Doc’s future with Alaska hockey team in question
Published Wednesday, April 9, 2008
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Stumble It!The Alaska Nanooks may be changing hockey head coaches for the second time in a year, as the future status of Doc DelCastillo seems to be up in the air following his first season with the Central Collegiate Hockey Association program.
Jake Poole, University of Alaska Fairbanks vice chancellor for university advancement, in a telephone interview Tuesday night, said DelCastillo was still employed by the university and he was still the Nanooks head coach as of Tuesday.
He also said, “To be honest with you, we’re talking about all the different options, so nothing has been decided. So, we’re waiting to talk some more with Doc over the next couple of days. This is the time of year that we’re talking to everybody.
“We’re going to figure out if there’s going to be a continuation or an extension.”
The 39-year-old DelCastillo, who didn’t return a call from the News-Miner, was an assistant coach at Nebraska-Omaha, Alaska’s rivalry partner in the CCHA, before he was named the Nanooks head coach June 7, replacing Tavis MacMillan, who resigned after three seasons as head coach.
If DelCastillo is not retained, it will mark the second time in a week that UAF finds itself seeking a head coach after Lynne Andrew confirmed her resignation as the women’s head basketball coach Thursday.
It would also mark only the second time in the Division I hockey program’s history that a head coach lasted one season. The other time was in Alaska’s first season of 1979-80, when Tim Waggoner compiled a 3-10-0 mark.
In DelCastillo’s first season, the Nanooks finished 9-21-5 overall and 8-16-4 in conference play for ninth place in the 12-team league. Alaska’s season ended on March 9 with a 2-1 triple-overtime loss to Nebraska-Omaha in the deciding game of a best-of-three, first-round playoff series in Omaha.
The 2007-08 season had its ups and downs for the Nanooks.
Among the ups was a 3-0 upset last Dec. 7 at then No. 1-ranked Miami (Ohio); the fewest penalty minutes in the CCHA (12.3 per game in 28 conference games) and junior defenseman Tyler Eckford receiving an All-CCHA First Team recognition and the league’s Best Offensive Defenseman of the Year Award.
Eckford recently signed a contract with the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils.
Among the downs was Alaska averaging 2.18 goals per game, tying for 10th in the CCHA with Ohio State and four underclassmen leaving during and after the season. Two of the biggest departures, both after the season, were freshmen — wing Landon Novotney, who led Alaska with 16 goals, and defenseman Jeff Penner, who signed a contract with the NHL’s Boston Bruins. Both were CCHA All-Rookie Team honorable-mention selections.
Community Discussion
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what is going on up at the university that all of the coaches in recent memory have been jumping out like rats on a sinking ship?
You have to give him at least 3 years to make the program his and see how he does. Looking to remove him after 1 season is ridiculous. Give the man a chance. Looking to remove him is a local area knee jerk over reaction.
seems like a "knee jerk" reaction. Wonder what's up. And now they're looking for another Chancellor? hmmmm......
Doc seems like a pretty good recruiter, I do not know why the U would want him to leave. I would like to think with all of the incoming talent over the next few seasons the Nooks would have a pretty descent chance in the CCHA, in the very near future. Being in Montana I did not get a chance to see the Nooks play this past season, but from looking at box scores, maybe they need to change their style of play and do more of what Gadowsky did and play the run and gun style. They finally have a good Non-Conference schedule lined up for 08-09, and it would be a shame to go through that with yet another new head coach.
The problem is that UAF doesn't put the effort into their athletics programs in order to attract the top-flight talent needed to win on a regular basis. You need excellent facilities, trainers, and coaches who have professional connections.
Quick, kidnap Dean Blais from Columbus, OH and force him to coach the Nanooks! See if he wants to be the UAF Chancellor as well.
Hey, I can dream, can't I?
But as an earlier comment noted, it's going to be hard to get a 1st-tier coach to Fairbanks given how the UAF facilities compare (or don't compare) to those of UND, BC, Wisconsin, etc., and that's just the sad reality.
I've known Doc for several years and he is one heck of a coach. He is no nonsense and some players cannot handle that. He walked into a team that was in the process of rebuilding after losing some quality players and I think he did pretty darn well with what he had. Doc is a team builder and it is going to take more than one year to get that done. To even consider not extending his contract is ridiculous. He brings not only a quality hockey program to UAF but also a quality family to the community of Fairbanks. In my opinion they should just stop wasting their time on this decision...keep Doc and sit back and see what this fine coach can do with this program in three years!
The problem is Doc is over recruiting. He has enough players coming in the next two years to field an entire team. The current players (and incoming ones too for that matter) can see the writing on the wall. Another Dean Talafous if you ask me, and Fairbanks would be wise to cut the strings now rather than let him bring down the program like Talafous did in Anchorage.
Certainly UAF has lost quite a number of excellent players under Doc, not the least of which was Landon Novotney - the highest scorer and only a freshman! We should have gotten a lot more out of that kid. Some folks say that Doc is very negative with the players - I can't speak to that but it should be investigated. I, personally, wasn't concerned with the Nanook's record given that the program is rebuilding. I am not, however, going to support a coach who is downright unfair and mean to his players. I'd like to know more.
There's a lot more to a good coach than a win/loss record. I've had some coaches in the past that took teams to something like eight championships in 10 years, doesn't mean they did a damn for bettering me or my teammates.
Tough to find another gadowski, but I think tavis was a fine head coach.
Doc should go. Tavis needed to go. Gadowsky should have stayed. We lost too many good players this year, which says something about the coaching staff. Doc didn't play the players he needed to, heck even Tavis rotated his players better than Doc. Rymut and Jones saw hardly any playing time this season. Jones was great his freshman season. Rymut could be great. Novotney just up and left, a great player like that on a free ride to college has to obviously hate more than the town to just up and leave and give up the opportunity he was given. A great coach knows how to produce a winning team. Gadowsky turned his team around in one season, after his first year he did better and better every season. Heck he got Princeton, a team that doesn't even give out scholarships, to the NCAA tourney. Tavis got worse and worse. I will give Doc one more season if he decides to stay around, but if next season is like his first, he needs to go. We need a coach who knows when to rotate the players and goalies at the right time, he played Wylie to the point of exhaustion, and needs to give certain players time to click with their line mates instead of switching it up when they have one bad period or game. I'd love to see a change though.
"UAF is a glorified community college now"? Yeah, not so much Valari, they have some strong programs that definitely get respect Outside.
I pity the poor coach who takes over. 33 players next year with the current and incoming. More are getting the axe, and whoever the new coach is will be starting off on the wrong foot and making many people mad. And it won't even be his fault, it's Yoda's fault.
I don't know what's going on up there on "the hill", but I sure would like to know! Maybe we need a new Athletic Director! It seems the coaches for all the programs have been coming and going as frequently as the athletes are! What's up with that? As an alum and "hardcore 'Nooks fan", I'd like to see some consistency, some dependability, and most definitely, SOME DAMN WINNING! The only winning going on is the rifle team, but who really watches that?! Let's get this mess straightened out build something special that Fairbanksans can be proud of!
This is for anyone who has previously made a comment...First of all, things are not always as they seem. The people at the department of athletics up on "the hill" know what needs to be done and would do anything for their athletes. Their decisions are made with the best intentions for the athletes in mind. Situations happen and they are not always easy to deal with. On that same note, I'd like to add that our current Athletic Director Forrest Karr is by far one of the smartest people I've ever met and is working long hours trying to make this all right, not for himself, but for all of us...the community of Fairbanks as a whole. I ask all community members invested in UAF athletics to pull their energy together to support everyone at the Department and help build programs up.
KEEP DOC! You have to give a new coach a chance to build a team. When Gadowsky came in he axed penlty of players, LOCAL players too. But it was part of his strategy to building a winning team. I think it is a shame that these players whine about a coach who is mean to them. GROW UP! This is a D1 level program. Coaches don't always have to be nice, they are here to get you to perform. Hockey is a rough world on the inside, players don't get to a D1 program only to complain that the coach uses bad words or yells too much. I worry about this generation of pre-madonna players who think they are such great players they can control a program by complaining to administration and tattling on their coach like little school girls! This administration hired Doc with the faith that he can build a great program. The administration need to give him a chance to do that.
Have any of you considered that this has nothing to do with winning? There is something else going on, so maybe you all should stop putting in your "expert advice" about how to play college athletics and why they should keep Doc, until you hear the full story.
jennie...its different when they whine about a coach being mean compared to hating the coach but respecting him. None of these players respected him.
sniper, Forrest needs to get the boot. He doesn't know how to run an athletic department. I mean come on they are gonna have to raise ticket prices AGAIN and put a fee in to tuition at the U just to cover the debt they have accrued. Granted its important to improve the program and the price raise could be good, but it's not really gonna make the program better it's just to cover the debt the department has now.
Also another reason why I think its hard to hold on to coaches is the pay. Most colleges pay their coaches more than the professors and really if you want a winning team, you gotta raise the salary to attract a coach who knows what he's doing.
Anyways, can't wait to see who they will come up for a coach for next season.
AKHockeyFan,
It's not necessarily Forrest's fault that he came into a department that already had upwards of $500,000 in debt and that when he got here, the University suddenly stopped "forgiving" that debt year after year. On top of that, travel has skyrocketed, and the previous administration's deals with the GNAC and CCHA require UAF to pay not only for outgoing travel, but for teams to come play in Fairbanks as well.
As a student, I can say that more fees is going to suck, and there's probably a better plan than the one that's going to be put in place, but don't blame just the current administration for years of building problems.
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