Red Berenson Expected To Retire
[Patrick Barron]
Per George Sipple:
BREAKING: @umichhockey coach Red Berenson will address team at 3 p.m. Expectation is he will step down.
— George Sipple (@GeorgeSipple) April 10, 2017
Berenson is synonymous with Michigan hockey and at some point they should play in Berenson Ice Arena. But after missing the tourney four times in five years and having a very bad team this year despite a reasonable modicum of talent, it is time for a change.
Assuming this does not take a 180 in the next half hour we'll have a post about candidates to replace Red; a fuller appreciation is going to take longer to put together.
Thank you for everything Red. You are Michigan hockey in so many ways. Sad that it's the end of an era, but it's time.
Excited for the next chapter of Michigan hockey.
No doubt a difficult 'decision' for Red. But this is undoubtly the right time.
Time to find the hockey Harbaugh - nine national titles should mean something.
Red was hockey Harbaugh before Harbaugh was footballl Harbaugh. You could say Harbaugh was our football Red.
Exactly. There are plenty of good candidates but it's not like anyone is going to fill Red's shoes. There is no one of that caliber out there. That said, I look forward to some new ideas and the program definitely needed a new spark.
Thanks to Red for all that he did for the program. Great player, great coach, great ambassador for the game. I had the great fortune of really becoming a fan in 1988 during my freshman year and watching the program get stronger and stronger throughout the years. What a great ride it has been.
The program cratered when Mel Pearson left. I think if they hire Pearson you'll see an immediate improvement.
Still. Wow.
I'm a fan of "Red Berenson Rink at Yost Ice Arena"
he wasn't hockey. Red is hockey.
Just rename it Red Berenson Ice Arena. The man has earned it.
Yeah, but they weren't going to name the football stadium after Yost (AND THEY BETTER NEVER TRY TO NAME IT AFTER ANYONE ELSE EITHER!!).
Oh come on, the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Coach Jim Harbaugh Field(ing Yost) at the Big House just has a special ring to it.
I hate you with every fiber of my being for putting that out into the universe. He didn't mean it, universe! Nothing to see here.
But Yost was Michigan Athletics. In fact, the start of the athletic campus. Yost Field House was the first field house on a college campus.
https://www.amazon.com/Big-House-Fielding-Building-Michigan/dp/1932399119
Read this book. You can't rename Yost.
Red Berenson Rink or something, but it's Yost. Was before hockey, and still is. It'll always be Yost. Red is great, but, no.
We love you as a coach and as a leader. You will always be what we aspire to. Stick around in a different role and continue to help us build for the future.
Brian Cook is one of the most powerful people in Michigan Athletics.
As is WD.
Just a matter of time before he references himself in one of his super guides.
/s
This wasn't exactly going out on a limb.
I demand that the sun rises in the east tomorrow! Does that prove how powerful I am?
Ask it to rise at a time the sun doesnt want to rise at....say around 9:00pm....and if you're successfull I'd say yes - that DEFINITELY proves how powerful you are.
Pretty sure Red didnt want to go. Not sure whether it was Brian, Warde both or neither that changed his mind but something apparently did.
I wish him well and am deeply appreciative of everything Red did for Michigan hockey through the years. And put me in the Berenson arena camp - has a nice ring to it.
Dude. One gets paid big money by the university to make sport-related personnel decisions. One is a sports blogger. Tap the brakes, man.
Are you just going to dig this hole deeper?
From my own vantage point, Red changed his mind either because (a) Warde made it clear to him that a change was going to be made, and Red could either retire somewhat gracefully or be fired; or (b) Red went through WD's posts since the start of hockey season and was convinced he needed to step away for the good of the program.
Right now I am leaning more towards (a).
Warde is still gutless because there were no night games or that he did not go on national TV to complain about the OSU game.
"I can call spirits from the vasty deep."
"Why, so can I, as can any man. But will they come when you do call for them?"
Red Berenson has dominated Michigan hockey for longer than this blob has existed. I hope we transition well. Ave Ataque Vale, Coach.
Not sure whether it was Brian, Warde both or neither
don't want to heap too much praise on Warde- might get to his head eh?
Nice tact
Congratulations to Red on a fantastic career. Thanks to him for the many years of service, the many wins and championships, and all the great memories.
April 11th, 2017 at 10:40 AM ^
I'm not the college hockey fan that others are here, but I was on campus when Red took the helm and I'm proud of the program he built. He's a Michigan Man who earned the right to a dignified transition. Let's hope that is what's happening.
Thanks for everything Red
Michael Jordan came back, dude. Twice.
April 11th, 2017 at 11:38 AM ^
Any game Michael Jordan played in a non-Bulls uniform is non-canon. My last memory of MJ in the NBA was him sinking the series winner in Utah.
Red Berenson has been the coach at Michigan since I was a year old. We started going to games at Yost when I was too young to remember, and had season tickets throughout my childhood. I owe a lot of my memories to Red Berenson. It was definitely time, but it still feels sureal that he'll no longer be the coach.
And with that, for me, the 90's are over.
The end of the Spice Girls didn't do that for you?
Red is Michigan hockey. Sad to see him go, but it's the right time.
So it sounds like the athletic department is falling into this blog's favorite nonsense pathology that only a Michigan Man(tm) could ever coach in A2.
The hockey program is incredibly different than most of the others--there actually are slam-dunk candidates. It's far more of a closely-knit, but not incestuous family, by virtue of the way hockey tends to work.
Sorry, I meant "this blog's favorite" sarcastically. I'm aware that Brian and others have been proponents of looking beyond guys with M ties both here and in other coaching searches dating at least back to hiring Hoke.
When Mel Pearson left the hockey program cratered (left in 2011) in 2012 we missed the tourney for the first time since 1990! :
MTU record before mel:
| 1982–85 | Jim Nahrgang* | 3 | 56–62–3 | .475 |
| 1985–90 | Herb Boxer* | 5 | 66–129–8 | .345 |
| 1990–92 | Newell Brown | 2 | 29–47–4 | .388 |
| 1992–96 | Bob Mancini | 4 | 63–80–20 | .448 |
| 1996–2000 | Tim Watters* | 5 | 39–116–9 | .265 |
| 2000–03 | Mike Sertich | 3 | 25–69–9 | .286 |
| 2003–11 | Jamie Russell* | 8 | 70–197–37 | .291 |
| 2011–present | Mel Pearson* | 6 | 118–92–29 | .554 |
Mel Pearson is the Jim Harbaugh coaching equivalent for hockey. Absolute slam dunk hire.
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