Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:This is a really interesting development. Obviously, being an assistant in the NHL is a big promotion. With that said, why now? From what I am told, Brown is financially well-off. He has numerous NHL connections and contacts and he could have been in the position years ago if he had wanted it. I would be willing to concede that it is entirely possible that because he was financially secure he was willing to collect a salary at the alma mater, learn the finer points of coaching from the greatest college coach of all time and put himself into the front runner position for the best job in college hockey while spending most of his time at home while his kids grew up and now that they are on their way to college he is happy to jump up to the NHL, coaching for a marquee franchise, with a childhood buddy, with a roster where key guys have played for him and like him a lot (not just Kreider, Hayes or Carey, he has apparently worked very well with Skjei on a WJ team as well). With that said, he put 14 years into BC. He was the Associate Head Coach and the heir apparent to Jerry’s job in three or four years. He is, from all accounts a skilled teacher of the game and a skilled tactician (an NHL guy I respect a lot called him a “power play guru”). He also has presided over an absolute recruiting debacle the last few years since Coach Cav’s departure, which has resulted in the worst couple of years of BC hockey since the mid-90s. I have to wonder if BC watched Quinn and O’Connell eat his lunch recruiting for the last couple of years and told him he’d never sit on the throne. I wonder if Buck comes home if it means that Cav, who has done a great job with UCONN is the heir apparent.
One thing is clear. In promoting O’Connell, BU will have excellent recruiting for the foreseeable future. O’Connell is a wizard in that regard—it remains to be seen if he can coach at all (my guess is he is Quinn Part Deux, which is not a compliment). BC is going to need someone who not only knows how to recruit but also knows how to assemble the chess pieces on the board. Cav seems to have that.
And Denehy aint coming. Billy Guerin gave him the Wheeling job, so he is in the Pittsburg organization for now. With Brown reportedly moving on, it appears the heir will not be one of Lenny’s boys. Probably or the best—while everyone should love Lenny, the program under him was David Quinn like in the way it underachieved with oodles of talent and also allowed for low character guys (looking at you Steve Heinze).
What’s to keep Brown from coming back in 3-4 years?
Now that they’ve gotten over the mass departures, it appears that they’ve recovered on the recruiting front. Brown has to get some credit if the new players turn out well. Who else has been doing most of the recruiting?
Heinze seemed like a good guy, what’s up there? Something related to the happenings at MA’s?