Dan Fridgen has resigned from RPI

[www.rpiathletics.com]

That's resigned, not re-signed, although I suspect that he resigned before he would have been fired.

As an RPI undergrad before coming to Cornell for grad school, I have to say good riddance. While Fridge was a very good man (even opening up his home to his players), he wasn't a good coach, and anyone who has watched the team the past 4 years knows that. RPI's play was so predictable - dump the puck in the offensive zone and line change continually. Drove fans insane.

I really hope that Joe Juneau gets the job (and obviously hope that he is willing to take it if it's offered to him). I think the situation at RPI is very similar to what happened here in the mid-90s when Schafer took over. Perhaps this is a sign that the Tute wants to turn it around.

I enjoyed watching Junea play for RPI (I overlapped at Cornell for 3 of his 4 years)...... he was a great player. What's he doing these days? It looks like he accepted a job in his hometown. From what he's said on a few occasions, I thought he wanted to be an engineer so that he could get a job after hockey.

[sports.espn.go.com]

Not surprising. RPI seems to have steadily gotten worse over the last few years. Good luck in finding a new coach who can rejuvenate the program.

This past weekend most of us were talking about Fridgen resigning; I believe he was the only ECAC coach not at the awards banquet. Good luck RPI! The league keeps getting better and it is vital for the non-Ivy league teams to be strong since they represent the majority of our leagues out of conference games.

KeithK
Not surprising. RPI seems to have steadily gotten worse over the last few years. Good luck in finding a new coach who can rejuvenate the program.

And also good luck to Fridgen in finding himself a new gig where he can be more successful. Everything I've heard about him suggests that he's a good guy who was just stuck in a rut, and hopefully a change of scenery will fix that up a bit.

RatushnyFan
I enjoyed watching Junea play for RPI (I overlapped at Cornell for 3 of his 4 years)...... he was a great player. What's he doing these days? It looks like he accepted a job in his hometown. From what he's said on a few occasions, I thought he wanted to be an engineer so that he could get a job after hockey.

[sports.espn.go.com]

When Juneau was honored at RPI in November he said

[q]"I've already started looking at projects to see how I could help," Juneau said. "When I came here in 1987, RPI was among the top five college hockey programs in the country. I would like to help restore it to national prominence."[/q]
[www.timesunion.com]

That made some of us think that he was interested in coming back.

jmh30

KeithK
Not surprising. RPI seems to have steadily gotten worse over the last few years. Good luck in finding a new coach who can rejuvenate the program.

And also good luck to Fridgen in finding himself a new gig where he can be more successful. Everything I've heard about him suggests that he's a good guy who was just stuck in a rut, and hopefully a change of scenery will fix that up a bit.

It worked for Brian McCutcheon, and he even stayed on good enough terms with Cornell to send his son there. (Thanks!)

Too bad, I had the opportunity to enjoy about four hours of conversation with coach Fridgen and his wife Friday and Saturday nights.He truly is passionate about the game and has high remarks for coach Schafer. I wish him well in his further endeavors

ursaminor

When Juneau was honored at RPI in November he said

[q]"I've already started looking at projects to see how I could help," Juneau said. "When I came here in 1987, RPI was among the top five college hockey programs in the country. I would like to help restore it to national prominence."[/q]
[www.timesunion.com]

That made some of us think that he was interested in coming back.

And those who didn't think he was talking about grabbing the coaching job from Fridgen were on mood altering medication. In the audio interview that ran on WRIP he never once mentioned Coach Fridgen.

Note to the RIP AD. When you hire Joe J., make sure to put a hefty chunk of money aside for sensitivity/PR training. Joe dissed Mike Adessa during that same interview. (I actually thought it was refreshing to hear someone speak his mind, but I doubt the school as a whole nor A.D. Ralph were thrilled.)

slh10
Too bad, I had the opportunity to enjoy about four hours of conversation with coach Fridgen and his wife Friday and Saturday nights.He truly is passionate about the game and has high remarks for coach Schafer. I wish him well in his further endeavors

I would like to add my hopes that he finds a niche. He is supposed to be one of the nicest guys in the game. All the complaining I have done over the last 5 or more years was in the interest of better hockey at RIP. I hope he lands on his feet (or skates or whatever).

RatushnyFan
I enjoyed watching Juneau play for RPI

I don't know if "enjoyed" is the right word for it. I sure as hell respected it but I didn't enjoy it at all.

I also didn't enjoy watching Bruce Coles lay people out but I respected him quite a bit as well. Because I was afraid.

The ECAC really could use a strong RPI team. I remember in the late 80's when they were a great skating team, and would seem to regularly get into high scoring shootouts.

Juneau would be a great possibility.

Hopefully they take their opportunity to upgrade the program -- like Donato at Harvard.

ugarte

RatushnyFan
I enjoyed watching Juneau play for RPI

I don't know if "enjoyed" is the right word for it. I sure as hell respected it but I didn't enjoy it at all.

I also didn't enjoy watching Bruce Coles lay people out but I respected him quite a bit as well. Because I was afraid.

'88-'89: W 3-2 @ RPI, W 4-2 @ Lynah
'89-'90: W 6-4 @ Lynah, L 6-5 (OT) @ RPI, L 3-2 @ ECAC semis in Boston
'90-'91: W 5-4 @ RPI, L 5-4 @ Lynah (part of the final weekend collapse)

In my years of overlap with Junea, we were 4-3.........not so bad. But the loss in Boston hurt and the loss in '91 (and losing to Vermont, getting swept at home to lose the ECAC regular season title in the last week of the season) obviously stung. Each of those three losses were by a single goal......ouch.

I think Fridgen deep down wanted the Colgate job when Terry Slater passed away and was passed over for Vaughn. He inherited a lot of talent at RPI and coached it up pretty well but I always felt he could not recruit enough players. He always seemed to get some really exceptional players but their depth has always been very suspect. Third and Fourth lines win championships.

dford'94
Third and Fourth lines win championships.

Which sounds more upbeat than, "Without solid third and fourth lines, you're unlikely to win the championships your first two lines make possible."


Maybe exception proves rule and this is two generations ago, but didn't Ned Harkness win the 1954 title at RPI with, what, 12 skaters? That's two front and back lines and two spares.

One last iteration: Cornell is the kind of team that needs four lines to win a championship because we don't have, haven't had in a long time, a mind-blowing first line. We've had several All-America first team forwards, but how many times have we had a serious-contender Hobey Baker finalist forward?

billhoward
We've had several All-America first team forwards, but how many times have we had a serious-contender Hobey Baker finalist forward?

Well, there was Nieuwendyk, and, uhh...

jmh30

billhoward
We've had several All-America first team forwards, but how many times have we had a serious-contender Hobey Baker finalist forward?

Well, there was Nieuwendyk, and, uhh...

... Lance Nethery and, um ... we're back before the HB awards era.

I don't know how they stacked up to their competition for awards, but the Derraugh-Andison-Hughes line racked up some pretty impressive numbers in 1991 (166 points total).

KeithK
I don't know how they stacked up to their competition for awards, but the Derraugh-Andison-Hughes line racked up some pretty impressive numbers in 1991 (166 points total).

David Emma (BC) won the Hobey that year with 81 points.

dford'94
I think Fridgen deep down wanted the Colgate job....Third and Fourth lines win championships.

And so does coaching. A coach whose teams look worse a season's end and whose players don't develop over their four years on the team is the definition of mediocre. This year they started to gel as a team and my conclusion after 12 years of watching - one of the assistant coaches must be making an impact.

(A la 2004 when unpaid assistant George Morrison helped them with their power play.)

Fridgen would make a hell of an assistant/recruiter. Good luck to him.

And now Taylor of Yale is gone too!

Chris 02
And now Taylor of Yale is gone too!

Wow, and USCHO doesn't make it sound like he stepped down, the phrase is "was removed from [coach] and will be offered reassignment".

[www.uscho.com]

DeltaOne81

Chris 02
And now Taylor of Yale is gone too!

Wow, and USCHO doesn't make it sound like he stepped down, the phrase is "was removed from [coach] and will be offered reassignment".

[www.uscho.com]

USCHO needs to change their cover story and photo.

nyc94
USCHO needs to change their cover story and photo.

Yup. The same thing happened last year about this time...I could never stay on the main page very long.

DeltaOne81

Chris 02
And now Taylor of Yale is gone too!

Wow, and USCHO doesn't make it sound like he stepped down, the phrase is "was removed from [coach] and will be offered reassignment".

[www.uscho.com]

That's pretty crazy. I always thought Taylor's arrangement was like "coach-for-life."

jmh30

DeltaOne81
Wow, and USCHO doesn't make it sound like he stepped down, the phrase is "was removed from [coach] and will be offered reassignment".

[www.uscho.com]

That's pretty crazy. I always thought Taylor's arrangement was like "coach-for-life."

Perhaps he died years ago and they just noticed

(Sorry, couldn't help myself )

jmh30
That's pretty crazy. I always thought Taylor's arrangement was like "coach-for-life."

Personally, I'm thrilled that yet another ECAC school is showing the beginnings of some commitment to upgrading its program. A stronger ECAC means less bitching from me, which I'm sure was at the top of their list of reasons for giving Taylor the axe.

Kyle