• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

The Wisconsin State Journal Andy Baggot Column: No Doubt Richter Was Right

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 April 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Andy Baggot, The Wisconsin State Journal

Apr. 5--It wasn't the most controversial decision Pat Richter made during his tenure as University of Wisconsin athletic director, but it's in the top two for sure.

In March 2002, Richter hired Mike Eaves as UW men's hockey coach and immediately created a seismic shift in the emotional plates beneath the storied program.

On the public fuss scale, it ranks behind the Richter's decision to eliminate baseball and just ahead of personnel moves involving Brad Soderberg, Bo Ryan and Jim Launder.

Many Badgers fans and former players assumed Richter would stay in-house and hire Mark Johnson, the Olympic legend whose pioneering father put three of the five NCAA championship trophies in the school's display case.

To this day, some still have their shorts in a bundle over the belief that Richter didn't pick the right iconic former UW All-America center to guide the program back to national prominence.

Say what you want, think what you want, but it's almost impossible to argue with the decisions Richter made.

The Badgers are in their first NCAA Frozen Four since 1992 because of the plan Eaves brought, the lessons he taught and the culture he created.

Johnson, meanwhile, has imposed his classy, innovative will on the women's team, bringing home the first national title in UW history last month.

No school has ever swept the NCAA hockey championships in the same season. That possibility exists for UW because of the decisions Richter made four years ago.

Of all the coaches he landed up to that point, Richter would tell you that Eaves was the surest thing.

Think about that for a second. Richter hired Barry Alvarez, who took the Badgers football program out of the dumpster and won three Big Ten Conference titles and three Rose Bowls.

Richter hired Dick Bennett, who guided the UW men's basketball team to the NCAA Final Four. Richter hired Bo Ryan, who has won three Big Ten crowns in men's basketball, including consecutive regular-season championships.

"I thought the other guys would be very good and we'd be successful," Richter said, "but (Eaves) was probably the one that you had to worry about the least in terms of if it was going to get back on track."

That assessment is based on the fact that a championship tradition, modern facilities and high expectations were already in place for Eaves. That was not the case for Alvarez, Bennett or Ryan.

Richter said Eaves offered the best mix of personality, intensity, loyalty and all-around exposure to hockey.

Eaves was a great college player who was good enough to last eight seasons in the NHL. He subsequently coached at the high school, small college and pro levels in the U.S. and Europe.

Eaves also was returning to his alma mater, which made him "a guy who did not want to disappoint a lot of people that know him," Richter said.

There is no getting around the fact that Eaves made some early mistakes -- the Alex Leavitt incident tops the list -- and had some important lessons to learn about how things work at the major college level.

But Eaves has adapted and justified the faith Richter showed in him four years ago.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Wisconsin State Journal

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Wisconsin State Journal

More News in this Category