Brandon Naurato - Should the Interim hockey coach tag be removed?

I read a quality MLive article about Brandon Naurato and it has me wondering (again): should the interim hockey coach tag be removed? I get the whole waiting for the season to end idea, but isn't rehiring inevitable at this point?  I mean, isn't the team already meeting lofty expectations of optimists, and exceeding the expectations of pessimists? 

I think the decision to hire Naurato for a coaching contract should be 1) based on the culture he instilled with the program, 2) success on the ice, 3) recruiting, and 4) potential. I'll give my unqualified fan opinions on each and am curious what others think.

Culture

With less than 2 months before the team practices, Naurato was hired as interim coach following the too-prolonged Mel drama. Quickly, Naurato took the reins, minimized any extra damage by keeping the team intact by avoiding a MSU-like flight after Danton Cole was fired last year, and seems to have flipped Mel's win-at-all-costs culture into a team focused / player development culture. Thankfully, the residual effect of a team focused culture is winning - which leads to the next point.

Success on the ice

After the MSU series, this team has a lock on the tournament, they are third in pairwise and second in the B1G10, and the rest of the season is all about seeding. They succeeded despite:

- Firing their awful coach months before the season started.

- Losing the talent of Beniers, Blankenberg, Bordeleau, Brisson, Beecher and even some guys whose last names don't start with "B" like Power, GVW, Pastujov, and Morgan. I don't know the exact number, but this was an astounding 70% of their scoring... Note that this was ALL of their centers as well and only two natural centers were coming in: Adam Fantilli and Frank Nazar (and Nazar just played his first game 6 days ago).

- Having 12 incoming Freshmen and the youngest team in college hockey.

- Being in the strongest conference in college hockey (move over NCHC) AND having arguably the toughest schedule (albeit playing LSSU and Lindenwood didn't help that). 

- Seemingly unending injuries beginning with first rounder Frank Nazar's lower body injury that kept him out of the lineup until February, a spat of illnesses during the first PSU and Minnesota series (it was good to see Westie in net and our freshman goalie Shea sit in the penalty box though), losing Fantilli to WJC Canada training camp and for other games, and losing many players to injury illness throughout. Only Brindley, Duke, and Luke Hughes have played every game. To put that into perspective, our main contenders in our conference - Ohio and Minnesota - each have 12 players that played every game. For Michigan, it's been all hands on deck all season where there have been no games where we had every starter playing. 

- Penalties. They are the most penalized team that is not RIT and the Wolverines are the only team that is skilled with so many penalties. Usually, puck possession teams draw penalties, not take them... There's not much to say except the trips to the box, including 5 minute majors, have been a HUGE problem. 

- Portillo forgetting how to track pucks, catch pucks, kill plays, or reduce rebounds... I expected Portillo, Perets, Levi, and Dobes to be battling for the Richter award, and Portillos has been lacking. 

Recruiting

In terms of recruiting, Naurato has done a fair job bringing in a quality 19 year old center from the Chicago Steel in Moldenhauer (2nd round draft pick) and maintaining previous recruits. Bringing in Park, Hage, and Epperson (2006 birth years) for the 24-25 season show that he is able to secure talent for the program's future, even with the interim tag. At this point, assuming that A. Fantilli (who may stay, who knows...), Samoskevich, L. Hughes, and Moyle leave. And assuming that Ciccolini, Keranen, Pehrson forgo their 5th year under the COVID-19 rules that allow players to play one extra graduate student year, the team still looks pretty solid for 2023-23. This also assumes that other Sophomore phenoms stay and recruits stay intact. The lines could go like this and I must say, this would be a solid team:

Forwards:

McGroarty - Nazar - Brindley 

Duke - Moldenhauer - Hallum

Estapa - T.J. Hughes - Burchill

Cerbone - Schifsky - Lapointe 

Reserves: Cerrato, Nicholas, Rowe, Draper

 

Defence:

Casey - Truscott

Edwards - Holtz

Driskinis - L. Fantilli

Reserves: Miles Wilson

Potential

Anyone who has listened to Narrator's interviews (google Naurato's conversations on the Hockey Think Tank) or know folks who know him, recognize that he is a guru of the game. He tries to simulate high pressure, game-like situations in practice and during warmups. He made solid hires bringing well connected and experienced staff in Rob Rassey and Topher Scott. He brought on college hockey's first Director of Analytics (and my long time friend - lol) Anthony Ciatti onto the staff. This is epic, emulates what NHL teams are doing, and the dividends will pay in terms of game to game strategies as well as in recruiting. My only armchair fan gripes about Naurato are small and are things he will learn, notably learning how to challenge 5 minute majors and keep his team from having too many players on the ice... 

Lastly, as a champion player at Michigan, Brandon Naurato is the Michigan man the program needs. Sure, there are other great coaches out there (Scott Sandelin, Rand Pecknold, Bob Motzko, Ted Donato), but would I take any of them over a Michigan man, with potential, and with the now proven ability to steer a young team to success during a tumultuous year, in the NCAA's toughest conference with arguably the toughest schedule, and after the Mel debacle??? 

So, what do y'all think? And Beat OSU!