Mike Schafer retiring 2025

[abmarks]

I'm actually surprised Schafer is retiring given the state of the team. I respect how he's handled it in regards to trying to make a smooth transition with CJ, but this team has the potential to be serious national contenders for at least two more years. The only thing not on his resume. Yet.

Read his remarks again. He was basically retired Last Year.  The lounge chair was ready.  This is a one off transition year...he wasn't signing up for a generational run.

[Tcl123]

I'm actually surprised Schafer is retiring given the state of the team. I respect how he's handled it in regards to trying to make a smooth transition with CJ, but this team has the potential to be serious national contenders for at least two more years. The only thing not on his resume. Yet.

Read his remarks again. He was basically retired Last Year.  The lounge chair was ready.  This is a one off transition year...he wasn't signing up for a generational run.

I'm not disagreeing completely. I'm just remarking how can you walk away from probably the best team since the frozen four team as someone who has literally been apart the program for the better part of 40 years? The lounge chair could be warm and ready, but we all know how competitive Mike is. Hopefully the players realize what they have and are motivated enough to get him over the top once and for all.


I worked as the manager alongside ray barile  in 93/94 (dark days im aware) when Casey was assistant to McCutcheon. He was the hard ass of the group. He was the one that expected players to work hard and go deep into corners. Casey is a solid hire. Maybe not the best. But let's see what happens.

[BearLover]

I'm actually surprised Schafer is retiring given the state of the team. I respect how he's handled it in regards to trying to make a smooth transition with CJ, but this team has the potential to be serious national contenders for at least two more years. The only thing not on his resume. Yet.

Read his remarks again. He was basically retired Last Year.  The lounge chair was ready.  This is a one off transition year...he wasn't signing up for a generational run.

I'm not disagreeing completely. I'm just remarking how can you walk away from probably the best team since the frozen four team as someone who has literally been apart the program for the better part of 40 years? The lounge chair could be warm and ready, but we all know how competitive Mike is. Hopefully the players realize what they have and are motivated enough to get him over the top once and for all.


I worked as the manager alongside ray barile  in 93/94 (dark days im aware) when Casey was assistant to McChutcheon. He was the hard ass of the group. He was the one that expected players to work hard and go deep into corners. Casey is a solid hire. Maybe not the best. But let's see what happens.

I'm skeptical of Casey. I mean, he wasn't that successful at Clarkson. He was just okay. It was not even remotely close to how good Cornell has been under Schafer. It comes down to: how much more difficult is it to win at Clarkson than at Cornell? And: can Casey keep cooking with Schafer's secret sauce? I'm not saying he wasn't the best option available given the constraints (financial limitations, interest in the job, etc.), but he's far from a slam dunk.

[VIEWfromK]

It felt like a couple of years there with Clarkson he was beating us at our own game.  And those were some really good Cornell teams that he did it to.  Replacing Schafer was always going to be tough but this still appears to me like the best option to continue the lineage.  Maybe thinking that the next coach is supposed to carry on is a bad idea but it's still comforting to me nonetheless.

[Trotsky]

It felt like a couple of years there with Clarkson he was beating us at our own game.

The 2019 ECAC final was like watching a scrimmage. Casey built that Clarkson team to Mike's exact specifications.  We are going to see a continuation of the same philosophy, and I'm fine with that.  Casey is a 5-year +/- bridge.  We should be aware Mike was a generational talent as a coach.  It took us 26 years to find an ideal successor to Ned, so I don't think we can just assume the next Perfect Coach will swing by in the 20's or 30's; it is actuarially likely I won't be here for Mike's true successor.  We will most probably see a succession of good coaches in 4 to 8-year tenures.  Maybe there will be some Extra Special Something New to push us to new heights, but to keep up Schafer's level of excellence is the reach goal.

[billhoward]

Better to walk away on an up note. Plus, somewhere on the high side of 60, a lot of people think about when is the right time to step back from work. Schafer is ~62. Sometimes you think about whether you'd rather enjoy a slower pace of life and you factor in your health, how long your ancestors lived, do you have enough to retire early, etcetera. Sometimes you get tired of being in a place where it snows. Sometimes a job you love isn't one you love so much three decades in.

Yes, the 2024-25 Big Red is a talented team, has the ability to win it all, but still there's no guarantee they'd win this year or they'd have a better chance next year.

[Tom Lento]

I'm actually surprised Schafer is retiring given the state of the team. I respect how he's handled it in regards to trying to make a smooth transition with CJ, but this team has the potential to be serious national contenders for at least two more years. The only thing not on his resume. Yet.

Read his remarks again. He was basically retired Last Year.  The lounge chair was ready.  This is a one off transition year...he wasn't signing up for a generational run.

I'm not disagreeing completely. I'm just remarking how can you walk away from probably the best team since the frozen four team as someone who has literally been apart the program for the better part of 40 years? The lounge chair could be warm and ready, but we all know how competitive Mike is. Hopefully the players realize what they have and are motivated enough to get him over the top once and for all.


I worked as the manager alongside ray barile  in 93/94 (dark days im aware) when Casey was assistant to McChutcheon. He was the hard ass of the group. He was the one that expected players to work hard and go deep into corners. Casey is a solid hire. Maybe not the best. But let's see what happens.

I'm skeptical of Casey. I mean, he wasn't that successful at Clarkson. He was just okay. It was not even remotely close to how good Cornell has been under Schafer. It comes down to: how much more difficult is it to win at Clarkson than at Cornell? And: can Casey keep cooking with Schafer's secret sauce? I'm not saying he wasn't the best option available given the constraints (financial limitations, interest in the job, etc.), but he's far from a slam dunk.

I think if you're setting the standard of "is he going to be as good as Mike Schafer" you should be skeptical of Casey Jones because the answer is almost certainly no. Nothing against Jones, but Schafer is a hall of fame college hockey coach so replacing him was always going to be an exercise in finding a guy who could hopefully match up if things go well.

On the upside, my impression is Jones took over a Clarkson program in sharp decline after the Mark Morris scandal and the mostly ineffective tenure of George Roll, stabilized it, and put together a strong 3-season run before COVID screwed everything up. I think one way to look at his record is he's a coach who'll have a lot of ups and downs but every now and again he'll put together a strong run like his teams did pre-COVID - think Don Vaughn at Colgate but with better institutional support. Another way to look at it is he took some time to really get the program re-established during a number of up and down seasons, and was on his way before COVID derailed the process - think Schafer but with a longer ramp-up time (possibly caused by a weaker starting point in terms of talent) and maybe less consistent strength at the level of conference title contention.

So that's a big range, but honestly we'll never get a slam dunk replacement for a coach like Schafer, and given the constraints on Cornell's program I suspect this is about the best we can hope for. By all accounts Jones is at least a solid coach and should be an excellent steward of the program, and as fans we're just left to hope that "at least solid" turns out to be another all time great.

[BearLover]

I'm actually surprised Schafer is retiring given the state of the team. I respect how he's handled it in regards to trying to make a smooth transition with CJ, but this team has the potential to be serious national contenders for at least two more years. The only thing not on his resume. Yet.

Read his remarks again. He was basically retired Last Year.  The lounge chair was ready.  This is a one off transition year...he wasn't signing up for a generational run.

I'm not disagreeing completely. I'm just remarking how can you walk away from probably the best team since the frozen four team as someone who has literally been apart the program for the better part of 40 years? The lounge chair could be warm and ready, but we all know how competitive Mike is. Hopefully the players realize what they have and are motivated enough to get him over the top once and for all.


I worked as the manager alongside ray barile  in 93/94 (dark days im aware) when Casey was assistant to McChutcheon. He was the hard ass of the group. He was the one that expected players to work hard and go deep into corners. Casey is a solid hire. Maybe not the best. But let's see what happens.

I'm skeptical of Casey. I mean, he wasn't that successful at Clarkson. He was just okay. It was not even remotely close to how good Cornell has been under Schafer. It comes down to: how much more difficult is it to win at Clarkson than at Cornell? And: can Casey keep cooking with Schafer's secret sauce? I'm not saying he wasn't the best option available given the constraints (financial limitations, interest in the job, etc.), but he's far from a slam dunk.

I think if you're setting the standard of "is he going to be as good as Mike Schafer" you should be skeptical of Casey Jones because the answer is almost certainly no. Nothing against Jones, but Schafer is a hall of fame college hockey coach so replacing him was always going to be an exercise in finding a guy who could hopefully match up if things go well.

On the upside, my impression is Jones took over a Clarkson program in sharp decline after the Mark Morris scandal and the mostly ineffective tenure of George Roll, stabilized it, and put together a strong 3-season run before COVID screwed everything up. I think one way to look at his record is he's a coach who'll have a lot of ups and downs but every now and again he'll put together a strong run like his teams did pre-COVID - think Don Vaughn at Colgate but with better institutional support. Another way to look at it is he took some time to really get the program re-established during a number of up and down seasons, and was on his way before COVID derailed the process - think Schafer but with a longer ramp-up time (possibly caused by a weaker starting point in terms of talent) and maybe less consistent strength at the level of conference title contention.

So that's a big range, but honestly we'll never get a slam dunk replacement for a coach like Schafer, and given the constraints on Cornell's program I suspect this is about the best we can hope for. By all accounts Jones is at least a solid coach and should be an excellent steward of the program, and as fans we're just left to hope that "at least solid" turns out to be another all time great.

Well, I would definitely not consider Don Vaughn a successful coach, so hopefully we don't end up anywhere close to that outcome.

I think the upside case is that Cornell's success is due to assistant coaches, institutional support, and the quirks of Cornell (academics, Lynah crowd, historic success) as much as it's due to Schafer. I.e. another good coach could step in and see similar levels of success.

[Tom Lento]

I'm actually surprised Schafer is retiring given the state of the team. I respect how he's handled it in regards to trying to make a smooth transition with CJ, but this team has the potential to be serious national contenders for at least two more years. The only thing not on his resume. Yet.

Read his remarks again. He was basically retired Last Year.  The lounge chair was ready.  This is a one off transition year...he wasn't signing up for a generational run.

I'm not disagreeing completely. I'm just remarking how can you walk away from probably the best team since the frozen four team as someone who has literally been apart the program for the better part of 40 years? The lounge chair could be warm and ready, but we all know how competitive Mike is. Hopefully the players realize what they have and are motivated enough to get him over the top once and for all.


I worked as the manager alongside ray barile  in 93/94 (dark days im aware) when Casey was assistant to McChutcheon. He was the hard ass of the group. He was the one that expected players to work hard and go deep into corners. Casey is a solid hire. Maybe not the best. But let's see what happens.

I'm skeptical of Casey. I mean, he wasn't that successful at Clarkson. He was just okay. It was not even remotely close to how good Cornell has been under Schafer. It comes down to: how much more difficult is it to win at Clarkson than at Cornell? And: can Casey keep cooking with Schafer's secret sauce? I'm not saying he wasn't the best option available given the constraints (financial limitations, interest in the job, etc.), but he's far from a slam dunk.

I think if you're setting the standard of "is he going to be as good as Mike Schafer" you should be skeptical of Casey Jones because the answer is almost certainly no. Nothing against Jones, but Schafer is a hall of fame college hockey coach so replacing him was always going to be an exercise in finding a guy who could hopefully match up if things go well.

On the upside, my impression is Jones took over a Clarkson program in sharp decline after the Mark Morris scandal and the mostly ineffective tenure of George Roll, stabilized it, and put together a strong 3-season run before COVID screwed everything up. I think one way to look at his record is he's a coach who'll have a lot of ups and downs but every now and again he'll put together a strong run like his teams did pre-COVID - think Don Vaughn at Colgate but with better institutional support. Another way to look at it is he took some time to really get the program re-established during a number of up and down seasons, and was on his way before COVID derailed the process - think Schafer but with a longer ramp-up time (possibly caused by a weaker starting point in terms of talent) and maybe less consistent strength at the level of conference title contention.

So that's a big range, but honestly we'll never get a slam dunk replacement for a coach like Schafer, and given the constraints on Cornell's program I suspect this is about the best we can hope for. By all accounts Jones is at least a solid coach and should be an excellent steward of the program, and as fans we're just left to hope that "at least solid" turns out to be another all time great.

Well, I would definitely not consider Don Vaughn a successful coach, so hopefully we don't end up anywhere close to that outcome.

I think the upside case is that Cornell's success is due to assistant coaches, institutional support, and the quirks of Cornell (academics, Lynah crowd, historic success) as much as it's due to Schafer. I.e. another good coach could step in and see similar levels of success.

Oh I'm with you on Vaughn, although I'm talking more about ebb and flow than final results - Cornell would win proportionately more games than Colgate under those coaching circumstances - but I think that's kind of the worst case here. As for the upside case, I really think it is that Jones has grown into as good - or nearly as good - a coach as Schafer AND the strengths of the program propel him to more consistent success than he found at Clarkson. It's easy to forget because it was 30 years ago, but Schafer took over a program underperforming its talent, won 2 ECAC titles in his first two seasons, and then had 4 mediocre years before getting back to the NCAA tournament. If you didn't follow the program closely at that point and just looked at Schafer's record at the end of the disappointing 2003-2004 season you might reasonably wonder if he was really good or just a decent coach who rode a couple of great recruiting classes for one push. Due to the COVID mayhem Jones is kind of in that same space in his career.

From what I've been reading, and from looking at Clarkson's record progression, I think he's far more likely to end up like Schafer but not as consistently competitive at the national level than he is to be Don Vaughn with a better record, but time will tell.

[Trotsky]

In the 3 seasons prior to Mike Schafer becoming head coach, we had zero shut outs.

With tonight's 5-0 win against Princeton, Cornell has at least one shut out in every season of his tenure.

Thank you, Schafer.

Shut outs during Schafer tenure, by goaltender:

Pelletier (1)
Elliott (4)
Burt (1)
Underhill (6)
LeNeveu (11)
McKee (18)
Davenport (2)
Scrivens (19)
Garman (1)
Iles (9)
Gillam (11)
Stewart (3)
Galajda (19)
Howe (1)
McDonald (1)
Shane (12)

Total: 119

[chimpfood]

Never forget the Joe Howe and Justin Ertel era

[VIEWfromK]

Never forget the Joe Howe and Justin Ertel era

Do you rank that above or below the Tony Romano and Justin Milo era?

[arugula]

Joe Howe had one of those shutouts.

[sah67]

Never forget the Joe Howe and Justin Ertel era

Do you rank that above or below the Tony Romano and Justin Milo era?

Careful: if you say Milo's name three times, his dad will show up again to shit-post.

[BearLover]

I am dying to know what went into the decision to not give the head coaching job to Syer. Right now it looks like a colossal blunder, with Princeton and Clarkson vastly improving on last year with Cornell horribly underperforming. Here is how Cornell, Clarkson, and Princeton rank in RPI as compared to last season after Princeton hired Syer and Casey left Clarkson:

Cornell: 13—>25
Clarkson: 37—>22
Princeton: 55—>24