Schafer a candidate for Notre Dame vacancy?

[Trotsky]

[Q]jmh30 Wrote:

Give Schafer whatever the fuck he wants.  Period.[/q]

This should be engraved on Eddy Gate.

[Josh '99]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:
No question that a perfect fit for Notre Dame would be Ron Luchia currently on assignment to Minnesota.[/q]I'm guessing you mean Don Lucia?

[ugarte]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:No question that a perfect fit for Notre Dame would be Ron Luchia currently on assignment to Minnesota. [/q]A coach leaving the Minnesota hockey program to coach at Notre Dame is about as likely as the coach of the Indiana hoopsters leaving to coach Texas Tech.

Has Lucia done something that we should know about?

[Will]

[Q]ugarte Wrote:

Has Lucia done something that we should know about?[/q]

Winning back-to-back championships not that long ago makes him pretty valuable in my book.

[Jordan 04]

[Q]Will Wrote:

 [Q2]ugarte Wrote:

Has Lucia done something that we should know about?[/Q]
Winning back-to-back championships not that long ago makes him pretty valuable in my book.[/q]

*woosh*

[KeithK]

I think he means has Lucia done something that would get him run out of the Twin Cities, like a certain Mr. Knight.

[Trotsky]

Ted Knight was run out of the Twin Cities?  "Oh, Mr. Grant...!"  ::uhoh::

[MSTR12314]

I don't think Schafer will leave.  With bonuses this year, I heard that he actually made more than 200K.  His base salary was around 150K not 100K.  Plus, he has a better program here, and is loved in the community.

[billhoward]

[Q]ugarte Wrote: A coach leaving the Minnesota hockey program to coach at Notre Dame is about as likely as the coach of the Indiana hoopsters leaving to coach Texas Tech. Has Lucia done something that we should know about?[/q]Graduate from the University of the Golden Dome (1981).

He could always want to leave voluntarily to return to home base, unlike the pugilist from Indiana who finally wore out his welcome. Fascinating case study, Bobby Knight and Indiana: A school with pretty good academics and yet for two decades the administration lived in fear of somebody who for a living draws X's and O's on a whiteboard ... and was also high priest of the official state religion of Indiana. He should have been gone "for the good of the game" when he declared war on Puerto Rico in the 1980s.

[adamw]

Don Lucia grew up in Minnesota, wanted to play for Minnesota - and has perhaps the greatest recruiting class of all time coming in next year.  He's going nowhere.

[JT]

...not.  Mike Schafer will NEVER leave Cornell to go to another school.  Coaches very rarely leave their alma mater to coach another school.  The only real instances of this are to coach in the pro ranks or if their alma mater is a smaller program with little legitimate chance at being a national power.  I can't imagine he would leave a top 5 team with 2 NCAA titles to move to a second rate program.  He went to Cornell and believes strongly in its tradition.  Plus, hockey is THE sport on campus in Ithaca.  At ND, hockey will always be overshadowed by football and basketball.  If he ever leaves, it will be to the NHL or AHL.  

Don Lucia is a more legitimate possibility.  Although, the head coaching job at UMinn may be the premier spot in college hockey and I find it hard to believe he could walk away from that situation.  Plus, UMinn would have to be pretty crazy to let him leave.  

[Rich S]

the challenge of taking that "second rate" program to national prominence?  Many respected, top notch coaches relish such a challenge.

And to be extremely well-compensated for it?  Something to consider.

I believe a key in any high profile coach's decision will be a major upgrade in the facility at ND.

[KeithK]

I believe the "challenge" aspect does influence some top coaches.  However, I suspect it's more appealing when you've already won it all with a more establshed program.  Schafer hasn't won it all yet with Cornell, or even reached the finals, so doing it with a "Second rate" program is probably less appealing.

Now, if Schafer thought it wasn't possible to reach that goal with Cornell because of the institutional limitations and he thought it would be more likely at Notre Dame over the long haul then this argument becomes more reasonable.

The way I see it, there's probably no good reason aside from dolars if Schafer is happy with the support he s getting from the Cornell AD.  If he isn't satisfied (and I would have no way to know) then it's a whole different ball... er, hockey game.

I do agree that an upgrade to Notre Dame's facility is a requirement before they will be able to hire anyone of stature.

[ugarte]

[Q]KeithK Wrote:Now, if Schafer thought it wasn't possible to reach that goal with Cornell because of the institutional limitations and he thought it would be more likely at Notre Dame over the long haul then this argument becomes more reasonable.[/q]I don't know if you've been following Notre Dame football lately, but Notre Dame is an academically rigorous school and the new administration has been cutting the sports programs far less slack in admissions than the coaches were accustomed to. I don't think the reins would be much looser for Schafer in South Bend. Just another reason why I don't think that this opportunity would be the one that lures Coach from Ithaca.

If Lucia were to go to ND (ha ha ha) and the Minnesota job opened up, however ...

[KeithK]

Good point.  I don't pay much attention to college football, but I do remember the general recent lack of success of Notre Dame football being in the general background noise of sports info in my head.