Mike Schafer retiring 2025

He's a grand parent now, it makes perfect sense for him to retire

How long have people referred to him as “CJ”?

Cop at Lynah
He's a grand parent now, it makes perfect sense for him to retire

He has also mentioned his health issues.

several things went into the decision.

VIEWfromK
How long have people referred to him as “CJ”?

Exactly never.

toddlose
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.

abmarks

toddlose
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.

toddlose

abmarks

toddlose
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.

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.

VIEWfromK
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.

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.

BearLover

toddlose

abmarks

toddlose
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.

Tom Lento

BearLover

toddlose

abmarks

toddlose
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.

BearLover

Tom Lento

BearLover

toddlose

abmarks

toddlose
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.

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

Never forget the Joe Howe and Justin Ertel era

chimpfood
Never forget the Joe Howe and Justin Ertel era

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

Joe Howe had one of those shutouts.

VIEWfromK

chimpfood
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.

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

Maybe adamw can tell us, since he kept posting cryptically that Syer would never be the next HC.

On a completely unrelated subject, [new.reddit.com] is a moderated forum with Block User.

Trotsky
On a completely unrelated subject, [new.reddit.com] is a moderated forum with Block User.

Maybe you should stay over there, then? It’s a highly relevant question to ask, why Cornell passed on Syer, who is an early frontrunner for coach of the year.

Bearlover - the absolute king of hindsight!!!
Adam W. knows a little something about college hockey - you, not so much!

BearLover

Trotsky
On a completely unrelated subject, [new.reddit.com] is a moderated forum with Block User.

Maybe you should stay over there, then? It’s a highly relevant question to ask, why Cornell passed on Syer, who is an early frontrunner for coach of the year.

You're "only asking questions," right?

No. You're a snail dragging its sludge across this forum. That's been your MO for your whole tenure as many here have hinted, directly stated, or pointed at you and laughed. I have no idea what motivates the perma-children who react to their disappointment by public flagellation, but it's as boring as it is pedestrian. Maybe if you STFU and watched the way other folks here discuss the same issues you might learn a thing about interacting with people you missed out in IRL.

I know it's already losing to interact with trolls like you but, meh, the game sucked enough that your presence in the thread didn't actually significantly make it worse. For once. Grow up or go away.

BearLover
Maybe adamw can tell us, since he kept posting cryptically that Syer would never be the next HC.

I mean he probably knew that Casey was the pick but couldn't say it.

Dafatone

BearLover
Maybe adamw can tell us, since he kept posting cryptically that Syer would never be the next HC.

I mean he probably knew that Casey was the pick but couldn't say it.

In the same post where he said it wouldn’t be Syer, he also specifically said it wouldn’t be Casey either.

Anyway, I remain extremely curious about my question, even though it seems to have taken Trotsky to a bad place. It was a relevant question at the time Schafer retired, and it’s even more relevant given what has transpired since. I’ll disconnect from this forum for a few days and let all the other wonderful posters discuss.

Didn't the team welcome the proposed coach of the year back with a 5-0 pasting?

Al DeFlorio
Didn't the team welcome the proposed coach of the year back with a 5-0 pasting?

Shhh, that doesn't fit the agenda...

Maybe the numbers don't show it and maybe it's not fair under the circumstances, but I never thought they played very well when Syer had to take over during some of Schafer's medical absences. Off of that sample size I didn't think he should have been the successor.

VIEWfromK
Maybe the numbers don't show it and maybe it's not fair under the circumstances, but I never thought they played very well when Syer had to take over during some of Schafer's medical absences. Off of that sample size I didn't think he should have been the successor.

On the contrary, I seem to recall some extended winning streaks under Syer in recent seasons when Schafer was out. This pregame write-up from January 2019 cites Syer having (at the time) a 7-0-4 all-time record when filling in as head coach: [cornellbigred.com]

sah67

VIEWfromK
Maybe the numbers don't show it and maybe it's not fair under the circumstances, but I never thought they played very well when Syer had to take over during some of Schafer's medical absences. Off of that sample size I didn't think he should have been the successor.

On the contrary, I seem to recall some extended winning streaks under Syer in recent seasons when Schafer was out. This pregame write-up from January 2019 cites Syer having (at the time) a 7-0-4 all-time record when filling in as head coach: [cornellbigred.com]

Syer was undefeated as a substitute coach for a long while, but that didn't last through his more extended terms (terms? Term?) when Schafer was out with health issues.

Dafatone

sah67

VIEWfromK
Maybe the numbers don't show it and maybe it's not fair under the circumstances, but I never thought they played very well when Syer had to take over during some of Schafer's medical absences. Off of that sample size I didn't think he should have been the successor.

On the contrary, I seem to recall some extended winning streaks under Syer in recent seasons when Schafer was out. This pregame write-up from January 2019 cites Syer having (at the time) a 7-0-4 all-time record when filling in as head coach: [cornellbigred.com]

Syer was undefeated as a substitute coach for a long while, but that didn't last through his more extended terms (terms? Term?) when Schafer was out with health issues.

I thought so but I couldn’t find any stats from the more recent seasons.

I thought he finally lost after 12 or 13 games. IIRC he finished with an extremely good winning percentage, though officially all those decisions are credited to Mike.

During every short sample of not great play in the last 30 years casual fans have beaten their chests and bemoaned the drop from the level of play they think we simply are entitled to, ignoring the fact that the only reason the standard is that high is Schafer. If you remember McCutcheon and Reycroft and TBH even Bertrand, you aren't fantasizing about getting rid of Schafer as an impediment to what Cornell hockey "ought" to be. There is no ought. There is only is, and the is of the last 30 years has been a fucking miracle.

Trotsky
During every short sample of not great play in the last 30 years casual fans have beaten their chests and bemoaned the drop from the level of play they think we simply are entitled to, ignoring the fact that the only reason the standard is that high is Schafer. If you remember McCutcheon and Reycroft and TBH even Bertrand, you aren't fantasizing about getting rid of Schafer as an impediment to what Cornell hockey "ought" to be. There is no ought. There is only is, and the is of the last 30 years has been a fucking miracle.

"McCutcheon must go! McCutcheon must go!"

Just not right for the college game.

I'm glad we weren't so tough on him as to sour him on the institution and turn away Mark, who was a fine player.

I can't even with this nonsense - so - not gonna feed the troll.

VIEWfromK
Maybe the numbers don't show it and maybe it's not fair under the circumstances, but I never thought they played very well when Syer had to take over during some of Schafer's medical absences. Off of that sample size I didn't think he should have been the successor.

This is true.

arugula

VIEWfromK
Maybe the numbers don't show it and maybe it's not fair under the circumstances, but I never thought they played very well when Syer had to take over during some of Schafer's medical absences. Off of that sample size I didn't think he should have been the successor.

This is true.

At least in the last few years after Mike had his health issues.

Others have mentioned this already but Syer had a great record taking over for Mike in his absences, until he took over for an extended period when Mike was out with a health issue in 2021-22. During this period the team struggled. I do wonder if that’s when Mike made the determination that Syer wasn’t ready.

BearLover
Others have mentioned this already but Syer had a great record taking over for Mike in his absences, until he took over for an extended period when Mike was out with a health issue in 2021-22. During this period the team struggled. I do wonder if that’s when Mike made the determination that Syer wasn’t ready.

How did Casey do during this stretch?

Swampy

The university should consider retiring Mike's jersey number, not because of his HOF achievements in the NHL but because of his extraordinary, lifelong contribution to Cornell Hockey.

Mike should also be honored as the Jay R. Bloom ‘77 Head Coach, Emeritus, upon his retirement.
.

Maybe a bronze bust at the entrance of rink for players to touch prior to getting on the ice.

Or give him a statue outside (that should be for harkness or Dryden in my mind however)

toddlose
Maybe a bronze bust at the entrance of rink for players to touch prior to getting on the ice.

Or give him a statue outside (that should be for harkness or Dryden in my mind however)

Ring (or Wall, given the building geometry) of Honor isn’t a difficult concept, folks.

RichH

toddlose
Maybe a bronze bust at the entrance of rink for players to touch prior to getting on the ice.

Or give him a statue outside (that should be for harkness or Dryden in my mind however)

Ring (or Wall, given the building geometry) of Honor isn’t a difficult concept, folks.

Given the amount of displays in the hallways, I think adding one for Schafer should be a piece of cake.

How about The Mike Schafer Ice Surface at Lynah Rink?

Jeff Hopkins '82

RichH

toddlose
Maybe a bronze bust at the entrance of rink for players to touch prior to getting on the ice.

Or give him a statue outside (that should be for harkness or Dryden in my mind however)

Ring (or Wall, given the building geometry) of Honor isn’t a difficult concept, folks.

Given the amount of displays in the hallways, I think adding one for Schafer should be a piece of cake.

Maybe Schafer has gained a few pounds, but I don't think the display should be a piece of cake
Rather it should be a statue of him breaking a stick over his head. Or if it is just a bust then perhaps and interactive one where players can break things over the head for luck.

Roy 82

Jeff Hopkins '82

RichH

toddlose
Maybe a bronze bust at the entrance of rink for players to touch prior to getting on the ice.

Or give him a statue outside (that should be for harkness or Dryden in my mind however)

Ring (or Wall, given the building geometry) of Honor isn’t a difficult concept, folks.

Given the amount of displays in the hallways, I think adding one for Schafer should be a piece of cake.

Maybe Schafer has gained a few pounds, but I don't think the display should be a piece of cake
Rather it should be a statue of him breaking a stick over his head. Or if it is just a bust then perhaps and interactive one where players can break things over the head for luck.

I really like the last idea.

toddlose

Roy 82

Jeff Hopkins '82

RichH

toddlose
Maybe a bronze bust at the entrance of rink for players to touch prior to getting on the ice.

Or give him a statue outside (that should be for harkness or Dryden in my mind however)

Ring (or Wall, given the building geometry) of Honor isn’t a difficult concept, folks.

Given the amount of displays in the hallways, I think adding one for Schafer should be a piece of cake.

Maybe Schafer has gained a few pounds, but I don't think the display should be a piece of cake
Rather it should be a statue of him breaking a stick over his head. Or if it is just a bust then perhaps and interactive one where players can break things over the head for luck.

I really like the last idea.

I like the way you think, Roy.

And knowing you for as long as I do, that scares me.

One of Schafer's most remarkable statistics.

In playoff games on the road, which, by definition, were all games in which we were the underdog, Schafer's career record is now complete at 10-6-1. Out of 7 series we advanced 4 times, and took national #1 Q to game 3 in both our Hamden series, coming within 64 seconds of beating them in 2013.

Some perspective on how Schafer kept us in the mix for his tenure.

If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:
—Improve the Lynah atmosphere.
The Lynah atmosphere has steadily declined the past two decades. Empty seats, students who sit all game and don’t know any of the cheers. Casey needs to talk to the athletics department or whoever makes these decisions about doing anything possible to bring in more fans, particularly students. Season tickets should be way cheaper per game than individual tickets, special packages of multiple games should be good deals too. More giveaways/promotional night if those have been shown to improve attendance. The goal should be maximizing attendance/atmosphere, not maximizing revenue. I doubt Schafer focused any time on this, but I think there is some low hanging fruit here.

—Utilize the transfer portal more.
Casey used the portal all the time at Clarkson. Schafer has been either unwilling or unable to. I think the team could find a great goalie in the portal if they wanted. The question is, do they want to upset team chemistry? I wouldn’t want to overdo it, but I’m pretty sure Cornell could grab one or two good players a year to plug holes. The program has been too successful lately and kids will give it a hard look.

Stretch goal:
—NIL funding.
This might sound nuts, but if NIL is actually becoming a thing in college hockey (I’m somewhat skeptical), there is no reason why Cornell can’t be involved. This school has too many rich alumni who care about the hockey program. It makes no sense why a place like BU, Denver, or Quinnipiac should spend more money on hockey than us, these schools have no revenues and way fewer rich alumni. Schafer didn’t like the fundraising part of the job, but Casey can make real headway here if he wants.

Trotsky
The dude [BearLover] is toxic, just leave him to die in the cold alone. Right now he's using the Thank You Schafer thread to trash Mike. He's a POS; it took 2 seasons for me to learn to not engage.

Moving this to the correct thread (Trotsky posted it in the lacrosse forum). Given that just today I said I love Mike and called him a HOF coach, I’m very curious in what way I am using this thread to trash him. VERY curious. Is it when I said Schafer didn’t like fundraising (direct quote of Schafer from his Ken Schott interview this week) or when I said he didn’t use the portal (one player acquired through the portal in four years)?

Your posts are 100% bluster and shitty self-absorbed opinions, 0% substance. You can complain all you want about the tone of my posts—but today I never said a single bad thing about Schafer, and you’re completely delusional if you think that. It’s an absolute clown show dealing with you, I usually try not to but you’re just making shit up now.

(removed for The Public Good)

Trotsky
The correct thread is Ad Hom under JSID. That's what it's for. Please remove your shit from here and put it there; I have done the same from the lax thread. That way nobody else has to look at either.

Maybe you should have put your post calling me a POS there, or actually maybe you should put all your moronic posts there. You totally invented things I said and then called me names like a child. Maybe you should spend a few days in time-out.

BearLover

Trotsky
The correct thread is Ad Hom under JSID. That's what it's for. Please remove your shit from here and put it there; I have done the same from the lax thread. That way nobody else has to look at either.

Maybe you should have put your post calling me a POS there, or actually maybe you should put all your moronic posts there. You totally invented things I said and then called me names like a child. Maybe you should spend a few days in time-out.

I did, and now I encourage you to do the same so the rest of the Chat doesn't have to scroll by this garbage.

BearLover
—Improve the Lynah atmosphere.
The Lynah atmosphere has steadily declined the past two decades. Empty seats, students who sit all game and don’t know any of the cheers. Casey needs to talk to the athletics department or whoever makes these decisions about doing anything possible to bring in more fans, particularly students. Season tickets should be way cheaper per game than individual tickets, special packages of multiple games should be good deals too. More giveaways/promotional night if those have been shown to improve attendance. The goal should be maximizing attendance/atmosphere, not maximizing revenue. I doubt Schafer focused any time on this, but I think there is some low hanging fruit here.

I've only been to one game at Lynah in the last five years, and that one a playoff game, but what shocked me was the blaring piped-in music. I feel that's taken away something that was special about the Lynah atmosphere, relying on the crowd and the pep band(s) for energy. I have seen places where the piped-in music fits in with the atmosphere, like RIT, and pro games in Germany and Switzerland (where there are no pep bands, just fan clubs with drums), but at Lynah it just felt like they were piping in the music to fill space.

Note that filling Lynah was one of Schafer's three goals when he took over in 1995, along with beating Harvard and making it to Lake Placid. So it's not like he didn't understand the value of the atmosphere. IIRC it was a big selling point in recruiting, so Casey presumably already understands it.

The piped-in noise, the defacement of the ice and boards, and the scoreboard garbage are endemic problems of our age. Consumerism delenda est.

jtwcornell91

BearLover
—Improve the Lynah atmosphere.
The Lynah atmosphere has steadily declined the past two decades. Empty seats, students who sit all game and don’t know any of the cheers. Casey needs to talk to the athletics department or whoever makes these decisions about doing anything possible to bring in more fans, particularly students. Season tickets should be way cheaper per game than individual tickets, special packages of multiple games should be good deals too. More giveaways/promotional night if those have been shown to improve attendance. The goal should be maximizing attendance/atmosphere, not maximizing revenue. I doubt Schafer focused any time on this, but I think there is some low hanging fruit here.

I've only been to one game at Lynah in the last five years, and that one a playoff game, but what shocked me was the blaring piped-in music. I feel that's taken away something that was special about the Lynah atmosphere, relying on the crowd and the pep band(s) for energy. I have seen places where the piped-in music fits in with the atmosphere, like RIT, and pro games in Germany and Switzerland (where there are no pep bands, just fan clubs with drums), but at Lynah it just felt like they were piping in the music to fill space.

Note that filling Lynah was one of Schafer's three goals when he took over in 1995, along with beating Harvard and making it to Lake Placid. So it's not like he didn't understand the value of the atmosphere. IIRC it was a big selling point in recruiting, so Casey presumably already understands it.

Schafer totally gets the value of a packed and loud Lynah, I just think his attention was directed elsewhere. Which is fine, he was a hockey coach, not head of ticket sales. But I am hopeful that Casey will come in with a fresh perspective on this aspect.

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:
—Improve the Lynah atmosphere.
The Lynah atmosphere has steadily declined the past two decades. Empty seats, students who sit all game and don’t know any of the cheers. Casey needs to talk to the athletics department or whoever makes these decisions about doing anything possible to bring in more fans, particularly students. Season tickets should be way cheaper per game than individual tickets, special packages of multiple games should be good deals too. More giveaways/promotional night if those have been shown to improve attendance. The goal should be maximizing attendance/atmosphere, not maximizing revenue. I doubt Schafer focused any time on this, but I think there is some low hanging fruit here.

Check your stats before posting. According to USCHO Lynah attendance this year was 97.9% of capacity. Considering that we don't have standing room, that's about as good as you can get.

Also Sec B and generally A stand. Sec D & E were never great at standing. That's exactly why I started to hand out papers. I started only in D & E to increase enthusiasm. Then it just morphed into the entire rink.

Jim Hyla

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:
—Improve the Lynah atmosphere.
The Lynah atmosphere has steadily declined the past two decades. Empty seats, students who sit all game and don’t know any of the cheers. Casey needs to talk to the athletics department or whoever makes these decisions about doing anything possible to bring in more fans, particularly students. Season tickets should be way cheaper per game than individual tickets, special packages of multiple games should be good deals too. More giveaways/promotional night if those have been shown to improve attendance. The goal should be maximizing attendance/atmosphere, not maximizing revenue. I doubt Schafer focused any time on this, but I think there is some low hanging fruit here.

Check your stats before posting. According to USCHO Lynah attendance this year was 97.9% of capacity. Considering that we don't have standing room, that's about as good as you can get.

Also Sec B and generally A stand. Sec D & E were never great at standing. That's exactly why I started to hand out papers. I started only in D & E to increase enthusiasm. Then it just morphed into the entire rink.

I’ve attended 4+ home games each of the last 17 years (including 4 years of season tickets as a student). I watch almost every other game on television. I have an idea of what I’m talking about. It’s a much different atmosphere, the students don’t know the cheers. A is often mostly empty. D never stands (it stood all four years I was there). C mostly sits too. Even if ticket sales aren’t much below capacity, the students aren’t showing up enough and they aren’t getting loud.

Anyway, I sincerely appreciate your service of handing out newspapers etc.

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:

—Utilize the transfer portal more.
Casey used the portal all the time at Clarkson. Schafer has been either unwilling or unable to. I think the team could find a great goalie in the portal if they wanted. The question is, do they want to upset team chemistry? I wouldn’t want to overdo it, but I’m pretty sure Cornell could grab one or two good players a year to plug holes. The program has been too successful lately and kids will give it a hard look.

I wish all our programs could utilize this alternative to supplement the recruiting of young players who may or may not succeed academically and athletically at Cornell. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for a transfer student to get admitted because of the graduation requirements in the various colleges. I was a faculty member for a number of years, now retired, so some details may have changed but the bar faced by coaches going after transfer recruits is college admissions. The Arts College, for instance, mandates that a transfer student must spend at least four semesters in residence and complete at least 60 academic credits at Cornell. An Arts student entering as a freshman must take 100 of the 120 credits required to graduate in the Arts College. I presume that the same requirement applies to transfers so 50 credits in Arts. That does not address fulfilling major requirements. CALS requires that 55 of 120 credits be CALS courses, pro-rata for transfers. But, unlike Arts, courses taken elsewhere can fill this requirement [like transferring in Bio courses]. I don't believe any Cornel college accepts transfers who have completed 3 years of study elsewhere.

And these hurdles do not include any thrown up by the Ivy League with regard to eligibility.

Add to all of this the lack of athletic scholarships and uncertainty about NIL payments in the Ivy League and relying on the transfer portal for talent is most likely wishful thinking at this point.

dag14

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:

—Utilize the transfer portal more.
Casey used the portal all the time at Clarkson. Schafer has been either unwilling or unable to. I think the team could find a great goalie in the portal if they wanted. The question is, do they want to upset team chemistry? I wouldn’t want to overdo it, but I’m pretty sure Cornell could grab one or two good players a year to plug holes. The program has been too successful lately and kids will give it a hard look.

I wish all our programs could utilize this alternative to supplement the recruiting of young players who may or may not succeed academically and athletically at Cornell. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for a transfer student to get admitted because of the graduation requirements in the various colleges. I was a faculty member for a number of years, now retired, so some details may have changed but the bar faced by coaches going after transfer recruits is college admissions. The Arts College, for instance, mandates that a transfer student must spend at least four semesters in residence and complete at least 60 academic credits at Cornell. An Arts student entering as a freshman must take 100 of the 120 credits required to graduate in the Arts College. I presume that the same requirement applies to transfers so 50 credits in Arts. That does not address fulfilling major requirements. CALS requires that 55 of 120 credits be CALS courses, pro-rata for transfers. But, unlike Arts, courses taken elsewhere can fill this requirement [like transferring in Bio courses]. I don't believe any Cornel college accepts transfers who have completed 3 years of study elsewhere.

And these hurdles do not include any thrown up by the Ivy League with regard to eligibility.

Add to all of this the lack of athletic scholarships and uncertainty about NIL payments in the Ivy League and relying on the transfer portal for talent is most likely wishful thinking at this point.

Something I've always wondered, and maybe you know dag14: Do recruited athletes who don't make the cut for admissions get offered guaranteed transfers to enter as sophomores? I'm not sure how much Cornell overall still offers this path to applicants, but it was somewhat common back in my day (1990s).

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:
—Improve the Lynah atmosphere.
The Lynah atmosphere has steadily declined the past two decades. Empty seats, students who sit all game and don’t know any of the cheers. Casey needs to talk to the athletics department or whoever makes these decisions about doing anything possible to bring in more fans, particularly students. Season tickets should be way cheaper per game than individual tickets, special packages of multiple games should be good deals too. More giveaways/promotional night if those have been shown to improve attendance. The goal should be maximizing attendance/atmosphere, not maximizing revenue. I doubt Schafer focused any time on this, but I think there is some low hanging fruit here.

—Utilize the transfer portal more.
Casey used the portal all the time at Clarkson. Schafer has been either unwilling or unable to. I think the team could find a great goalie in the portal if they wanted. The question is, do they want to upset team chemistry? I wouldn’t want to overdo it, but I’m pretty sure Cornell could grab one or two good players a year to plug holes. The program has been too successful lately and kids will give it a hard look.

Stretch goal:
—NIL funding.
This might sound nuts, but if NIL is actually becoming a thing in college hockey (I’m somewhat skeptical), there is no reason why Cornell can’t be involved. This school has too many rich alumni who care about the hockey program. It makes no sense why a place like BU, Denver, or Quinnipiac should spend more money on hockey than us, these schools have no revenues and way fewer rich alumni. Schafer didn’t like the fundraising part of the job, but Casey can make real headway here if he wants.

I don't have the energy this morning to read a too long blathering post about coaching giving advice to the guy he thought had screwed up the Big Red because he was the wrong choice to succeed Mike. I've tried to ignore you for a couple of weeks but consider how insane this is.

You all but brought the readers of the forum to Hockey 101 telling, asking and surmising what the eff was wrong with the team while pointing to the coaching ad nauseum.

Well Brian where have you gained this insight? I'm sure pee-wee programs wouldn't put up with your glass 7/8 empty routine.

Did you learn anything from listening to Schafer talk about no one outside the team understanding what a team like Cornell goes through - especially in a season like the one we just watched? I'll answer - YOU DID NOT.

Furthermore what brand and size skates do you wear? I'm going out on a limb and posting odds in response to your demented 30% chance bull. Odds are you couldn't even lace 'em up.

dag14

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:

—Utilize the transfer portal more.
Casey used the portal all the time at Clarkson. Schafer has been either unwilling or unable to. I think the team could find a great goalie in the portal if they wanted. The question is, do they want to upset team chemistry? I wouldn’t want to overdo it, but I’m pretty sure Cornell could grab one or two good players a year to plug holes. The program has been too successful lately and kids will give it a hard look.

I wish all our programs could utilize this alternative to supplement the recruiting of young players who may or may not succeed academically and athletically at Cornell. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for a transfer student to get admitted because of the graduation requirements in the various colleges. I was a faculty member for a number of years, now retired, so some details may have changed but the bar faced by coaches going after transfer recruits is college admissions. The Arts College, for instance, mandates that a transfer student must spend at least four semesters in residence and complete at least 60 academic credits at Cornell. An Arts student entering as a freshman must take 100 of the 120 credits required to graduate in the Arts College. I presume that the same requirement applies to transfers so 50 credits in Arts. That does not address fulfilling major requirements. CALS requires that 55 of 120 credits be CALS courses, pro-rata for transfers. But, unlike Arts, courses taken elsewhere can fill this requirement [like transferring in Bio courses]. I don't believe any Cornel college accepts transfers who have completed 3 years of study elsewhere.

And these hurdles do not include any thrown up by the Ivy League with regard to eligibility.

Add to all of this the lack of athletic scholarships and uncertainty about NIL payments in the Ivy League and relying on the transfer portal for talent is most likely wishful thinking at this point.

While this is all true and highly relevant, I’m pretty sure I’ve read about quite a few transfers on other Cornell sports teams over the past year or two: women’s hockey, lacrosse, football, for example. More than on the men’s hockey team at least.

marty

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:
—Improve the Lynah atmosphere.
The Lynah atmosphere has steadily declined the past two decades. Empty seats, students who sit all game and don’t know any of the cheers. Casey needs to talk to the athletics department or whoever makes these decisions about doing anything possible to bring in more fans, particularly students. Season tickets should be way cheaper per game than individual tickets, special packages of multiple games should be good deals too. More giveaways/promotional night if those have been shown to improve attendance. The goal should be maximizing attendance/atmosphere, not maximizing revenue. I doubt Schafer focused any time on this, but I think there is some low hanging fruit here.

—Utilize the transfer portal more.
Casey used the portal all the time at Clarkson. Schafer has been either unwilling or unable to. I think the team could find a great goalie in the portal if they wanted. The question is, do they want to upset team chemistry? I wouldn’t want to overdo it, but I’m pretty sure Cornell could grab one or two good players a year to plug holes. The program has been too successful lately and kids will give it a hard look.

Stretch goal:
—NIL funding.
This might sound nuts, but if NIL is actually becoming a thing in college hockey (I’m somewhat skeptical), there is no reason why Cornell can’t be involved. This school has too many rich alumni who care about the hockey program. It makes no sense why a place like BU, Denver, or Quinnipiac should spend more money on hockey than us, these schools have no revenues and way fewer rich alumni. Schafer didn’t like the fundraising part of the job, but Casey can make real headway here if he wants.

I don't have the energy this morning to read a too long blathering post about coaching giving advice to the guy he thought had screwed up the Big Red because he was the wrong choice to succeed Mike. I've tried to ignore you for a couple of weeks but consider how insane this is.

You all but brought the readers of the forum to Hockey 101 telling, asking and surmising what the eff was wrong with the team while pointing to the coaching ad nauseum.

Well Brian where have you gained this insight? I'm sure pee-wee programs wouldn't put up with your glass 7/8 empty routine.

Did you learn anything from listening to Schafer talk about no one outside the team understanding what a team like Cornell goes through - especially in a season like the one we just watched? I'll answer - YOU DID NOT.

Furthermore what brand and size skates do you wear? I'm going out on a limb and posting odds in response to your demented 30% chance bull. Odds are you couldn't even lace 'em up.

How many drinks deep were you when you wrote this lol

BearLover

dag14

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:

—Utilize the transfer portal more.
Casey used the portal all the time at Clarkson. Schafer has been either unwilling or unable to. I think the team could find a great goalie in the portal if they wanted. The question is, do they want to upset team chemistry? I wouldn’t want to overdo it, but I’m pretty sure Cornell could grab one or two good players a year to plug holes. The program has been too successful lately and kids will give it a hard look.

I wish all our programs could utilize this alternative to supplement the recruiting of young players who may or may not succeed academically and athletically at Cornell. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for a transfer student to get admitted because of the graduation requirements in the various colleges. I was a faculty member for a number of years, now retired, so some details may have changed but the bar faced by coaches going after transfer recruits is college admissions. The Arts College, for instance, mandates that a transfer student must spend at least four semesters in residence and complete at least 60 academic credits at Cornell. An Arts student entering as a freshman must take 100 of the 120 credits required to graduate in the Arts College. I presume that the same requirement applies to transfers so 50 credits in Arts. That does not address fulfilling major requirements. CALS requires that 55 of 120 credits be CALS courses, pro-rata for transfers. But, unlike Arts, courses taken elsewhere can fill this requirement [like transferring in Bio courses]. I don't believe any Cornel college accepts transfers who have completed 3 years of study elsewhere.

And these hurdles do not include any thrown up by the Ivy League with regard to eligibility.

Add to all of this the lack of athletic scholarships and uncertainty about NIL payments in the Ivy League and relying on the transfer portal for talent is most likely wishful thinking at this point.

While this is all true and highly relevant, I’m pretty sure I’ve read about quite a few transfers on other Cornell sports teams over the past year or two: women’s hockey, lacrosse, football, for example. More than on the men’s hockey team at least.

Derraugh has only ever brought in like 3 transfers, it just happens that there were two in the past two years. Maybe that signals a shift in strategy, but we'll see. Schafer brought in a few here and there to provide depth or warm bodies -- outside of Seger, not sure if any of them had huge impact.

BearLover

Jim Hyla

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:
—Improve the Lynah atmosphere.
The Lynah atmosphere has steadily declined the past two decades. Empty seats, students who sit all game and don’t know any of the cheers. Casey needs to talk to the athletics department or whoever makes these decisions about doing anything possible to bring in more fans, particularly students. Season tickets should be way cheaper per game than individual tickets, special packages of multiple games should be good deals too. More giveaways/promotional night if those have been shown to improve attendance. The goal should be maximizing attendance/atmosphere, not maximizing revenue. I doubt Schafer focused any time on this, but I think there is some low hanging fruit here.

Check your stats before posting. According to USCHO Lynah attendance this year was 97.9% of capacity. Considering that we don't have standing room, that's about as good as you can get.

Also Sec B and generally A stand. Sec D & E were never great at standing. That's exactly why I started to hand out papers. I started only in D & E to increase enthusiasm. Then it just morphed into the entire rink.

I’ve attended 4+ home games each of the last 17 years (including 4 years of season tickets as a student). I watch almost every other game on television. I have an idea of what I’m talking about. It’s a much different atmosphere, the students don’t know the cheers. A is often mostly empty. D never stands (it stood all four years I was there). C mostly sits too. Even if ticket sales aren’t much below capacity, the students aren’t showing up enough and they aren’t getting loud.

Anyway, I sincerely appreciate your service of handing out newspapers etc.

As a Section C denizen, we generally stand on the B side of the section up until around the tunnel (hi! I stand!). To the right of the tunnel people generally sit because they take cues from D, which also sits.

A is marketed towards grad students, iirc. When they released tickets this year, the front half of A was supposed to be for grad season ticket holders. Not many bit. I didn't either, because I figured watching from an end of the rink would kind of suck.

I think a big part of "not knowing the cheers" is because, as far as I'm aware, there's no student hockey organization. The Cornell Hockey Association, from my understanding, skews primarily older. Not to bring up BU here, but my BU friend (boo tomato tomato) is one of the leaders of the "Dog Pound", the BU hockey student organization, and as part of that, he helps promote the team, create signs and pins and such, and distribute what he calls "dirty laundry lists", which are, from my understanding, a sheet of paper with information about the current opponent, chants, and so forth. You expect Cornell hockey fans to come out of the womb knowing the chants. Even the resources online are significantly outdated. Someone, or someones, need(s) to make the information more easily accessible and up-to-date. Word of mouth spreading of chants doesn't work well anymore; people look things up on their cell phones now. Either you need to give them the information (maybe with the newspapers, just a suggestion) or make it easy to find.

(Plus, chants like the Telephone Cheer are fucking impossible to hear...)

Also - thanks for all the papers, Jim! Much appreciated.

(For those asking "how are you friends with a BU fan", the answer is we met on a Devils discord server, haha. Known him and listened to him tell me about BU hockey since before I got accepted to Cornell, so I have an annoying soft spot for their team.)

stereax

BearLover

Jim Hyla

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:
—Improve the Lynah atmosphere.
The Lynah atmosphere has steadily declined the past two decades. Empty seats, students who sit all game and don’t know any of the cheers. Casey needs to talk to the athletics department or whoever makes these decisions about doing anything possible to bring in more fans, particularly students. Season tickets should be way cheaper per game than individual tickets, special packages of multiple games should be good deals too. More giveaways/promotional night if those have been shown to improve attendance. The goal should be maximizing attendance/atmosphere, not maximizing revenue. I doubt Schafer focused any time on this, but I think there is some low hanging fruit here.

Check your stats before posting. According to USCHO Lynah attendance this year was 97.9% of capacity. Considering that we don't have standing room, that's about as good as you can get.

Also Sec B and generally A stand. Sec D & E were never great at standing. That's exactly why I started to hand out papers. I started only in D & E to increase enthusiasm. Then it just morphed into the entire rink.

I’ve attended 4+ home games each of the last 17 years (including 4 years of season tickets as a student). I watch almost every other game on television. I have an idea of what I’m talking about. It’s a much different atmosphere, the students don’t know the cheers. A is often mostly empty. D never stands (it stood all four years I was there). C mostly sits too. Even if ticket sales aren’t much below capacity, the students aren’t showing up enough and they aren’t getting loud.

Anyway, I sincerely appreciate your service of handing out newspapers etc.

As a Section C denizen, we generally stand on the B side of the section up until around the tunnel (hi! I stand!). To the right of the tunnel people generally sit because they take cues from D, which also sits.

A is marketed towards grad students, iirc. When they released tickets this year, the front half of A was supposed to be for grad season ticket holders. Not many bit. I didn't either, because I figured watching from an end of the rink would kind of suck.

I think a big part of "not knowing the cheers" is because, as far as I'm aware, there's no student hockey organization. The Cornell Hockey Association, from my understanding, skews primarily older. Not to bring up BU here, but my BU friend (boo tomato tomato) is one of the leaders of the "Dog Pound", the BU hockey student organization, and as part of that, he helps promote the team, create signs and pins and such, and distribute what he calls "dirty laundry lists", which are, from my understanding, a sheet of paper with information about the current opponent, chants, and so forth. You expect Cornell hockey fans to come out of the womb knowing the chants. Even the resources online are significantly outdated. Someone, or someones, need(s) to make the information more easily accessible and up-to-date. Word of mouth spreading of chants doesn't work well anymore; people look things up on their cell phones now. Either you need to give them the information (maybe with the newspapers, just a suggestion) or make it easy to find.

(Plus, chants like the Telephone Cheer are fucking impossible to hear...)

Also - thanks for all the papers, Jim! Much appreciated.

(For those asking "how are you friends with a BU fan", the answer is we met on a Devils discord server, haha. Known him and listened to him tell me about BU hockey since before I got accepted to Cornell, so I have an annoying soft spot for their team.)

One caveat: The Faithful has always (in my lifetime as a CU fan) been meant to evolve, with each generation creating its own chants and traditions. That evolution seems to have slowed significantly in the 2000s, IMO. (The main one that came out of my era was echoing the player names during the goal scorer announcements.) Create your own chants!

Weder

dag14

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:

—Utilize the transfer portal more.
Casey used the portal all the time at Clarkson. Schafer has been either unwilling or unable to. I think the team could find a great goalie in the portal if they wanted. The question is, do they want to upset team chemistry? I wouldn’t want to overdo it, but I’m pretty sure Cornell could grab one or two good players a year to plug holes. The program has been too successful lately and kids will give it a hard look.

I wish all our programs could utilize this alternative to supplement the recruiting of young players who may or may not succeed academically and athletically at Cornell. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for a transfer student to get admitted because of the graduation requirements in the various colleges. I was a faculty member for a number of years, now retired, so some details may have changed but the bar faced by coaches going after transfer recruits is college admissions. The Arts College, for instance, mandates that a transfer student must spend at least four semesters in residence and complete at least 60 academic credits at Cornell. An Arts student entering as a freshman must take 100 of the 120 credits required to graduate in the Arts College. I presume that the same requirement applies to transfers so 50 credits in Arts. That does not address fulfilling major requirements. CALS requires that 55 of 120 credits be CALS courses, pro-rata for transfers. But, unlike Arts, courses taken elsewhere can fill this requirement [like transferring in Bio courses]. I don't believe any Cornel college accepts transfers who have completed 3 years of study elsewhere.

And these hurdles do not include any thrown up by the Ivy League with regard to eligibility.

Add to all of this the lack of athletic scholarships and uncertainty about NIL payments in the Ivy League and relying on the transfer portal for talent is most likely wishful thinking at this point.

Something I've always wondered, and maybe you know dag14: Do recruited athletes who don't make the cut for admissions get offered guaranteed transfers to enter as sophomores? I'm not sure how much Cornell overall still offers this path to applicants, but it was somewhat common back in my day (1990s).

Guaranteed transfer "criteria" differ depending on the college, since each college admits its own students, rather than having a central, University admissions office. [Coaches wish this were different, needless to say]. In my experience in CALS and Dyson, the guaranteed transfer is used less than in the past because admissions offices don't like to commit a spot to an applicant when a better one might come along the following year. I think it is still used to benefit athletes by coaches who can make it attractive to a student. The best example is the wrestling "grey shirt" program where guys spend a year at TC3 taking courses toward a CALS major. If they do it right, they come to Cornell with less than a full year of transfer credit so they retain eligibility to compete for 4 years and they can take a lighter courseload to make life easier. The Spartan Wrestling Club gives them a way to train and compete in this "off year."

Weder
One caveat: The Faithful has always (in my lifetime as a CU fan) been meant to evolve, with each generation creating its own chants and traditions. That evolution seems to have slowed significantly in the 2000s, IMO. (The main one that came out of my era was echoing the player names during the goal scorer announcements.) Create your own chants!

I don't disagree... but this also involves some level of coordination, so as not to be the One Idiot Screaming At The Team.

Next year when Yale comes to town, I'm gonna yell at them to challenge every Cornell goal, though

BearLover

dag14

BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:

—Utilize the transfer portal more.
Casey used the portal all the time at Clarkson. Schafer has been either unwilling or unable to. I think the team could find a great goalie in the portal if they wanted. The question is, do they want to upset team chemistry? I wouldn’t want to overdo it, but I’m pretty sure Cornell could grab one or two good players a year to plug holes. The program has been too successful lately and kids will give it a hard look.

I wish all our programs could utilize this alternative to supplement the recruiting of young players who may or may not succeed academically and athletically at Cornell. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for a transfer student to get admitted because of the graduation requirements in the various colleges. I was a faculty member for a number of years, now retired, so some details may have changed but the bar faced by coaches going after transfer recruits is college admissions. The Arts College, for instance, mandates that a transfer student must spend at least four semesters in residence and complete at least 60 academic credits at Cornell. An Arts student entering as a freshman must take 100 of the 120 credits required to graduate in the Arts College. I presume that the same requirement applies to transfers so 50 credits in Arts. That does not address fulfilling major requirements. CALS requires that 55 of 120 credits be CALS courses, pro-rata for transfers. But, unlike Arts, courses taken elsewhere can fill this requirement [like transferring in Bio courses]. I don't believe any Cornel college accepts transfers who have completed 3 years of study elsewhere.

And these hurdles do not include any thrown up by the Ivy League with regard to eligibility.

Add to all of this the lack of athletic scholarships and uncertainty about NIL payments in the Ivy League and relying on the transfer portal for talent is most likely wishful thinking at this point.

While this is all true and highly relevant, I’m pretty sure I’ve read about quite a few transfers on other Cornell sports teams over the past year or two: women’s hockey, lacrosse, football, for example. More than on the men’s hockey team at least.

I think COVID loosened some criteria and that might explain the appearance of more transfers recently. That being said, there are always a couple of transfer athletes on campus but they are not high-profile unless they join a high-profile program like women's hockey or they turn out to be a stud. There are roughly 1200 student athletes on campus and I bet less than 20 transferred to Cornell.

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BearLover

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BearLover
If Cornell wants to get over the hump and start competing for national championships in earnest, here is what Casey needs to do:

Realistic short term goals:

—Utilize the transfer portal more.
Casey used the portal all the time at Clarkson. Schafer has been either unwilling or unable to. I think the team could find a great goalie in the portal if they wanted. The question is, do they want to upset team chemistry? I wouldn’t want to overdo it, but I’m pretty sure Cornell could grab one or two good players a year to plug holes. The program has been too successful lately and kids will give it a hard look.

I wish all our programs could utilize this alternative to supplement the recruiting of young players who may or may not succeed academically and athletically at Cornell. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for a transfer student to get admitted because of the graduation requirements in the various colleges. I was a faculty member for a number of years, now retired, so some details may have changed but the bar faced by coaches going after transfer recruits is college admissions. The Arts College, for instance, mandates that a transfer student must spend at least four semesters in residence and complete at least 60 academic credits at Cornell. An Arts student entering as a freshman must take 100 of the 120 credits required to graduate in the Arts College. I presume that the same requirement applies to transfers so 50 credits in Arts. That does not address fulfilling major requirements. CALS requires that 55 of 120 credits be CALS courses, pro-rata for transfers. But, unlike Arts, courses taken elsewhere can fill this requirement [like transferring in Bio courses]. I don't believe any Cornel college accepts transfers who have completed 3 years of study elsewhere.

And these hurdles do not include any thrown up by the Ivy League with regard to eligibility.

Add to all of this the lack of athletic scholarships and uncertainty about NIL payments in the Ivy League and relying on the transfer portal for talent is most likely wishful thinking at this point.

While this is all true and highly relevant, I’m pretty sure I’ve read about quite a few transfers on other Cornell sports teams over the past year or two: women’s hockey, lacrosse, football, for example. More than on the men’s hockey team at least.

I think COVID loosened some criteria and that might explain the appearance of more transfers recently. That being said, there are always a couple of transfer athletes on campus but they are not high-profile unless they join a high-profile program like women's hockey or they turn out to be a stud. There are roughly 1200 student athletes on campus and I bet less than 20 transferred to Cornell.

FWIW, I count at least three transfers on the men’s soccer team.

BearLover

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BearLover

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BearLover


I think COVID loosened some criteria and that might explain the appearance of more transfers recently. That being said, there are always a couple of transfer athletes on campus but they are not high-profile unless they join a high-profile program like women's hockey or they turn out to be a stud. There are roughly 1200 student athletes on campus and I bet less than 20 transferred to Cornell.

FWIW, I count at least three transfers on the men’s soccer team.

I don't follow soccer closely, but I just looked at their roster. One of the transfers came from a community college -- that is brilliant recruiting by the coach because CC's are set up specifically to prepare students to transfer to 4-year colleges if they choose. The player is in ILR -- one of the NYS colleges that is set up to welcome CC transfers. A perfect academic match!

Weder
Derraugh has only ever brought in like 3 transfers, it just happens that there were two in the past two years. Maybe that signals a shift in strategy, but we'll see. Schafer brought in a few here and there to provide depth or warm bodies -- outside of Seger, not sure if any of them had huge impact.

This is Tymchyshyn erasure.

Scersk '97

Weder
Derraugh has only ever brought in like 3 transfers, it just happens that there were two in the past two years. Maybe that signals a shift in strategy, but we'll see. Schafer brought in a few here and there to provide depth or warm bodies -- outside of Seger, not sure if any of them had huge impact.

This is Tymchyshyn erasure.

Tymchyshyn! I missed the Sancimino era so he’s my all-time favorite goal scorer name.

That was super special though, he came through from a disbanded program.

stereax

Weder
One caveat: The Faithful has always (in my lifetime as a CU fan) been meant to evolve, with each generation creating its own chants and traditions. That evolution seems to have slowed significantly in the 2000s, IMO. (The main one that came out of my era was echoing the player names during the goal scorer announcements.) Create your own chants!

I don't disagree... but this also involves some level of coordination, so as not to be the One Idiot Screaming At The Team.

Next year when Yale comes to town, I'm gonna yell at them to challenge every Cornell goal, though

I don’t know if the Lynah crowd still does it but the old grade inflation chant at Harvard was started in the early 2000s and it was definitely a coordinated effort, but only in a very local sense. The group of 6 or so students who started it was either a bunch of trained singers or else worked really hard on it because their enunciation was impeccable.

It took them a couple of tries before it caught on but that cheer became a thing for years. It helps that it was hilarious and timely - this was very shortly after the news story dropped about the median grade at Harvard being an A-.

Tom Lento

stereax

Weder
One caveat: The Faithful has always (in my lifetime as a CU fan) been meant to evolve, with each generation creating its own chants and traditions. That evolution seems to have slowed significantly in the 2000s, IMO. (The main one that came out of my era was echoing the player names during the goal scorer announcements.) Create your own chants!

I don't disagree... but this also involves some level of coordination, so as not to be the One Idiot Screaming At The Team.

Next year when Yale comes to town, I'm gonna yell at them to challenge every Cornell goal, though

I don’t know if the Lynah crowd still does it but the old grade inflation chant at Harvard was started in the early 2000s and it was definitely a coordinated effort, but only in a very local sense. The group of 6 or so students who started it was either a bunch of trained singers or else worked really hard on it because their enunciation was impeccable.

It took them a couple of tries before it caught on but that cheer became a thing for years. It helps that it was hilarious and timely - this was very shortly after the news story dropped about the median grade at Harvard being an A-.

I think we did Grade Inflation at the Harvard game this year. And maybe the Yale one too? We definitely gave Yale a nice big Safety School, though. Ditto every women's team for a big game (the ECAC championship vs Colgate and the regional final vs UMD).

The demise of lynah is greatly overstated. Just like every generation claims to be more motivated and useful that the one behind them, everyone thinks their college days were the best. There was plenty of noise and plenty of unique cheers this year, i don’t have a good sense for how much that comes through on the broadcast though. Frankly it was a good crowd for how bad the team was at some points this year and I think it will be even better next year after this playoff run. The only valid gripe IMO is the stuff that we could actually fix, such as decreasing the piped in music.

chimpfood
The demise of lynah is greatly overstated.

I wish we could tag posts and create reports, because "Lynah is Dead" has been posted at least once in every season since the Jacquard loom.

Tom Lento

Scersk '97

Weder
Derraugh has only ever brought in like 3 transfers, it just happens that there were two in the past two years. Maybe that signals a shift in strategy, but we'll see. Schafer brought in a few here and there to provide depth or warm bodies -- outside of Seger, not sure if any of them had huge impact.

This is Tymchyshyn erasure.

Tymchyshyn! I missed the Sancimino era so he’s my all-time favorite goal scorer name.

That was super special though, he came through from a disbanded program.

Haha, I debated whether to include him. I think I might have had a class with him at some point? I definitely had a summer session class with a guy who transferred (from another disbanded team, maybe?) and was a third-string goalie for a year or maybe two.

Weder

Tom Lento

Scersk '97

Weder
Derraugh has only ever brought in like 3 transfers, it just happens that there were two in the past two years. Maybe that signals a shift in strategy, but we'll see. Schafer brought in a few here and there to provide depth or warm bodies -- outside of Seger, not sure if any of them had huge impact.

This is Tymchyshyn erasure.

Tymchyshyn! I missed the Sancimino era so he’s my all-time favorite goal scorer name.

That was super special though, he came through from a disbanded program.

Haha, I debated whether to include him. I think I might have had a class with him at some point? I definitely had a summer session class with a guy who transferred (from another disbanded team, maybe?) and was a third-string goalie for a year or maybe two.

It was, after all, a long time ago now. That being said, I'm pretty sure that we wouldn't have won a championship in 1997 without him. Indeed, I'm not all that sure how, looking back on our stats, we won a championship in the first place. Schafer's first coach-of-the-year season, as far as I'm concerned.

Scersk '97

Weder

Tom Lento

Scersk '97

Weder
Derraugh has only ever brought in like 3 transfers, it just happens that there were two in the past two years. Maybe that signals a shift in strategy, but we'll see. Schafer brought in a few here and there to provide depth or warm bodies -- outside of Seger, not sure if any of them had huge impact.

This is Tymchyshyn erasure.

Tymchyshyn! I missed the Sancimino era so he’s my all-time favorite goal scorer name.

That was super special though, he came through from a disbanded program.

Haha, I debated whether to include him. I think I might have had a class with him at some point? I definitely had a summer session class with a guy who transferred (from another disbanded team, maybe?) and was a third-string goalie for a year or maybe two.

It was, after all, a long time ago now. That being said, I'm pretty sure that we wouldn't have won a championship in 1997 without him. Indeed, I'm not all that sure how, looking back on our stats, we won a championship in the first place. Schafer's first coach-of-the-year season, as far as I'm concerned.

IIRC, we finished second that season, four points behind Clarkson, who swept us in the RS. So it's especially impressive that we won that title by beating Clarkson (one icing at a time!) in the final.

stereax

I figured watching from an end of the rink would kind of suck.

You take that back!

VIEWfromK

stereax

I figured watching from an end of the rink would kind of suck.

You take that back!

IT DOES THOUGH!

Wondering when they will retire Jersey #3 to honor Schaf

Do you think they would consider a banner with his win total instead?

VIEWfromK
Do you think they would consider a banner with his win total instead?

Much better idea.

The Rancor

VIEWfromK
Do you think they would consider a banner with his win total instead?

Much better idea.

They have a lot of banners to add before next season! Will be interested to see how they adjust the spacing to fit them in.

fastforward
Wondering when they will retire Jersey #3 to honor Schaf

I hate retired numbers. We need a statue inside Lynah of Mike holding an unbroken (if you know, you know) stick with the wins total on the shaft and 7 red stripes on the blade.

My thoughts were to have a statue of Harkness near the walkway to Lynah that the students use.

Put a copy (Or the original if he wants to give it up) of Ben Scrivens' helmet where the students check in

(They can rub that if so inclined)(Anyone too young to know the helmet can read this)

And name the ice after Coach Schafer, putting his name in the ice.

I think a statue of Coach Schafer is also reasonable. I just think waiting a while is appropriate.

Having the statue outside, followed by the helmet as they check in, will give those inquisitive enough something to look up and learn about Lynah traditions.

Trotsky

fastforward
Wondering when they will retire Jersey #3 to honor Schaf

I hate retied numbers. We need a statue inside LYnah of holding an unbroken (if you know, you know) stick with the wins total on the shaft and 7 red stripes on the blade.

I agree. Many better ways to honor him and others (statue and name on ice have been suggested, and I'm good with either).

Jim Hyla
My thoughts were to have a statue of Harkness near the walkway to Lynah that the students use.

Put a copy (Or the original if he wants to give it up) of Ben Scrivens' helmet where the students check in

(They can rub that if so inclined)(Anyone too young to know the helmet can read this)

And name the ice after Coach Schafer, putting his name in the ice.

I think a statue of Coach Schafer is also reasonable. I just think waiting a while is appropriate.

Having the statue outside, followed by the helmet as they check in, will give those inquisitive enough something to look up and learn about Lynah traditions.

Like the naming the ice.

I forgot Scrivens was a Hip fan. Extra points for being a good Canadian

Actually, 8 stripes.

At the very least, Mike should be named The Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach Emeritus. We do it for faculty who haven't been associated with Cornell nearly as long, or who have never touched nearly so many lives.

Schafer gave his "Last Lecture" before a packed auditorium. Reading the story, I wondered why they didn't hold it in Bailey Hall or another larger venue. Kudos to Jane McNally for another excellent story.

dbilmes
Schafer gave his "Last Lecture" before a packed auditorium. Reading the story, I wondered why they didn't hold it in Bailey Hall or another larger venue. Kudos to Jane McNally for another excellent story.

Did they record this so the video is available somewhere?

On Instagram at the least: [www.instagram.com]

Sorry