Bye-bye Ben

[dbilmes]

Ben Syer is taking over the Princeton program. Good luck to him except when they play Cornell!

[scoop85]

Ben Syer is taking over the Princeton program. Good luck to him except when they play Cornell!

Congrats to Syer. Nice for him to get a D1 head coaching opportunity. Princeton has been a tough place to win consistently, but they have the best overall sports program in the Ivies, and if they give him the resources he may be able to elevate their program.

[Al DeFlorio]

Yep, happy for him.  He learned under and from a great coach, and not just about hockey Xs and Os.

[Larry72]

Congratulations Ben. Best of luck at Princeton.

[chimpfood]

Good for Ben, sucks for us. He was a big part of the program and I'm gonna have a hard time cheering against him at Princeton.

[Chris '03]

Princeton, SLU, and Clarkson now all led by former Schafer assistants. Seems pretty remarkable.

[BearLover]

Princeton, SLU, and Clarkson now all led by former Schafer assistants. Seems pretty remarkable.

Yes, it's nuts. Clarkson and SLU play similar styles to Cornell, and now you have to imagine Princeton will as well. So we end up with three Cornell-lites in the same league as Cornell.

I guess Flanagan gets promoted to associate head coach, and Schafer brings in somebody new in Flanagan's current spot. I am hopeful that Flanagan has developed many of the same relationships Syer had in recruiting. But a lot is certainly going to change now, at least from a recruiting standpoint.

[abmarks]

Bearlover:   since he got the job, I think your question about why Princeton but not Cornell HC is a good, and relevant one.

Be interesting to see if any info slips out on this over time.   Or maybe when Adam said syer would not be a Cornell HC, he already knew just how likely syer was to land the Princeton job.  That seems the most likely explanation of Adam's emphatic statement.

[Dafatone]

Bearlover:   since he got the job, I think your question about why Princeton but not Cornell HC is a good, and relevant one.

Be interesting to see if any info slips out on this over time.   Or maybe when Adam said syer would not be a Cornell HC, he already knew just how likely syer was to land the Princeton job.  That seems the most likely explanation of Adam's emphatic statement.

Again, what if Adam himself is the heir apparent, so he can speak with confidence about who won't have the job.

[BearLover]

Bearlover:   since he got the job, I think your question about why Princeton but not Cornell HC is a good, and relevant one.

Be interesting to see if any info slips out on this over time.   Or maybe when Adam said syer would not be a Cornell HC, he already knew just how likely syer was to land the Princeton job.  That seems the most likely explanation of Adam's emphatic statement.

Adam's statement came over two months ago when Princeton had not yet fired their prior head coach.

[cth95]

That makes more than a quarter of the other teams in the league with former Cornell assistants as head coaches.  I can't imagine that high of a percentage coming from one team happens very often in any league.

[cth95]

Bearlover:   since he got the job, I think your question about why Princeton but not Cornell HC is a good, and relevant one.

Be interesting to see if any info slips out on this over time.   Or maybe when Adam said syer would not be a Cornell HC, he already knew just how likely syer was to land the Princeton job.  That seems the most likely explanation of Adam's emphatic statement.

Adam's statement came over two months ago when Princeton had not yet fired their prior head coach.

Maybe Adam thinks Schafer will stick around longer than Syer wanted to wait for a head coaching job.

[ugarte]

jesus christ shut up about this already

[adamw]

Ben Syer was a great assistant for Cornell, and a great guy in my dealings with him, and I wish him the absolute best at Princeton. I also spent five years doing radio for Princeton hockey in the '90s, and wish them well also. Syer goes to Princeton as the most accomplished coach they've ever had going into the job, from the standpoint of the success he's had at the programs he's been in. However, with no head coaching background, it's a difficult job. The last two Princeton HC's with no prior HC experience lasted just a couple years, while the ones that had HC experience each won an ECAC championship (over the last 30 years). So we'll see which of these competing thoughts win out. But like I said, I will be rooting for Princeton, and Ben, to do well.

[arugula]

Adam-any insight into how this will affect Cornell's recruiting?