Interesting comments heard this evening
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 9:04 pm
I was at a golf outing today to benefit the local school where I grew up - Olentangy Local Schools in Delaware County. Bill Davidge, Color Analyst for the Columbus Blue Jackets served as MC. He was a guest of Chris Perry, who is a resident of the district and a member of the PGA Tour (although he has been injured the last few years). Anyway, I asked Bill his thoughts on the upcoming college hockey season. Even though Bill is a radio guy on NHL hockey, he has a deep background in college hockey having played at Ohio State and coached at Miami.
He commented that with Miami's new facility (which I saw this past Friday and will say is AWESOME), they should be 1 or 2 in the CCHA. Ohio State with the talent they are returning should be anywhere from 2 to 4. As for BG, he didn't go into great detail, in part because of some bad memories playing against BG while at OSU (two major injuries), but when another person in the audience asked his thoughts on what BG needed to do to return to prominance in the CCHA he pointed out three things. One is academics, two is facilities, and three is the size of the school. A recent article in the Dispatch mentioned how OSU has a "smarter" Freshmen class than Miami. In part because OSU has strenghthened its academic requirements with selective admissions. This is a factor in attracting many student athletes, in particular those from Minnesota, Detroit, and Canada. As for facilities, Miami wins that argument hands down. From the players perspective, The Schott is second, followed by BG. The third factor is the size of the school and the town that it is in. Miami and BG win that hands down. They can attract the kid from Canada that grew up in a town of 1500 with the nearest big city two hours away.
That being said, he felt that by increasing academic requirements, improving facilities, along with the small town atmosphere is the key to BG getting stronger. He added that the key to the success that York had was his ability to focus on getting smart kids, and kids to buy into the small town feel.
I hear people criticize the coaches, but I don't hear anyone speak about the other tangibles. What are your thoughts?
He commented that with Miami's new facility (which I saw this past Friday and will say is AWESOME), they should be 1 or 2 in the CCHA. Ohio State with the talent they are returning should be anywhere from 2 to 4. As for BG, he didn't go into great detail, in part because of some bad memories playing against BG while at OSU (two major injuries), but when another person in the audience asked his thoughts on what BG needed to do to return to prominance in the CCHA he pointed out three things. One is academics, two is facilities, and three is the size of the school. A recent article in the Dispatch mentioned how OSU has a "smarter" Freshmen class than Miami. In part because OSU has strenghthened its academic requirements with selective admissions. This is a factor in attracting many student athletes, in particular those from Minnesota, Detroit, and Canada. As for facilities, Miami wins that argument hands down. From the players perspective, The Schott is second, followed by BG. The third factor is the size of the school and the town that it is in. Miami and BG win that hands down. They can attract the kid from Canada that grew up in a town of 1500 with the nearest big city two hours away.
That being said, he felt that by increasing academic requirements, improving facilities, along with the small town atmosphere is the key to BG getting stronger. He added that the key to the success that York had was his ability to focus on getting smart kids, and kids to buy into the small town feel.
I hear people criticize the coaches, but I don't hear anyone speak about the other tangibles. What are your thoughts?