Fire Lucia

[setterguy]

Contracts for college coaches aren't worth the paper they are printed on.

[cbrooks]

I'm bumping this up. Prediction Lucia is canned soon.

John Hill will take over . I'm kidding its probably too soon for jokes like that. Sorry Gopher fans.

[scsavre]

Its hard to say. He has another year on his contract. The gophs are already dishing out millions paying off other fired coaches. Well, maybe just Mason. I cant remember. I just think Lucia is digging his own grave by having the staff that he does. Hill and Potulny are embarrassing.

I tell ya, it is tough seeing all our past assistants out there doing well. Butters, guenzel, Blais, Motzko, Hastings.

I did notice that Guentzels house in Woodbury is for sale. Doesnt look like he will be coming here, or following Blais here, and I would think Hastings is in line for the UNO job if that happens. I just dont know what to think.

We need someone who can develop all these superstars we recruit. We need a special teams coach and we need someone who can teach these kids positioning.

[cbrooks]

Steve Johnson. I'm just throwing that name out there. He's a Grand Forks native who coach in the USHL for awhile. He's now an assistant with SCSU. Been there a year.

Is there any name you could see coaching the Gophers?

[cbrooks]

I could maybe see Tom Serratore going there. If BSU makes a good run here people are gonna take notice of his coaching.

Steve Johnson probably won't ever happen. Just trying to come up with alist of names that could be.

[Scum Frog]

I don't think Serratore would go. He a BSU grad.

[brmuskie]

Tom Serratore's name will likely come up for coaching jobs but I would be surprised if he left. His son is a sophomore this year (this kid is pretty good) and he has another kid in middle school. He seems like a family guys that is happy where he is. I can't imagine he would want a team like the U or any other high profile school.

Steve Johnson will be a good coach.

I think the rodents need someone they are afraid of as a coach. Some of the superstars have always given me the impression that they are coddled and get whatever they want. Not usually a good thing with 18-21 year olds.

[PierBridge]

Quote:

Prediction Lucia is canned soon.

Lucia isn't going anywhere but behind the Gopher bench for next season...

Nice try tho!

[scsavre]

Serratore has no chance, and I think he likes Bemidji. I would doubt Johnson as well.

Id say

Blais

Guentzel

Scott Hill (doubtful but has done wonders at Hamlines terrible program)

Maybe Motzko

Honestly if it isnt one of these top guys, we could just keep Lucia. I really think it is all about the assistants for the Gophs. When Guentzel left we really fell apart.

[archerystud]

I think Don will get one more year to right the ship because of the contract/money. If it isn't righted then Dean B. will be in town.

[cbrooks]

Is there any Don Lucia supporters? I have to hand it to the Gopher fans. You guys are more forgiven than the UND fans.

[scsavre]

I saw 200 comments on the trib wanting his firing today.

Its his staff. Its a Joke. I really dont think he is in it as much either.

[scsavre]

Oh and Byrce. I think you might be right.

We need to get our attendance up to.

[Bryce]

Hang on now. I haven't made any comments on here since last year. Was actually planning on keeping a low profile until the end of the week. Sort of a rest for a solid playoff stretch of piling on. Any talk of firing Lucia without bringing up ousting Maturi is just another step in the wrong direction.

[scsavre]

Sorry meant archery

[zepman]

I think Don will get one more year to right the ship because of the contract/money. If it isn't righted then Dean B. will be in town.

This.

[tonkapat]

The U is going to have a tough go of things no matter the coach. Look at the lineups of the top teams. Mostly Canadians with juniors experience. I would rather have a mediocre team filled with minnesotans than a bunch of foreigners. Look at UND, 2 kids that are actually from north dakota. If I want to watch a bunch of imports playing hockey I'll just turn the wild on.

[scsavre]

TonkaPat that is my exact feeling. College is suppose to give you that hometown feeling, cheering for kids that are actually MN gophers. Not a bunch of Canadian with Sioux jerseys. But I guess if you are from UND you dont know that feeling anyway.

The gophs will be better then just fine. they will be right back on top in a year or two. They just need a new staff. Coaches that can develop players. They have a good crop coming back and a couple of very good players coming in.

[Spike76]

I'ts not the coaches fault the players don't stay and graduate. Maybe along with the scholarship there should be a signed commitment so they would be there for four years and graduate. After all, college is for an education. With other players Lucia won, so a coaching change probably won't change much. He might need other scouts that rate the players different though. I would enjoy that job greatly, probably for less money too.

[scsavre]

Its not just players leaving early, look at how the players are not developing.

look at Hoeffel and White both 1st rounders

Sachetti 2nd rounder.

The list goes on and on, its not bad scouting, its not developing players.

[solbes]

How in the world could Maturi sit back and let this go on for another year to finish DLucia's contract? 3 years without an NCAA appearance is not acceptable for the flagship Minnesota program. I agree above, players do not develop properly there and the team really suffers because of it.

Best scenario for everyone I think would be for Maturi to make a move and hire Blais right after the season is over. DLucia should be picked up by Penn State. Don gets himself some new assistant coaches and restores his image as a great coach. Gwoz seems to be the other candidate at Penn State.

[Bear55]

I have to agree solbes, I am to the point now where I just don't see our current coaching staff as the guys to turn this program around. Lucia is still a good coach but obviously something has changed.

Development has been a problem but I think you could point to that as always being somewhat of a problem for the Gophers. All of their recruits are expected to come in and do great things, that just can't realistically happen for all of them. Things get magnified when you are not having a great season or 4.

[fishing tech]

Things changed when Geuntzel was let go!

[Quackaddict9]

Serratore loves it in Bemidji and is definitley a Family's man. He really gets along well with a lot of folks and kids in town. He's a nice fella and has great composure behind the bench and is willing to teach instead of yelling much and the team seems to do well with that. It is great to see the Beavs make the final 5 in their first year in the WCHA, they've not gotten a lot of wins but they went out and competed almost every night but when you go 5-0-1 agaisnt a well coached UNO team, that is pretty good.

Lucia won't go I don't think, he'll resign after his son Mario finishes playing at the U (no committments yet but I see him playing for Maroon and Gold)

[cbrooks]

I think the fact Mario hasn't committed tells me something. I guess my prediction is wrong. Its looking like Lucia will fulfill his contract. After that I can see him at Penn State. Lucia can coach. He was a great Gopher coach once maybe a change of scenery would be good for him. I mean its obvious he won't be fired but if another opportunity comes along I could see Lucia taking it.

[scsavre]

If I were the don I would think about retirring. Health reasons. It must be humbling to go from head coach of the gophs an.d end up anywhere else. I really don't think lucia was ever that good of a coach. I think it was quite evident that his early sucess was really due to his staff. Seems obvious since we go from haveing the best dcore with guentzl to the worst now. The same could be said about our special teams under guentz and motzko.

Mario is only a junior. I'm sure other teams are talking with him, if the gophs want him. He will end up here. I really think don would let him go wherever he wants though.

Oh and one last thing. If lucia was smart he'd retire and hang out in the booth. Wooger is gonna be out of there any day. The gophs usually take care of their former coaches.

[solbes]

I'd disagree about him not being a good coach. He's had the ultimate success with the Gophs and has an AMAZING record between the years of '93 and '07. On paper his .619 winning percentage is good, until you consider he started off his career at Fairbanks and his 4 most recent years were roughly .500 hockey. Then it looks pretty great over that 14 year span.

http://www.uscho.com/stats/coach/mid,41/don-lucia/

Just needs a change of assistants and a change of scenery to get back on track. But I agree there would be no shame in hangin them up to work in the booth. He has already had a stellar coaching career.

[scsavre]

Sorry, I did mean, that good of a coach at the U. He did pretty good at CC. Is he getting old or what then. Looking at this team and watching them every weekend. It is obvious that they are lost out there. If he was so great, why cant he do it any more. I just dont get it. Honestly, I used to get so mad at him even when we were winning the NCAA. He has made so many bonehead moves. I remember loosing games cause we had our fourth line out there in the closing minutes of a tied game. I also rember him always putting out the grinders on 4 on 4 situations durring crunch time. I have always hated his changing of the lines every game. This is something that didnt happen durring the Champ years.

As long as I can remember there have always been blunders he has made, and they seem to have cost us many times too. I know mistakes happen, but there were tons fo them back in the day wehre you would wonder what the heck he was doing. You would even hear wondering by Mazaco and Wooger.

[Bear55]

It is pretty hard to argue with Lucia's track record as a coach both at MN and especially before he got there. Winning at Alaska is no easy task and turning around a CC program that was terrible for a long long time was an incredible accomplishment.

I will agree what something is seriously wrong right now, I'm not even sure if Lucia knows what that is but something needs to change.

[solbes]

Guess I haven't watched closely enough to see the weird line changes. But you make a good point, those don't seem to be good scenarios to be in.

If he stays I hope he can turn it around. I'm not rooting against the guy, but the program deserves the very best. Obviously Maturi still thinks highly of him, but he needs to consider all of his options. Minnesota needs a highly competitive hockey program at the U.