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Messages - Al DeFlorio

#1
Hockey / Re: Coaching staff addition
Today at 06:54:55 AM
Quote from: Old Red on Today at 05:58:24 AM
Quote from: marty on Today at 03:51:05 AMI'm very confused.  How many coaches,  assistant coaches, associate coaches and ersatz coaches are there on Cornell's staff? Are any of the current staff unpaid?

There are no unpaid positions in D1 hockey, the volunteer coach was eliminated, I believe in 2024.

The NCAA allows four countable coaches:  a head coach (Casey Jones) and three (3) assistant coaches for D1 schools. 

Cornell has three assistant coaches:
Associate Head Coach Sean Flanagan (11th year) -- leads in face offs
Assistant Coach Chris Brown (2nd year) -- leads defense and penalty kill
Assistant Coach Cam Clarke (2nd year) -- leads power play

In addition there is a Director of Hockey Operations, as discussed above.  Lately this role has been goalie coach and is responsible for video including video replay decisions and editing.  I also assume this person is responsible general administrative paper work.

Cornell also has an equipment manager, Sean Schmidt in his 15th year.  The atheltic trainer, Kaitlyn Petryszen, and strength and conditioning coach, Mike Missen, support several programs.  Ms. Petryszen serves the Mens and Womens Polo teams and the Golf team.  Mr. Missen serves softball, golf and equestrian.
I remember when it was Ned and his father, Pop.  We won a lot.
#2
Hockey / Re: Recruits 2026 and Beyond
August 04, 2026, 09:06:01 AM
Quote from: TimV on August 04, 2026, 07:11:16 AMAre we switching to UnderArmor this year? I like the real laces.
A better-looking "3"
#3
Other Sports / Re: Cornell Football 2026
July 22, 2026, 06:57:33 AM
Quote from: Trotsky on July 22, 2026, 02:42:48 AM2026 Schedule

@Colgate
9/19 10:00 am

Yale
9/26 10:00 am

@Georgetown
10/3 9:30 am

Harvard
10/10 10:00 am

Lehigh
10/17 11:00 am

@Brown
10/24 9:00 am

@Princeton
10/31 10:00 am

Penn
11/7 11:00 am

Dartmouth
11/14 11:00 am

@Columbia
11/21 10:00 am

Phoenix time😉
#4
Quote from: adamw on July 20, 2026, 09:11:57 PM
Quote from: sezenack on July 20, 2026, 04:00:13 PM
Quote from: adamw on July 20, 2026, 03:37:30 PM
Quote from: sezenack on July 20, 2026, 02:37:36 PMWrote an article about the blueprint for small schools succeeding that I thought you all might be interested in too, even though I look at it through somewhat of an RPI lens.

https://www.rpifieldhouse.com/p/the-formula-to-national-success-as

I think it could've been summarized better in one sentence: "Get a large donation from a billionaire alum."

Which I believe is much more doable than any other solution, and will lead to everything else mentioned.

The money part is a second article upcoming. I don't agree though. Plenty of coaches and programs squander good talent and enough resources because they don't recruit the right mix of players, don't develop their players properly, or are poor at executing their systems. I don't think Penn State will ever win a national championship with Gadowsky's run and gun system for example. BU was decidedly mediocre last year because they were too young and soft. Harvard has been squandering their talent for years now (which is why they pushed Donato out). You need the resources, yes, but if you don't have a good system, you're not going to make good on the talent you bring in.
Schools like RPI, Clarkson, etc... -- hate to say -- will never be able to compete nationally again without a massive infusion of cash.  Those alums are out there, just need to convince them to spend.
Or, just say: if that's what it's going to take to be competitive, it's no longer the college sports that you've enjoyed following for years, and it no longer matters to you how your team does in that kind of environment, and you find a new interest.
#6
Other Sports / Re: 2026 Men's Lacrosse
June 21, 2026, 05:07:06 AM
Quote from: BearLover on June 20, 2026, 11:05:59 PMThe bigger competitive disadvantage by far is that all of our opponents can now have fifth year players. Imagine Notre Dame/Duke/Maryland/etc keeping their best players five years and plucking other teams' best players as graduate transfers. It will be very hard for us to compete.
I believe you've you already told us this at least 100 times.  That's more than enough.  Time for a new whine.
#7
Hockey / Re: WTF Is Going On?
June 10, 2026, 03:49:03 PM
Quote from: BearLover on June 10, 2026, 01:56:36 PM
Quote from: ugarte on June 10, 2026, 01:51:20 PM
Quote from: BearLover on June 10, 2026, 10:20:18 AMWhat's your solution?
mostly it's not posting the same thing for the 400th timie so that a new post notification from a real person is something more than a guy complaining about all the fake posts.
Seems like a weak solution. Any other ideas?
Let's try this solution.  It's a good start.
#8
Other Sports / Re: 2026 Men's Lacrosse
May 28, 2026, 08:36:40 AM
Quote from: BearLover on May 28, 2026, 12:51:31 AM
Quote from: mike1960 on May 27, 2026, 09:49:14 PM
Quote from: BearLover on May 27, 2026, 09:37:55 PM
Quote from: mike1960 on May 27, 2026, 09:17:35 PM
Quote from: Swampy on May 27, 2026, 03:56:30 PM
Quote from: CU77 on May 25, 2026, 12:30:52 PMAt least 90% of recruiting has to do with factors that the coach has no direct control over: academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship,  etc. There's not some magic knob that a coach can turn to improve recruiting.

Perhaps. But while Princeton and ND may have some advantages, I don't see enough difference in the five things you explicitly mention (academics, campus culture, weather, facilities, likelihood of a championship) to account for Princeton repeatedly recruiting the #1 class (several years in a row with 5x5*) while we recruit #20.

This is particularly vexing because until recently we have regularly recruited generational players like Kurst, Teat, Adler, etc.
We are still recruiting potentially generational players.
The fact we still get the occasional 5-star doesn't disprove the broader point. BTW, Adler was not a big-time recruit. Nor was Pannell.
The problem is not recruiting. The problem is how well we play. We're absolutely able to beat the national champions Princeton Tigers. Do you know how I know?
Sorry, but this is cope. Can we beat Princeton? Yes. Were we as good as Princeton this season? No. We fortunately recruit well enough that we aren't completely overmatched against the top teams, and often we do beat them, but we'd beat them more often if we recruited better. Developing players is important, but the ceiling is higher on a 5-star recruit than a 3-star recruit. You'll win more by developing a 5-star. What I'm saying is so simple that it's practically tautological: bringing in better players means you win more. Yes, we can beat the teams that out-recruit us, but this is in spite of the recruiting disparity, and we'd beat those teams more often if we recruited better.

Overall our recruiting has been fine. Clearly not as good as Princeton's or Notre Dame's or UVA's or Duke's or UNC's, but it's been good enough to compete nationally. This will no longer be the case if we bring in the 20th best recruiting class every season (as we will next year). Even our 2027 ranking (11th) isn't very good, considering the class was recruited in the wake of our national title. So, we need to step it up.


I could be wrong, I suppose, but didn't Cornell just win a national championship twelve months ago? 

What will it take to quiesce the insistent, persistent whining we are depressingly subjected to?  I'd rather read the Cyrillic garbage we get than this tiresome Chicken Little act.

#9
Only two assisted goals
#10
Out of control.  No cutters. Can't get an open shot.
#12
Other Sports / Re: 2026 Men's Lacrosse
May 06, 2026, 04:46:20 AM
Firth is one of five Tewaaraton finalists.
#13
Quote from: rss77 on May 04, 2026, 04:01:01 PMAlso was at game back 1987 and will never forget Tim Goldstein's shot bouncing off the post in OT.  Game of inches indeed!
There was no OT.  Bubier scored with 1:51 left to win it 11-10.
#14
Other Sports / Re: Cornell v Harvard MLAX ILT 5/1
May 01, 2026, 07:35:52 PM
Quote from: CU77 on May 01, 2026, 07:20:25 PMAJ got 2 goals  8)

Yale leading Princeton 6-3 midway through Q2
6-5 at half
#15
Princeton once took a QB from, I think, Purdue, after his freshman year.  They say they don't take transfers, so, to satisfy that, they made him enter as a freshman, not a sophomore.  When you need a QB, you do what you have to do.