Clarkson On the Hotseat!!!

Anyone see the story on the front page of USCHO??? Doesn't sound good for our northern New York rival.

[uscho.com]

Someone wrote on the Clarkson Round Table that he was at the Saturday practice and saw Morris hit a player. This is likely to get very messy, I regret to say. Really too bad, if true.

If true, it is very unfortunate. As much as they are a bitter rival, you hate to see something like that happen to anyone. I hope for the sake of Coach Morris, the Clarkson hockey team, and college hockey the incident is not what Al described.

For those who are curious, there's more discussion about this on the Golden Knights Hockey Roundtable than on USCHO.

Read the comments and rants on USCHO at your own risk. Lots of speculation, inaccuracies and of course, the usual dose of vitriol from "PA"...including a shot at Coach Schafer.

He hints that Schafer may become his next target if Coach Morris departs at Clarkson. Is anyone ready for that? God help us!

Aah, let him spew. Empty barrels make the most noise.

Update at USCHO

That's true...however, it's sad that some folks actually believe his misguided slander.

We need less of that, not more.

Several upstate newspapers reported this morning that Morris is out at Clarkson.

A sad story.

I think we should sign him to our staff.

For those who have not seen the front page of USCHO, Clarkson officially terminated Mark Morris today. Adam mentioned this on the pregame show as well. There is nothing as yet on the Golden Knights' official site, however.

Someone posted a press release on the new new Round Table

[www.goldenknightshockey.com]

Not sure what to make of Morris's refusal to cooperate with the investigation.

The release appears on the University's general site, not the athletic department site. Might not be anything at all, but the fact that the statement comes from Clarkson's president (as opposed to the athletic director) intrigued me slightly.

I think Denny Brown making the announcement indicates the seriousness of the situation. The supposed "investigation"... was conducted by Clarkson's HR department and NOT by Sean Frazier, the new AD. Note that Denny is a lame duck President and not well liked by many in the North Country in the past two years or so. This will not help in the eyes of many.

What kind of "investigation" is it that allows the instigator, i.e., the player, to play last weekend while the coach is suspended? I think that tells you all you need to know about the pre-judging done here. The kid takes TWO runs at his coach and is not held accountable? Strange...and then his mother ran to file a lawsuit...good example of our sickenly litigous society.

I'm not condoning Morris's actions but I think he got a raw deal. And yes, he is my friend and I'm proud to say it. He did A LOT for the team, the program, the University, the north Country, and the ECAC. It's a sad day in college hockey.

Re: his non-cooperation: Not sure about that and it may be a few days before I can get details if at all, but I'm sure that his lawyer's involvement had a lot to do with that. Stay tuned!

RichS, I'm with you, at least with the limited things I'm hearing about.

I was hearing some Clarkson buddies wanting Morris out. Do they even realize what he's accomplished? Its not enough to lead the league in win percentage throughout his entire career? 3 ECAC championships in 10 years is not good enough? What the hell!

And why is the instigator still playing. If you check your coach who doesn't have pads, TWICE, and the school finds nothing wrong with it, then I don't know what's up. I'm probably not getting the full story, but If I am it does seem like a witchhunt.

Maybe Morris is getting a raw deal, but it isn't surprising that Clarkson expects more maturity from their coaches than they do from their players. Certainly it isn't surprising that they take this position publicly. Morris had other disciplinary tools at his disposal, and it appears that in a moment of pique, he chose the wrong response. For instance, the school probably wouldn't have blinked if Morris suspended the player for 2 weeks or even dismissed him from the team for "conduct detrimental to the team" or under some other nebulous rule.

I feel bad for Coach Morris, because this appears to have been an isolated incident over the course of an admirably successful career, and the punishment therefore seems unduly harsh. But I also think that he could have survived the "assault" (for lack of a more accurate term), but not failing to cooperate in the investigation. He probably had good lawsuit-related reasons for wanting to keep his on-the-record statements to a minimum, but I assure you that his lawyers told him that dismissal was a likely consequence.

If this was an isolated incident, I don't think that Morris will be down for long. I don't know enough about Clarkson hockey in the immediate pre-Morris era to know if he built a great program, but he certainly sustained an impressive degree of excellence during his tenure. I wish him luck at his next stop.

Until he has the misfortune of returning to Lynah.

USCHO has an updated story, including Morris's first public statement on the issue

[www.uscho.com]

strange that it was an Ithaca kid that had all of this happen??

And it gets even more interesting, I learn on USCHO. AHCA Director, Hockey East Commissioner, and former ECAC commish Joe Bertagna and Clarkson U. president Denny Brown are exchanging public slaps in the press.

[uscho.com]

Can you expect anything more from a Harvard grad?

Or from Gary Bettman? a grad from where? LOL....

Frankly, I'm not at all surprised over pleased at Denny Brown's mishandling of this affair. He's a lame duck who has always been a cold fish personality-wise and he never showed any interest in Clarkson athletics, especially hockey. Its no secret he did not like Coach Morris and whatever else happened here, it's pretty clear he jumped at the chance to get another scalp before his tenure ends. And yes, he has terminated a few other people under suspicious circumstances in his waning days.

He has done a lot of good things in his tenure at Clarkson and I got to know him while active on the Alumni Bd. of Governors but his personality never pleased North Country citizens or a lot of Clarkson employees and alumni.

Seems his dismissal of Morris will be his lasting legacy. Sad for all, and I'd be shocked if he ever knew Joe Bertagna's name before last week!

Frankly, Rich, it seems to me Morris got exactly what he deserved. How you and others can claim this is in any way unfair is a great mystery to me. Assaulting one of your players is quite simply unacceptable behavior. All you have to do is read what the eyewitnesses described. I've been a college vice president, and have a pretty good understanding of what gets you the gate. What he did was far over the line.

Ordinarily it is unsafe to get in between Rich and Al, but I am going to step in and say that I'm with Al on this one. The accounts of the incident make it seem like Morris just blew a gasket. Tough price to pay, but I think the school had to do it.

It may well be that the Clarkson administration has wanted to get rid of Morris for some time. But if the statements are true - and there are (reportedly) an awful lot for them to all be falsified - then Morris just handed them a reason on a silver platter.

If a player took a run at his coach as Morris contends and the coach lost his temper and popped the kid once I'd think maybe he could get off with a reprimand. But the reports sound like Morris did a hell of lot of a lot more, way past a "reasonable" response in a moment of hot blood.

For his sake, I hope Morris can land another coaching job at some point. He may not be the nicest guy (from stories - never met him) but he's certainly a quality coach, regardless of NC$$ failures. Given Joe Bertagna's defense of him, I suspect he has a chance, though a college job might be difficult to land anytime soon. Anger management classes anyone?

My sentiments exactly, Keith. If your boss is out to get you, the last thing you want to do is assault one of the folks who works for you.

Morris was a very successful coach, and I've always said that, most often in defense of him on the "old" Round Table. I hope he lands on his feet.

[Q]In a letter to the editor of the Potsdam-Massena Daily Courier-Observer on Dec. 3, 2002, American Hockey Coaches Association Executive Director and Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna stated his displeasure at the termination of Morris.

"It is clear that forces at work on the Clarkson campus wanted hockey coach Mark Morris removed all along and the incident that took place at Cheel Arena on Nov. 2 gave Clarkson officials the chance to do just that," Bertagna wrote.[/Q]

So will Mr. Bertagna now entertain lectures from the ECAC or any other league for that matter when someone disagrees with him?

I assume he wanted to put up a few talking points for his buddy Mark Morris. The Clarkson response sure makes me want to hire Morris to coach the young uns on a division 1 team.