Cornell Coaching Championships

[jtwcornell91]

With Cornell clinching the Ivy League title last night, Schafer becomes the first Cornell coach since Harkness to win four or more straight Ivy titles and the first ever to win six or more total.  Looks like the last Ivy coach to manage either feat was Bill Cleary.

Schafer entered the season with twelve banners in the Lynah rafters, three behind Uncle Ned and one ahead of Bertrand.  As of last night, he's got at least one coming for this season.  An ECAC title and the associated NCAA bid would tie him in that category; beyond that I dare not say.

[Will]

I think that's a good enough reason to rename the Cleary Cup into the Schafer Cup. :-D

[billhoward]

[Q]Will Wrote:  I think that's a good enough reason to rename the Cleary Cup into the Schafer Cup.[/q]

Schafer Mug. You'd get sponsorship money that way.

[Trotsky]

A summary of Cornell coaching records, prior to this season:

http://www.tbrw.info/cornellHistory/cornellCoaches.html

[CornellChris]

I've never actually paid attention to the banners... so they get one for the Ivy League title, one if they win the ECAC tournament, and one for just appearing in the NCAA tournament. However, they get no banner for the ECAC regular season title? Who decides what's "banner worthy"? Can Cornell put up a "2005 ECAC Regular Season Championship" banner if they want, or is there an NCAA rule forbidding it?

Thanks,
Chris '03

[andyw2100]

Speaking of banners, does anyone else here think it was a mistake to replace the nice, old, cloth banners with the current plastic ones? I feel like the old ones were really classy, and that there was something cool about thinking that they were actually hung at the time they were earned. It added to the mystique of Lynah, at least for me. I'm wondering if others here might feel the same way.
                             Andy W.

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]CornellChris Wrote:

 I've never actually paid attention to the banners... so they get one for the Ivy League title, one if they win the ECAC tournament, and one for just appearing in the NCAA tournament. However, they get no banner for the ECAC regular season title? Who decides what's "banner worthy"? Can Cornell put up a "2005 ECAC Regular Season Championship" banner if they want, or is there an NCAA rule forbidding it?

Thanks,
Chris '03
[/q]
They can put up pretty much whatever they want. But when you go to Brown or Union and see the "ECAC Final Four" banners, well, its not exactly becoming of a program who wants to be a national power.

Cornell only does: Ivy Champs, ECAC Champs (tournament only), NCAA Tournament, and NCAA Champions

[Trotsky]

[Q]andyw2100 Wrote:

 Speaking of banners, does anyone else here think it was a mistake to replace the nice, old, cloth banners with the current plastic ones? I feel like the old ones were really classy, and that there was something cool about thinking that they were actually hung at the time they were earned. It added to the mystique of Lynah, at least for me. I'm wondering if others here might feel the same way.[/q]

Yes.  Agreed completely. There was a reason for the newer ones that hang from the rafters (the reason being that they were paid for by voluntary donations by boosters and it was prohibitively expensive to get really nice cloth ones), but the "list" ones on the open end look like MetroDome trash bags -- they are very disappointing and I'm a little depressed every time I look at them.  Ferchrissakes, there are only four of them -- the U should spring open the wallet and put really nice ones up.

[CornellChris]

Cornell only does: Ivy Champs, ECAC Champs (tournament only), NCAA Tournament, and NCAA Champions

Interesting... thanks for the reply!

This is what I would do though (as if anybody cares): add the ECAC Regular Season Championship banners, get rid of the NCAA tournament banners, add NCAA Frozen Four banners. I'm not sure if that would yield a greater or smaller number of banners hanging, but that's what I'd like to see...

-Chris '03

[Trotsky]

Well, until they do that, the banners on the TBRW homepage are very close to what you want.  :-)

http://www.tbrw.info/

[DeltaOne81]

Frozen Four's not a bad idea in this day and age, with enough teams where it's a distinct accomplishment.

As for regular season, its just not nearly as prestigous as the tournament. This of it this way, all 6 conferences were given a choice as to whether their NCAA auto bid should be the regular season champ or the post season tourney champ. All 6 chose post-season tourney. The regular season is certainly an accomplishment, but if its not postseason, its not prestigious, and its not banner worthy (IMHO).

[Trotsky]

Although it was also logical for the conference to choose PS champ to maximize their presence in the tourny.  An RS champion is relatively likely to qualify for an at large, so picking the PS as the auto bid gives you that much more chance to sneak in a darkhorse.

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]Trotsky Wrote:

 Although it was also logical for the conference to choose PS champ to maximize their presence in the tourny.  An RS champion is relatively likely to qualify for an at large, so picking the PS as the auto bid gives you that much more chance to sneak in a darkhorse.[/q]
True enough for the "Big 4" but what about CHA and AHA? They're likely only getting one bid as is, and picking regular season probably would have made that the stronger overall team. But they chose the tourney champ as well. There are other issues, but I still think it speaks to the importance of the tournament champion versus the regular season.

[jkahn]

Attendance at the tournaments is big factor in giving the tourney champ the auto-bid.  Playing for the NCAA berth (and the trophy) certainly generates more interest than just the trophy.

[KeithK]

If you aren't going to award the conference championship and the auto-bid that goes with it to the tournament winner then why bother having a tournament?