Jacob Cepis...

[Answers]

Do you want proof the university has given up on the program?

Last spring the entire hockey team, 27 strong, 5 graduating seniors, dressed in suit and tie walked into the sebo center for a meeting with Greg Christopher. They did their research, they presented the facts, every statistic possible, and a list of professional alumni swearing not to donate until Pooch was gone. Christopher supposedly absorbed everything stone-faced, thanked them for the information and turned them away with little or no feedback. I hesitated about taking this public given my situation, but at this point it doesn't really matter, the program is in shambles.

As a team, the players still have a positive attitude. Nobody blamed Maxwell for leaving. Hes married, school wasn't that important to him and he was destined to succeed at the next level. There are mixed feelings about Cepis, but for the most part the boys wish him well. I am certain that these players did NOT leave for "academic" or "personal" reasons. They were the two biggest Paluch haters on the team, and they WILL both go on to bigger and better things than if they would have stayed.

More players are leaving. Stay tuned

[BG Knows Best]

Yea, we hosted the first round of the CCHA playoffs last year, this was the first time in ten years and yes Todd Reirden had a huge part in this. Now that he (Reirden) is gone I guarantee you that we won't see the playoffs this year or next year as long a Paulich is the coach. Oh yea, if players keep leaving he wont have a team let alone get to the playoffs.

[BG Knows Best]

Jacob Cepis did not leave the program because he lost his passion for the game, he left the program because he could not stand Paulich's coaching tactics. He said this because he was just being nice and not trying to create waves. He couldn't stand Paulich like most of us, he just had the guts to leave.

[BG Knows Best]

Cepis did not leave because he lost his passion for the game. He left the program because he could not stand Paulich or his coaching methods. You have to understand that these kids have played hockey there whole life-it's not like football where you just decide to play and you're good at it. He had enough of Paulich and his mind f------ and he just had the guts to leave. I mean this kid is looking at signing a pro contract of some sort-he is not tired of the game.

[cw08]

AZIce and cw08, your line of thinking is depressing the hell out of me!!

I will NEVER, EVER feel we should give up the hockey program....NEVER, EVER.....EVER!!!! Have I made my feelings clear? And, I know I'm not alone on this!!

Icers: Congrats on the win tonight!!
SWEEEEEEEEEEEP CLARKSON!!!

I appreciate your passion, but I'm just not satisfied with this mediocre program. It's not just the coaching, it's the facilities and the fact that they're the fourth most important sport. That program is a money pit and has no return. Hockey's not supposed to be a non-revenue sport.

I shouldn't make these assumptions without a budget, but judging by attendance from my years, it's not making money.

Trust me, I have hockey pretty far back in my bloodlines. I love the game, but it's not doing our University a hell of a lot of good.

[McConvey]

Do you know how many active D1 head coaches have career winning percentages below .400?

I was suprised to see that there are eight.

Do you know how many of these guys have held on to their jobs in to or past a seventh season?

Three (counting Pooch). The other two work at true hockey juggernaughts: Bentley and American International. If your definition of a 'good job' includes dragging our program down to that level, I feel sorry for you.

LOWEST CAREER WINNING % AMOUNG ACTIVE D1 HEAD COACHES:
Danton Cole 2nd season @ Alabama-Huntsville .244
Mark Dennehey 5th year @ Merrimack .248
Dave Shyiak 4th year @ Alaska-Anchorage .328
Jamie Russell 6th year @ Michigan Tech .336
Dave Smith 4th year @ Canisius .357
Ryan Soderquist 7th year @ Bentley .367
Scott Paluch 7th year @ BGSU .369
Gary Wright 26th year at American Int'l .389

Freddie, thanks for the numbers. It's really sad when you lay it out like that.

Just some info... American International, Bentley and (to a lesser extent) Merrimack are three distinct cases of D-II schools with D-I hockey programs that... maybe shouldn't be D-I.
Bentley and AIC were D-II programs until they were essentially forced to play up in D-I once the NCAA stopped supporting hockey in D-II. [They could also have turned the teams into club teams, or continued playing in D-II with a handful of other schools in the Northeast-10 like St. Michael's and Franklin Pierce. But I dont think St. Mike's or Franklin Pierce can offer scholarships since they're not recognized by the NCAA]. In the case of AIC, *all* of their sports are underfunded and not so great. Bentley is pretty decent across the board with the exception of hockey.
Merrimack, on the other hand..... I don't even want to get into it. The situation at Merrimack is ugly. Mark Dennehy has done an outstanding job with what little he's been given to work with. BGSU Ice Arena, for all its faults, is a friggin NHL calibre building compared to the Volplex.

BGSU *should* be well above ALL the schools on this list. It is the only one that's D-I across the board and it's just shameful.


And for whoever said that BGSU won't make the playoffs.... I fail to see how they will be left out. Twelve teams make the CCHA playoffs and last I checked, there were twelve teams in the league.

[Falcon Fanatic]

AZIce and cw08, your line of thinking is depressing the hell out of me!!

I will NEVER, EVER feel we should give up the hockey program....NEVER, EVER.....EVER!!!! Have I made my feelings clear? And, I know I'm not alone on this!!

Icers: Congrats on the win tonight!!
SWEEEEEEEEEEEP CLARKSON!!!

I appreciate your passion, but I'm just not satisfied with this mediocre program. It's not just the coaching, it's the facilities and the fact that they're the fourth most important sport. That program is a money pit and has no return. Hockey's not supposed to be a non-revenue sport.

I shouldn't make these assumptions without a budget, but judging by attendance from my years, it's not making money.

Trust me, I have hockey pretty far back in my bloodlines. I love the game, but it's not doing our University a hell of a lot of good.

You're assuming I am satisified with BG Hockey no matter what's going on. You couldn't be more wrong. I am absolutely furious over the state of things right now. I'm sad, angry, and just plain pissed off about how things in this once proud program have gone down the toilet!!! But that said, do I think we should dump the program? HELL NO!! Do I think this can be fixed? HELL YES!! I, like a lot of people, have plenty of opinions on what could/should be done, but my opinions are not going be able to give the program what it needs. Now...if I ever hit that big lottery win....

Oh and btw, BG Knows Best....his name is Paluch not Paulich.

[Rightupinthere]

Oh and btw, BG Knows Best....his name is Paluch not Paulich.

Fonetikally speeking, u cood not bee mor wrawng.

[MooneyRich86]

Stated my case to the AD yesterday. Enough is enough ! If you all haven't done so already I suggest you e-mail him NOW ! Good win for the guys yesterday against an injury riddled team.
There is NO WAY we give up this program !! It would tear the heart out
of the university.

[TheKa]

Well, this has been an interesting couple of days on the message boards.

First things first, I would like to thank MooneyRich for stepping up to the plate as I've wanted others to do for years. This is one step that I firmly believe we can take to begin to help right the ship, so to speak. Will the AD care, at this point, I have no clue. He's hasn't seemed to at this point, but he could surprise me.

Secondly, to whoever is hiding behind the screen name of "Lil Curlz." I don't like to address people directly on this board if I disagree with what they say, but I'd actually love to hear more of WHY you feel this way. I have my opinions, but I'd like to hear YOU state why, with FACTS, you believe we are so wrong about this coach. I am astonished that someone feels that people on this board, probably most of which were actually AT the game last night (and FF is right there MAY have been 600 people there, you could almost hand count them) could be "fair-weather" fans. I am certain that we've all been around longer than you have. Does this make us "better" fans? Absolutely not, but it does quite possibly make us better educated about the state of this program since we have more of a background to rely on. I would encourage you to look at this list that I posted a few weeks ago. Can you tell me what on this list you were around for? That's the funny thing about Falcon Hockey...I can identify almost everyone who regularly posts here, even if they don't use their real names. Can you? Can you go to the game tonight and say "There's TheKa! There's Falcon Fanatic and BGFan! There's BGBill (and Mrs. BGBill)! There's Freddie! There's Puckhead! There's Pdt!" Do you know where each of us sit? Where we've sat for more than 20 years? Or in some of our cases more than 30? I don't hide behind my screen name, I never have. I sign each and every one of my posts with my real name. I'm not ashamed with what I have to say. It's my opinion and I'm willing to share it with whoever is willing to listen. I won't even get into the fact that you OBVIOUSLY don't know anything about the recruiting process...or have been sold a used car. They are similar. Cepis signed here almost 4 years ago, it was a different group of guys...and he was sold a bill of goods, just as every player is. Do you blame him for buying into it? Can you blame him for not liking what turned out to be reality? Do you honestly think players like Vargas and Sinclair signed here to sit in the stands? What do you think they were told? I'm positive it wasn't that.

Oh, and PDT...that pic that NWLB posted made me smile. A certain Goalie's Mom used to love to tease you and the other "Stickboys" as she called you. She's been gone 3 years this week. I can only imagine what she would've had to say about the current state of the program. I'm sure it wouldn't be as nice as most of us, and there would certainly be some four letter words in there!

And finally, back to the matter at hand...the players leaving the team. There will be at LEAST 2 more announcements in the coming days. And that sucks, to be honest. I don't blame any of them, but I'm worried that they transfer to another CCHA school and kick our butts in the years to come, just because they NEVER got a fair shot here.

GO FALCONS!
Erika

[Lil' Curlz]

well, first of all, Vargas is injured. Second of all, how good is Sinclair supposed to be? And, also, yeah I can identify most of you. (just because I just joined this site does NOT make me a "new fan")

[FindlayFalcon]

TheKa, right on!! And thanks for the memories about a certain goalie's mom. She was a character but what a character. I remember sitting in her home (you were there) before a game quite a few years ago. And yes, she could put the 4 letter words to good use. You're right, she would be so disappointed in what has happened to this program. As would a lot of other player's parents.

Unfortunately, I spend most of the year in Florida now so I don't make it to any games. But I still read this board (sometimes 3 or 4 times a day) and keep up with the news of the team. I may not know any of the players like I used to back in the day--my class (along with Falcon Fanatic's) wrote weekly letters and made posters for the team. I may not know the parents like I used to. I may not go on road trips with BG Fan and Falcon Fanatic like I used to. But my heart will always be with the BG Hockey team and it aches for what has become of this program. I hope and pray that this is the last year that this team will be in this turmoil. Hopefully, the AD will finally recognize what is happening and will put an end to it and name a new coach. And hopefully, this team will rebound and become, once more, a TEAM. A TEAM that wants to work for it's coach, a TEAM that wants to win, and a TEAM that loves BG Hockey as much as we all used to and hopefully will again.

[BillyLP]

Here's how i feel about it...Christopher has been extremely active in coaching changes over the last couple years and has just recently fired two more. he's not going to fire another one, especially mid-season. after the season, unless Paluch has a miracle run in the playoffs, he'll probably get rid of him. I don't think that the university has given up on the program at all, but there is already a lot of things that have to be dealt with because of the change of hands with football program. Paluch is going to be the coach for the rest of the season, so deal with it, and go Falcons!

[MooneyRich86]

There is no reason to keep a coach who has lost the respect of his players
and who wish to continue to leave the program because of him. If the coach is Jerry York, Red Berenson or someone in that club it may be a different matter but when someone has had 6 1/2 years and has done nothing to adavance the program forward it's time to pull the plug. Promote one of the assistants temporarily to finish the season so the program can start to move on. Waiting only makes things worse and that's why we have players jumping ship in mid-season. It's one thing for players to leave a team at season's end but much worse to do it in the middle of a
season and leave your team. I'm sure it wasn't easy for these kids. Or Scott Paluch can resign and make things easier on everyone. As he is doing now is tarnishing his image at BG. Make your thoughts know to the AD NOW !!

[bgsufalcon24]

Scott Paluch is starting to get just as bad as Dan Dakich was with players leaving. First, Tim Maxwell left the team a few weeks ago, now Jacob Cepis. These guys weren't just spuds at the end of the bench either, these were contributing players. It really sucks to see these guys go, especially Cepis, as although he had been struggling so far this year, he was an emerging stud for us. Without him we don't beat Lake State in the 1st round last year. That goal he scored in overtime of Game 3 was one of the best BG sports moments I've seen over 4 years.

Regardless of what happens the rest of this season win-loss wise, if Paluch can't keep players in the program, then he has to go. Period.