Monday, April 10, 2006

Non hockey news

The big news is the departure of basketball assistant Ed Cooley. He is taking over Fairfield's program. It also appears that Ed Coen is a short-timer. Personally I think this is as big, if not bigger, than losing Craig Smith. Both have been with Al a long time and understand how he works and what sort of players work for him. Once again, I have to calm my fears by looking at Al's track record. I thought the program would fall apart when Tim O'Shea left. It didn't. I think Al will find two equally capable guys to fill their slots. Best of luck to both.


Although I don't put much stock into the scrimmages, I still feel the need to report them. Akins moving to LB might be the most overlooked move of the spring. For the second straight year, we will have strong depth at the position. This allowed Spaz to do some different things in 2005. Maybe those tweaks and rotations will become part of our overall scheme.

2 comments:

flutie22phelan20 said...

I agree about Cooley and Coen. First of all, congrats to Ed Cooley. He brings a lot of emotion to the table, the guys seem to like him, and he's done one hell of a job working with BC's big men (Oates' improvement from game 1 to game 30 was remarkable).

As for Bill Coen, I hope he stays, but if he decides Northeastern is best for him, I wish him all the best.

Skinner is a big delegator (that's not a knock on him, just an observation). The team struggled more after losing O'Shea than it did after losing Bell. I'm afraid losing both of the top assistants next year could really hurt the cohesion with which the team plays. I hope not--and coaching staff turnover in terms of assistants getting head jobs is always great in the long run--but it does give me pause in the short term.

Deacon Drake said...

Just look at how Maryland has fallen apart since Longeran and Dickerson left. Turns out that Williams is an alcoholic wreck who peaked in 2000, and now struggles to communicate with his players on and off the court.

Al doesn't have that sort of baggage, but losing 2 assistants in 1 season handicaps recruiting significantly, and put much more pressure on Al to do the day to day admin BS (like making sure Tyrese is in his 9am History 080).