M Hockey @ WMU Saturday Open Thread

I think it's fairly obvious.  First, he's too good a coach for one of his teams to be this consistently bad if they're paying any attention at all.  Second, for the first time, really ever, Red has moments when he looks old out there.  Sometimes a coach and his team just don't click.  It doesn't make that coach a bad coach, it doesn't even always make that team a bad team.  Heck, I don't know that Rick Comley ever didn't lose a team, his NCAA title run in 2007 with State, the team admitted they didn't pay any attention to him at all.  I highly doubt that vintage, mid-90's Red would be having any more success with this team than he is right now (mostly becuase I don't think he's changed all that much).

Jeff Jackson at Notre Dame doesn't stack up that poorly against Red.  He has rings galore, he coaches (now) at a brand name school, he has all the talent in the world at his disposal.  He's missed the tournament, I think twice, in the last five years, with seasons that, while not quite as bad as Michigan's now, were still dismal.  By his standard proven by his resume as a coach and by whatever mythical bar you want to set for Notre Dame on name alone.  In between those years (during which they were expected to challenge for a title), they've challenged for national titles, some when they weren't supposed to and they're very much in the running this year.  Next year, who knows?

I'm sorry you don't think 4 tournament berths, a championship game, a CCHA regular season title and a CCHA tournament title, 3 GLI titles and 109 wins, all in the last four years, still the most alumni in the NHL of any school and continuing to recruit at an elite level is good enough for Michigan.  The rest of us do.   That, not to mention his other feats, or that we believe he still very well may go out with yet another national title, is why we still support Red  .