New UMD coach needs to make changes to succeed
College hockey has changed over the years, both in concept and impact. Always captivating from a competitive standpoint, the sport that thrived on its simplicity in the early 1970s is now a highly-promoted, fund-raising sports endeavor. That’s particularly true at colleges like UMD, North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver, Michigan Tech, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Mankato, where hockey is the primary sport — the only Division I sports attraction.
At UMD, the changeover in the sport will be underscored by a change in coaching, as Mike Sertich was pressured to resign as his 18th season as UMD’s head coach came to an end. For the incoming coach, it may seem comparatively easy to improve on the last two seasons, when the Bulldogs finished eighth this year with a 15-22 record and ninth a year ago, at 7-27-4. However, the last two years leave a misleading impact. Counting those last two years, Sertich’s teams had an overall winning record, at 350-328-44, for a .515 winning percentage. Without the last two years, Sertich’s record was a glowing 328-279-40, for a .538 winning percentage in his first 16 years, a standard that will be difficult to duplicate in the new millennium.
Sertich’s tenure dates back to a purity of the game, when a coach could be considered outstanding if he was tactically sound and ran a clean program. Sertich excelled because he was a master tactician and student of the game who never tired of studying new training and practice techniques and deploying inventive systems and counter-systems that turned hockey games into something more resembling chess matches. When he had the properly attuned talent, the Bulldogs soared.
However, in the modern era of college hockey, coaches’ tactical abilities account only for about one-third of their work. Another third is recruiting that is close to pampering prospects, and the other third is public relations. A coach who is sharp in P.R. and adequate in recruiting could do well even if only mediocre in his tactical strategies on the ice.
After winning WCHA championships in 1982-83 and 1983-84 — his second and third seasons as head coach — Sertich was surprised and hurt by criticism he heard from fans when the team failed to win a third straight championship. A witty, outgoing personality, Sertich’s sensitivity and stubbornness caused him to close himself off from the crowds, and he virtually went underground when he sold his house in eastern Duluth and moved up near Island Lake. If Sertich’s tactical ability was beyond question, he also was an excellent, personable recruiter, but he preferred to not be involved in that. And from a P.R. standpoint, Sertich is by far the most witty, unpredictable interview in the WCHA, but he seemed to prefer avoiding such media interviews.
Assistant coaches Jim Knapp and Glenn Kulyk were also his close friends, and were with him throughout his 18 years. Neither is loud and forceful, with Knapp a quiet and skillful developer of individual defensemen, and Kulyk mostly a recruiter. The specialization worked for a long time, with Knapp primarily recruiting Minnesota prospects and Kulyk recruiting in Western Canada.
In the last decade, Knapp became an instructor at UMD and was available less for recruiting, and Kulyk’s favorite Western Canada recruiting ground developed fewer and fewer blue chip Tier II prospects as Major Junior teams started offering scholarships to convince the top Tier II players to move up. The resulting dropoff in talent caused several programs — notably North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver, Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech, along with UMD — to sink in the standings. Colorado College and North Dakota were the first of those to realize that the USHL was developing prospects equal to or better than Western Canada, and they rebounded more quickly and won six straight WCHA titles between them, until this season.
UMD continued to get some exceptional players, but in fewer numbers. Judged on personality and potential, all of the prospects have been winners; evaluated only on production, however, provides a blueprint for struggling. But Sertich never considered altering his staff or even changing the dynamics of it, and admits now that loyalty to his assistants was more important to him that even a move that might have saved his job.
So the new coach must make some mandatory changes to lift the Bulldogs up to a contender. Some of the necessary changes include:
* Cementing relations with area high school programs. Some schools felt a disinterest bordering on indifference from the UMD coaching staff. Teams that came to the DECC for Saturday afternoon games, whether from the Twin Cities or the Iron Range, were never invited to stay for the UMD games that night, a common practice at places like Minnesota.
* Dependence on Western Canada as the primary source for talent must be balanced and blended with the USHL and top high school prospects as the core talent. UMD must become the easy choice, or at least a finalist, in the minds of top regional prospects, whether they are attracted right out of high school or agree to spend a year or two in the USHL after high school.
* Dynamics of the new coaching staff must include high-visibility impact in the area, at high school games, in the media, with boosters, with alumni and with key businessmen and supporters of the program.
* Public relations must become a major entity. UMD’s success in the 1980s made it self-supporting from a P.R. standpoint. That’s changed now, and promotional endeavors must be implemented to win back the departed fan support, to make it routine for UMD hockey games to be the place to spend Friday and Saturday nights.
* DECC the halls by taking advantage of the enormous opportunity for creative ways to enliven a night at the DECC, such as greater emphasis on the pep band and mascot, which once were prominent highlights of every game. The garbage truck replica Zamboni is great, and the between periods bits are fun, but there must be new tricks beyond canned, loud music.
* Television impact is mandatory. Wasn’t it only a couple of years ago that a minimum of 20 UMD hockey games were televised each season, encouraging fans to come to future games, and giving those fans who don’t buy tickets a chance for constant exposure to the product? In the last two years, there have been a half-dozen or fewer UMD games televised, while fans at home have become comfortable watching cable broadcasts of nearly every University of Minnesota game.
* Blueline Club support must be regenerated. With the uniting of all sports support groups under one umbrella, the hope was to let the other sports hook onto the popularity of the Blueline Club. The shift in emphasis, however, has seriously eroded the participation of the hockey followers. Turning your computer to the UMD Web site, for example, you could click onto the Booster Club site and find all sorts of hyperbole about how wonderful the club is, but you had no chance of finding out when or where the next meeting would be.
* Season ticket holders must be recultivated and treated as something special, instead of being taken for granted.
* Last but not least, the new coach must be given the full and genuine support of the administration, staff and student body. When the team does well, it deserves to be applauded by everyone connected with the school. A healthy and well-supported men’s hockey program at UMD benefits all the other sports.
The irony, of course, is if those steps were already in place, there wouldn’t need to be a coaching change. The new regime will need some time, but fans Up North are ready and waiting to be entertained.
New UMD coach needs to make changes to succeed
College hockey has changed over the years, both in concept and impact. Always captivating from a competitive standpoint, the sport that thrived on its simplicity in the early 1970s is now a highly-promoted, fund-raising sports endeavor. That’s particularly true at colleges like UMD, North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver, Michigan Tech, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Mankato, where hockey is the primary sport — the only Division I sports attraction.
At UMD, the changeover in the sport will be underscored by a change in coaching, as Mike Sertich was pressured to resign as his 18th season as UMD’s head coach came to an end. For the incoming coach, it may seem comparatively easy to improve on the last two seasons, when the Bulldogs finished eighth this year with a 15-22 record and ninth a year ago, at 7-27-4. However, the last two years leave a misleading impact. Counting those last two years, Sertich’s teams had an overall winning record, at 350-328-44, for a .515 winning percentage. Without the last two years, Sertich’s record was a glowing 328-279-40, for a .538 winning percentage in his first 16 years, a standard that will be difficult to duplicate in the new millennium.
Sertich’s tenure dates back to a purity of the game, when a coach could be considered outstanding if he was tactically sound and ran a clean program. Sertich excelled because he was a master tactician and student of the game who never tired of studying new training and practice techniques and deploying inventive systems and counter-systems that turned hockey games into something more resembling chess matches. When he had the properly attuned talent, the Bulldogs soared.
However, in the modern era of college hockey, coaches’ tactical abilities account only for about one-third of their work. Another third is recruiting that is close to pampering prospects, and the other third is public relations. A coach who is sharp in P.R. and adequate in recruiting could do well even if only mediocre in his tactical strategies on the ice.
After winning WCHA championships in 1982-83 and 1983-84 — his second and third seasons as head coach — Sertich was surprised and hurt by criticism he heard from fans when the team failed to win a third straight championship. A witty, outgoing personality, Sertich’s sensitivity and stubbornness caused him to close himself off from the crowds, and he virtually went underground when he sold his house in eastern Duluth and moved up near Island Lake. If Sertich’s tactical ability was beyond question, he also was an excellent, personable recruiter, but he preferred to not be involved in that. And from a P.R. standpoint, Sertich is by far the most witty, unpredictable interview in the WCHA, but he seemed to prefer avoiding such media interviews.
Assistant coaches Jim Knapp and Glenn Kulyk were also his close friends, and were with him throughout his 18 years. Neither is loud and forceful, with Knapp a quiet and skillful developer of individual defensemen, and Kulyk mostly a recruiter. The specialization worked for a long time, with Knapp primarily recruiting Minnesota prospects and Kulyk recruiting in Western Canada.
In the last decade, Knapp became an instructor at UMD and was available less for recruiting, and Kulyk’s favorite Western Canada recruiting ground developed fewer and fewer blue chip Tier II prospects as Major Junior teams started offering scholarships to convince the top Tier II players to move up. The resulting dropoff in talent caused several programs — notably North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver, Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech, along with UMD — to sink in the standings. Colorado College and North Dakota were the first of those to realize that the USHL was developing prospects equal to or better than Western Canada, and they rebounded more quickly and won six straight WCHA titles between them, until this season.
UMD continued to get some exceptional players, but in fewer numbers. Judged on personality and potential, all of the prospects have been winners; evaluated only on production, however, provides a blueprint for struggling. But Sertich never considered altering his staff or even changing the dynamics of it, and admits now that loyalty to his assistants was more important to him that even a move that might have saved his job.
So the new coach must make some mandatory changes to lift the Bulldogs up to a contender. Some of the necessary changes include:
* Cementing relations with area high school programs. Some schools felt a disinterest bordering on indifference from the UMD coaching staff. Teams that came to the DECC for Saturday afternoon games, whether from the Twin Cities or the Iron Range, were never invited to stay for the UMD games that night, a common practice at places like Minnesota.
* Dependence on Western Canada as the primary source for talent must be balanced and blended with the USHL and top high school prospects as the core talent. UMD must become the easy choice, or at least a finalist, in the minds of top regional prospects, whether they are attracted right out of high school or agree to spend a year or two in the USHL after high school.
* Dynamics of the new coaching staff must include high-visibility impact in the area, at high school games, in the media, with boosters, with alumni and with key businessmen and supporters of the program.
* Public relations must become a major entity. UMD’s success in the 1980s made it self-supporting from a P.R. standpoint. That’s changed now, and promotional endeavors must be implemented to win back the departed fan support, to make it routine for UMD hockey games to be the place to spend Friday and Saturday nights.
* DECC the halls by taking advantage of the enormous opportunity for creative ways to enliven a night at the DECC, such as greater emphasis on the pep band and mascot, which once were prominent highlights of every game. The garbage truck replica Zamboni is great, and the between periods bits are fun, but there must be new tricks beyond canned, loud music.
* Television impact is mandatory. Wasn’t it only a couple of years ago that a minimum of 20 UMD hockey games were televised each season, encouraging fans to come to future games, and giving those fans who don’t buy tickets a chance for constant exposure to the product? In the last two years, there have been a half-dozen or fewer UMD games televised, while fans at home have become comfortable watching cable broadcasts of nearly every University of Minnesota game.
* Blueline Club support must be regenerated. With the uniting of all sports
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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