2-18-00
To read the complete transcript of the interview CLICK HERE, other wise, continue reading for a recap.
Coach Vaughan has been through a lot on his way to becomming the second winningist coach in the mens hockey program at Colgate. He is the 13th head coach in the programs 80 year history. After coming through the Canadian juniors as a player, he played three seasons at ECAC rival, St. Lawrence. That's also where he began his coaching career as a graduate student. He would serve as an assistant coach at both St. Lawrence and Cornell before joing the Red Raider's in 1992. Coach Vaughan earned the ECAC Coach of the year award last season and has also twice won the Hatman award, given annually to the coach who best displays leadership, spirit and dedication. One of his most outstanding statistics might be his graduation rate. 100% of the players he's had for four year's have graduated. His success at keeping players in the program, and on track academically puts many other Division 1 programs in any sport to shame.
Assistant coach Dickson is himself a graduate of the program. He was a member of the 89-90 NCAA championship runner up team. And he was the team captain his senior year. Following a 6 year professional career, he's rejoined Colgate to focus on the development of the forwards and on recruiting.
The first challenge a team faces is recruiting. Colgate is at a disadvantage due to the fact that we do not offer athletic scholarships, and that we have to take a close look at academics too. Coach Dickson recalls one of his first assignments as a recruiter. "I went to Ottawa and watched a game, I liked 4 guys, but I should have done my homework before the game. Because I could have eliminated three of those guys on my list, because academically, there was no chance. I could have been able to concentrate on others." Coach Vaughan also talked about some of the difficulties of recruiting. "(After we get through the academics) The next step is to see if they are capable, or willing to pay. Becuase we are going head to head with all the scholarship schools, for all of these kids. If you want to compete at this level, you need to attract the kids that other programs are after too... So we've got to find that person who qualifies financially, or is willing to pay, and that's hard to do". But there are some advantages Colgate has in recruiting. Coach Dickson, "The small atmosphere, that seems to attract a lot of prospects that we've signed since I've been here....There are a lot of people who just don't want to go to schools where there are classrooms of 300 people." Coach Vaughan also stressed the academics as well as the atmosphere. "Academically its a great environment, hockey wise we have also established a national reputation. But there's a lot of different reasons, like the members of the general population who decide to come here....there's a real sense of community and family here."
Students who do make the commitment to play hockey here will recieve Colgate's conditioning program, which they are expected to work hard on before the start of thier first season. Coach Vaughan says that most players have worked to get ready for Colgate hockey, and many think they are ready to play here, but once they arrive, they find out that they might not be ready physically. Thats when the players who are already in the program step in to help out the younger group in preparing to play division 1 hockey. But freshman are expected to contribute right away, thats one of the recruiting draws of the program. We keep a very small bench, on any given night, there are only a few players who are not dressed. This means if we recruit you, you will be getting a lot more playing time as a freshman than you might at other schools.
The coach-player relationship is also very important at Colgate. Vaughan stresses that one of the major goals of the program is to not force a system on the players. Vaughan works closely with the players and the captains to see what they need to be a better hockey team. He talks about how we balance off some of our recruit drawbacks with a lot of 1 on 1 instruction and development of the players we do have. Coach Dickson stressed again that we work with the players to bring out their talents. "Coach Vaughan has always recruited the kids he wants for a reason, so don't change, keep your creativity, that's what your all about. We give them a guideline, but it's not a strict regiment, they still come in here and do their thing, thats why they're here.
The development of the total player is one of the things that make Colgate hockey players successful later in life. Former Colgate hockey players invented the game, Trivial Pursuit, two ECAC teams, have Colgate grads as thier head coaches, we've had several graduates become CEO's of major companies, and the General Manager of the New York Islanders is a former Red Raider. Coach Dickson and Vaughan agree that seeing players develop is one of the most rewarding parts oabout coaching. When I mentioned the fact that 9 seniors were graduating this year, Coach Vaughan feels that some of the underclassmen are ready to step up into those leadership roles, mentioning the names of Etienne Morin, Bob Vandersluis, Jason Lefevre and even Brad D'arco of the sophomore class. Vaughan makes sure that there are always enough players with character in the program to lead the team.
One player who did not stay with Colgate for all four years was Erkki Rajamaki. Erkki came to Colgate from Finland, was drafted by the NHL, developed quite well by the end of his freshman year, but then decided not to come back to Colgate to join the pros in his home city. Coach Vaughan expressed his dissapointment in the loss, stating that he was really adjusting well to the United States, he left because the team he grew up watching wanted him to play for them. Coach Dickson agrees "That's why it was such a shock, he had done so well at adjusting to the language, the school, being so far away from home....It would have almost been more acceptable if he had just been really homesick, that's a part of life."
Next year's recruiting class looks very promising. Coach Dickson is very pleased with the class we have coming in after watching them play. Vaughan says they reached their initial goal to recruit 9 players, but there may be one or more two on the way.. "but we're certainly not going to do that just for teh sake of bringing in another body, I mean, if we get a 10th or 11th guy, we want to make sure he fit's into all the things we've talked about before. He's got to be able to contribute to the program.
Scheduling is also a tough topic. This year, Colgate only played two non conference games at home. Coach Vaughan talked about how some of the bigger schools like to stay close to home, or have a lot more leverage in getting games at home. And that he refuses to compromise strength of schedule for more home games. Colgate certainly paid the price for being on the road so much this year. It hurt the fan base, as well as being rough on the team. Coach Vaughan thinks that the team needed a few wins early in the non conference schedule to give the team some confidence on the road and "unfortunatly, that didn't happen this year." Next year we do have some more home games, some of the schools we've been on the road against are coming to town, such as U-Mass Lowell, The University of Omaha, Nebraska is also a likely candidate to be coming into Starr rink next year. Coach Vaughan has also been working with many MACC schools that are rapidly improving, and several of them will be coming to town next year to try to build their reputation. Several other schools have hesitated to schedule MAAC opponents, but Coach Vaughan is open to the developing league "I think it's good for the game". The Red Raider's will also be on the road to begin the season, going to Minnesota for two games.
Moving back to this year, Coach Vaughan is pleased with how the team has continued to work hard throughout the season, even though "There were a lot of times we could have thrown the towel in and looked to next year, we didn't do that." Coach Dickson adds " A lot of people said to me, we're not an 11th place team because of the way we've played this year, and we're not. That's why we're not going to finish in 11th place this year." Vaughan finishes by saying in regards to the teams 4 point weekend at Princeton and Yale "I think we had a little bit of success and some reward for all the hard work. Our intent is to follow that through, build on what we've been doing, and finish strong. If you look at the standings, there's a lot of room for movement, for all the teams."
This season is not over by a longshot, but we still are going to have to battle hard in every game to keep this season going as long as possible. Four the 9 seniors, it might be seen as a bit of a let down following last years success, for the players returning next year, there is a lot of room to step up, and tkae their year at the top of the ladder. The 9 freshman coming in next year will be starting their assent up that ladder. Some will step up right away and start to fill some of the roles left by the departing seniors, some will take some time to adjust. And all during this period, Colgate coaches will be on the road, looking for those few players who possess the skill, charachter, and intelligence to play hockey for Colgate University. They will be given every chance to succed, they will be given all the help they want. But it is their decision to make, it is up to their dedication to make it work. The coaching staff is dedicated to finding those players who would benifit from playing here, Vaughan works hard to make sure all the players uncover their potential. The Colgate hockey tradition is in good hands.
To read the full interview, CLICK HERE
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