program for the first time last season — Union’s Rick Bennett, Western Michigan’s Andy Murray, Clarkson’s Casey Jones, Michigan Tech’s Mel Pearson, Princeton’s Bob Prier and Northeastern’s Jim Madigan — will do their best to navigate through their respective year twos and avoid the potential pitfalls of a sophomore slump.<\/p>\n
“Last year as a coach it was like having 27 new players, but after one season our returning 18 players got to know our personalities, as we now know their personalities,” Madigan said. “The players we are bringing in [to join them] are not specifically Jim Madigan’s recruits or [previous coach] Greg Cronin’s recruits, but Northeastern recruits, and I think we are going to have a nice blend this season.”<\/p>\n
How each coach handles his second year will go a long way in determining his program’s identity.<\/p>\n
Coach replaced: Nate Leaman. First-season record: 26-8-7 (14-4-4 ECAC Hockey). School record in 2010-11: 26-10-4 (17-3-2).<\/em><\/p>\n