Penn State: Light in the Darkness

It's hard to get past it in hindsight.

At the press conference in State College, PA that began the shake-up of the college hockey universe on September 17, 2010, the benefactors of varsity hockey at Penn State, Kim and Terry Pegula, sat flanked by two individuals for whom it made perfect sense to be there - athletic director Tim Curley and university president Graham Spanier. Both men discussed the excitement they felt to be making a step forward, bringing big time college hockey to a sixth Big Ten campus in two years' time.

Fast forward almost two years. Watching the announcement now, knowing the secret both men had been hiding for over a decade, and the impact isn't quite the same. Now, with Spanier fired, Curley on a leave of absence and under indictment, and the school's premier athletic program under a crippling sanction announced earlier this week by the NCAA and the Big Ten, varsity hockey at Penn State will take the ice for the first time in three months under a cloud of shame that now hangs over the entire school.

And the school itself may not yet be out of the woods. As former NCAA.org blogger John Infante says, Penn State may yet be subject to sanction by the federal Department of Education for violations of the Clery Act, which requires schools receiving federal financial aid to publicly report any crime on or near campus. The potential penalties include significant fines or even a prohibition from receiving federal aid, a move which would be akin to a "death penalty" for the entire school.

Could the Penn State scandal have an impact on college hockey? Some have asked if the harsh sanctions applied to the school's cash cow athletic program could produce problems for its 28 other varsity programs, potentially including the new kinds on the block in men's and women's hockey. The short answer, at least as it pertains to hockey, is: probably not. Hockey in Happy Valley is fortunate to be the child of private investment, for both scholarships and new facilities. Construction continues unabated on Pegula Ice Arena, which is slated to be done in about a year, just in time for the start of the hockey version of the Big Ten. The only real fallout from the NCAA sanctions (and the scandal itself) is how potential recruits view the school's reputation in the future.

The only thing hockey fans would have to fear is that "death penalty" from the federal government - an occurrence that would potentially undermine the school in a fundamental manner to make athletics there very difficult to maintain in any real capacity. That would probably lead to some very intense pressure by the other Big Ten schools on fellow conference institutions without varsity hockey due to the irreparable destruction of existing hockey conference bonds making status quo ante bellum highly unlikely (no fewer than 19 programs are slated to change conferences next year).

Honestly, though, it's not even worth pondering that scenario for a couple of reasons. First, it's more frequently an exercise left to those who continue to resent Penn State for helping to alter the college hockey landscape that people had gotten used to; really, those resistant to change. Second, Penn State is likely "too big to fail," as Infante said of them, and it's unlikely the government would intentionally cripple such a large school, putting literally tens of thousands of students' academic careers into chaos.

I prefer to turn the question on its head. Perhaps college hockey can have an impact on the Penn State scandal.

There's no doubt that Penn State is enduring the darkest moments in its 157-year history. Powerful people at the school chose to look the other way while a monster committed unspeakable crimes against the most innocent members of society. Those people have now been removed, responsible parties punished or on their way to punishment, and the program which benefited most from the cover-up has been set back at least five years, and likely well over a decade.

But hockey is a unique sport. It's quite niche, given the fact that the usual east/west split is the Ohio/Pennsylvania border rather than the Mississippi River, and the fact that Alabama-Huntsville continues to be viewed as something of an oddity. Small schools regularly compete with large schools, and sometimes, they even win. And above all, it can be akin to a family, something which anyone who's been to even one Frozen Four can attest. Scholarship scandals tend to be on the rare side, and sanctions are unusual - only two Division I programs have ever had to vacate Frozen Four appearances, and none since 1992.

So we think back to that day two years ago when Penn State and the rest of the college hockey world was excited for varsity hockey in State College, a place that had already proven itself with rabid support for a club program and represented the first major university coming into the sport in decades. Look past the guilty parties that were part of that announcement and see through to the promise of a brighter future for a place in need of some serious healing. Consider Guy Gadowsky, the man who made Princeton hockey relevant again, who always brings to town a team that plays a style that's fun to watch.

Penn State comes to the Capital District in late November to take on Union, right after Thanksgiving. RPI has that weekend off. Let's head up Route 7, welcome college hockey's newest kids on the block, and hope and pray that the potential for excellence on the ice in central Pennsylvania can be the start of a new and positive chapter for a once-great institution that lost its way.

And, while you're thinking about Penn State, why not surf on over to Thank You Terry, a Penn State hockey blog worth bookmarking. Headed up by the very well written Kyle Rossi, if you've got any misgivings about Penn State's hockey future, you'll be sure to lose them by checking out his excellent advocacy.

New Kids on the Block?

One of the more popular pastimes among college hockey watchers even before the conference shuffle of last season has always been the speculation on new programs. In the last ten seasons, we've seen just three new programs come along - Robert Morris started from scratch, RIT moved up from D-III, and now Penn State is elevating its club program.

Penn State was, of course, one of the most common rumors in this psuedoscientific field. We constantly hear rumors of new programs at Navy, Syracuse, and Rhode Island. We hear of interest that later comes to nothing at Lindenwood, Kennesaw State, Liberty, and Missouri-St. Louis. That's not to say that there aren't possible new programs just on the horizon - in fact, with all the changes taking place, we may well see new programs. Here are the five schools with the most buzz at the moment.

MSU-Moorhead: The hottest item out there right now is one of seven four-year institutions in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (MnSCU), six of whom compete in Division II athletics in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Of those six, three - Bemidji State, Minnesota State, and St. Cloud State - already compete in D-I hockey. The Dragons have been making noise in recent years about seeking to join their MnSCU brethren as Fargo-Moorhead's college team, but it wasn't until this summer that things started to get serious. The school is putting together a funding drive and has an active goal of starting a program in 2013 when the new alignments begin. With Bemidji and Mankato as part of the new WCHA's core and the new league in need of a 10th member, the Dragons would be a solid fit - the major question is whether they can secure the funding in time for the first season of the new and not-so-improved WCHA.

Illinois: With the advent of the Big Ten, there are suddenly six new schools with a custom made conference to join if they start a varsity hockey program and, much like Columbia and Penn to the Ivy League, you can expect non-stop speculation on which one will be the next one on board. It's not a great deal to go on, but Let's Play Hockey, a noteworthy publication on high school, junior, and college hockey in Minnesota tweeted in December that the founder of Jimmy John's (the sub shop chain) is considering funding a transition from club hockey to D-I. The Fighting Illini (uh oh) won national club championships in 2005 and 2008 and were runners-up in 2009. With six-time champions Penn State making the plunge starting next season (and they should add a 7th this year), Illinois does become the most successful remaining Big Ten club program out there and a possibly logical seventh member.

Wisconsin-Green Bay: The Phoenix have an interesting position in the UW system. The system has two research universities, the flagship in Madison and the school in Milwaukee. Then there are 11 other comprehensive universities around the state - 9 of which are Division III schools (5 with hockey), and 1 of which is Division II. Green Bay stands alone in D-I. As we saw last year, there's a vibrant enough hockey community in Green Bay for the move to work and a built in place to play at the Resch Center. The WCHA is reportedly hoping to lure the Phoenix into the D-I ranks, a move that would place the league back in the familiar territory of the Badger State and help link the Minnesota teams more to the new batch of programs joining from the Great Lakes region.

Iowa State: The Cyclones, much like Illinois, are a top-end athletic school (they make their home in the Big 12) with a better than average club program. ISU won the national club championship in 1992 and reached the national championship in 1990, 1996, 1997, and 2010. Iowa is a unique place to explore expansion of college hockey, especially since the state makes up the heart of the NCAA's top feeder system, the USHL (five teams call the Hawkeye State home). The WCHA is rumored to be interested in ISU just as they are apparently interested in Green Bay, but ISU could well draw attention from the NCHC as well if they start making strides toward D-I hockey. They would be one of only two D-I level schools in the WCHA, while they would at least be with two other FBS schools in the higher-profile NCHC.

Buffalo: The Bulls make a third FBS school on this listing, which could bode well for future expansion of college hockey (although adding a bunch of big names could spell trouble for the smaller schools). UB, you will recall, was the wet dream of The Buffalo News' Bucky Gleason a couple of years back, and while we ripped on his overenthusiastic approach, we agreed with the basic premise that the Buffalo area was ripe for college hockey expansion. UB was primarily mentioned this past summer as a possible player in the talks to save the CCHA from extinction. With that possibility now off the table, it's hard to see where Buffalo fits in unless they help take the lead on the formation of a new league, possibly comprised of the Atlantic Hockey schools of western New York and Pennsylvania. Rumor had it that Terry Pegula, owner of the Buffalo Sabres and Penn State's benefactor, was willing to front the money at UB as well to give the Sabres a new practice facility and the Bulls a program of their own.

The Big Ten Tsunami Watch

We've talked about the Big Ten rather obliquely off and on for the last year or so here at Without a Peer. First, we hinted that Penn State might be joining the Division I family. Then it happened. Then we told you to watch out that Seth Appert didn't slip out of town to become their coach. RPI locked him up for most of the rest of the decade (not that we're taking credit for that, of course).

The bottom line on the Big Ten, at least from the perspective of a well-established hockey program with a long history, right here and now in the summer of 2011, is that we, along with the entire college hockey world, needs to be ready for radical changes in the landscape not seen since the near-simultaneous formations of the ECAC and the WCHA in the early 1960s a half-century ago.

The most immediate changes, it must be underlined, probably won't be felt in Troy, not right away at least. The formation of the Big Ten hockey conference has the most immediate impact on the western leagues, where the existing five Big Ten hockey schools currently play: Minnesota and Wisconsin in the WCHA, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State in the CCHA.

The WCHA will take a hit losing the Gophers and Badgers, to be sure, but they seem to be in a good position to weather the storm of the Big Ten, in part considering their overall strength, but also due to the rich history within: the remaining 10 teams have won a combined 20 NCAA championships (26 if you want to be a stickler and count Bemidji State's six crowns from D-II and D-III). They'll lose a bit of prestige with a pair of big time schools with 11 combined titles of their own, but they could manage. The WCHA survived for years with 10 teams, they could do it again.

The true question comes from the CCHA, which will see its already slightly diminished roster be cut even further, to eight teams, nearly all of which will be either Division II schools or Mid-American Conference schools. It is a difficult scenario for each of those remaining eight teams, all of whom will undoubtedly be searching for answers, especially Notre Dame and Miami, a pair of teams that have been on the cusp of the very top of the college hockey world in recent years.

It is that question that could ultimately have an impact on the three eastern conferences. Just what kind of impact is a topic of much debate, but it probably won't be any kind of wholesale change, especially for Hockey East and the ECAC... though it certainly could.

Over the next couple of weeks, be on the lookout for conference breakdowns by team or groups of teams that share a similar fate. Let's start off with the easiest conference to break down.

Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin: Collectively, the Big Ten. No questions here, they know what they're doing - in fact, it's because they know what they're doing that leads to all of this consternation in the first place. The only real question surrounding this group is whether they seek to bring in new blood, almost certainly via another Big Ten school if they do.

Expansion?

There aren't really too many options for expansion within existing programs. The Big Ten isn't just a D-I conference, they're a power conference - which means they aren't going to associate with schools from smaller conferences (to say nothing of associating with schools from outside of D-I). When you look around the rest of the college hockey world, there's only one program with even the outside possibility.

Notre Dame: The only geographically and historically close fit to the Big Ten is Notre Dame. The school typically competes against the Big Ten in a number of different sports, fits right into the geographic footprint between Pennsylvania and Nebraska in Indiana, and has frequently flirted with joining the Big Ten as a full member in all sports, even football. There simply is no other currently existing program with the possibility of joining the nascent conference. Ten years ago, it probably wouldn't have been possible given the state of the program, and today it's still probably highly unlikely, but the door is open at least a crack for the Irish, whereas it's shut tight for every other program out there.

Next: The mess in the CCHA.

Revolving Door

It's one of the items that we touched on in our last posting about a week and a half ago, but even then, we had no idea just how crazy and how fast the coaching carousel would spin... or just how much impact it would have on the ECAC.

Here's the rundown.

Michigan Tech: Still looking for a coach after alum and long-time Michigan assistant Mel Pearson left them at the altar at the very last minute. Much of the most recent talk has been about Nebraska-Omaha associate head coach Mike Hastings, who coached the USHL's Omaha Lancers from 1994 to 2008.

UMass-Lowell: Norm Bazin, the head coach at Division III Hamilton for the last three years, will be the new head coach in Lowell, and the first alum to ever coach the program. Prior to that, he spent eight seasons as an assistant at Colorado College. So the Lowell coach doesn't touch off another search elsewhere, at least not at the Division I level.

Clarkson: If you'd asked me two weeks ago which coach in the ECAC was most likely to lose his job, I'd have told you that it was Harvard's Ted Donato, with the qualifier that he wasn't likely to get the boot. Unfortunately for George Roll, he was the right answer, he lost his job last week without much in the way of an official explanation. We can presume that the three straight losing seasons were more than the alumni, who are used to winning all the time, were willing to tolerate. I'd thought Roll would get at least one more year to turn the team around, especially considering that he brought Clarkson within a goal of playing in the Frozen Four in 2008. A lot of what happened to the team in the last two years was hardly his fault - most notably, a rash of injuries last season and some legal problems for some important recruits.

It's Clarkson's loss, in my view. Roll is a proven winner - it's the ECAC and the college hockey landscape that has changed. It's not going to be easy for Clarkson to be as dominant in the ECAC as they were for decades, but Roll knew what he was doing. The only message this firing sends is to anyone who would have interest in the job. You get very little margin for error.

At any rate, the names that were immediately thrown around are a couple of guys who have been behind the bench in Potsdam before, US Under-18 Team coach Ron Rolston and Cornell associate head coach Casey Jones, but it's worth pointing out that those guys have had their names thrown around for every opening in college hockey since the Clinton administration, including the one at RPI in 2006, regardless of prior links.

And let this be a lesson to the tiny but whiny minority of RPI alums and townies who have been agitating for Seth Appert's head. We've said it about a million times, but it still needs to be said - it's a dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb idea. Uber-dumb.

Providence: Found their man in Union's Nate Leaman. Notably for RPI fans, Ben Barr will follow Leaman from Schenectady to Providence. That begot...

Union: The Dutch wasted no time whatsoever in promoting the associate head coach, Rick Bennett, as soon as the Leaman move became official. Bennett ironically is a Providence alum, who spent five years as an assistant with the Friars before joining Union in 2005 when Paul Pooley was let go. He was promoted to associate head coach in 2007. Hard to say right now what this means for Union but they were clearly comfortable with the idea even before Leaman left, so they must believe he will be able to carry on Leaman's work in Schenectady.

Penn State: All the buzz was on Minnesota-Duluth's Scott Sandelin and Wisconsin women's coach Mark Johnson, but instead, it'll be Guy Gadowsky, the man that brought Princeton hockey back into relevance. Word came out on Easter Sunday that Gadowsky was the choice to become the first varsity hockey coach at Happy Valley, and he was formally introduced today. Therefore...

Princeton: Still too early to tell who might be a candidate for the sudden opening at New Jersey's lone entry in Division I college hockey, and truth be told, the level of fan buzz at Princeton is so generally low that we may not find out much until the process is over unless there's a present coach who ends up in the mix for this one. Eh, why not. How about Ron Rolston or Casey Jones?

Elsewhere: For a short time late last week, there was concern that something was happening at Western Michigan. It was announced that WMU had a press conference ready to go regarding the future of the head coach, which lately has been code for "he's leaving" or "he's getting canned." For Jeff Blashill, however, it was merely a much deserved raise and extension, intriguing especially considering the question marks surrounding WMU and the rest of the CCHA in the light of the pending Big 10 conference, which will likely tear the league asunder.

Also, just to throw this in - interesting story out of Tucson, AZ. Yes, that's right. Leo Golembiewski, who has run a very successful semi-independent club team at the University of Arizona since 1979, may be on his way out. Few people realize that the U of A has a fairly noteworthy club program, known as the IceCats, that draw just as many fans as many ECAC teams do on a regular basis. Golembiewski has been running almost every element of that program for 32 years, but it appears that Arizona is ready to step in and wrest most, if not all, control away. Arizona, to me, has always been an interesting "what if" candidate for Division I expansion given the popularity of the IceCats, so this may bear keeping a semi-interested eye on.

The Summer From Hell

There is reputed to be an ancient Chinese proverb (its true origin may have been American English) that sounds like a blessing, but is meant as a curse: "May you live in interesting times."

As college hockey fans, the 2010 offseason absolutely qualifies as "interesting times." For fans of the Engineers, our "interesting times" have been... well, more interesting than most.

We've recounted very well here at Without a Peer the major personnel issues facing the college hockey world - the recruiting war with the CHL on the front end and the NHL's collective bargaining agreement on the back end - and as it has turned out, we were not vulnerable to these issues.

From the beginning of the offseason through the present, RPI has been kicked repeatedly while they're down... a category in which they are not alone. Let's recount the tough-to-hear news that we've encountered since we last watched the Engineers skate.

Jim Montgomery departs
The difficult summer got underway before the 2009-10 season had officially come to a close. Weeks after the disappointing loss to Brown in the ECAC First Round, news came down that assistant coach Jim Montgomery would be leaving RPI to take over as head coach and general manager of the USHL's Dubuque Fighting Saints. This didn't take many people by surprise and Monty's departure had been expected to be coming down the pike sooner rather than later because of his outstanding pedigree as a coach and recruiter, but it didn't make it easy to take, either.

Nick Quinn holds off
The next issue materialized shortly thereafter when Nick Quinn, a defenseman who had been expected to step in right away and provide some big-time blueline support, was moved back to 2011. This may have been a decision made by Seth Appert and the coaching staff, but it could have been Quinn's choice as well. At any rate, the decision to hold off Luke Curadi as well (who had never been firmly expected in 2010 at any point prior to or after his commitment) meant the Engineers were in need of another defenseman, necessitating the early arrival of Patrick Koudys, who was expected in 2011 and probably could have benefited from another year in juniors before starting his NCAA clock, but that's the way it goes.

Jacob Laliberté holds off
In early May, news came through the Record's Ed Weaver that prized recruit Jacob Laliberté would, for the second consecutive season, not be coming to Troy as expected. Ever since Laliberté committed to RPI in February 2008, Engineer fans have been hotly anticipating his arrival given his near total domination of the junior A ranks in Ontario and his stature being of a nature that has the NHL overlooking him - meaning he could ultimately spend more time in college than someone putting up his numbers with a bigger frame. The news was rather deflating - it was hoped that Laliberté would have the ability to come in and make RPI a much more feared team, seeing him playing alongside Chase Polacek, Jerry D'Amigo, and Brandon Pirri.

Jerry D'Amigo departs
From there, the bad news, at least as it pertained to RPI, was done for much of the summer, but in early August, a bombshell dropped when word started to leak out that star sophomore Jerry D'Amigo was close to signing a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs. After reports of D'Amigo's massively increased size started to leak out of the World Junior camp in Lake Placid, pundits began to believe that D'Amigo, even at the age of 19, might well be NHL ready. Given the developing situation in which dozens of talented underclassmen had already bolted the NCAA ranks for pro contracts, D'Amigo's signing ultimately took few people by surprise once it happened, even if it appeared likely at the beginning of the offseason that he'd probably be back for at least one more year.

Brandon Pirri departs
The other shoe dropped early last week, when Bob McKenzie and Ken Schott broke the news that Brandon Pirri was about to sign with Chicago, a situation, as we mentioned last Monday, that was more than likely brought on by Chicago's roster woes and possibly somewhat sparked by D'Amigo's leaving. For a few weeks, we'd thought the team wouldn't have been as good as they could have been with D'Amigo, but that they'd be perfectly fine as long as Pirri was still on board. Now, life seems a little bit harder, especially considering the amount of attention Chase Polacek is going to draw from defensemen without those two super sophomores to worry about.

Nick Quinn decommits
The capper on the worst week thus far in the offseason came at the end of last week, when recruiting guru Chris Heisenberg caught wind that Quinn had made the decision not to attend RPI in 2011, or ever, moving back into the pool of uncommitted recruits. The reasoning is unclear at this point, but some have conjectured that there may have been some unhappiness with his situation vis a vis Jim Montgomery, who apparently was the key element in recruiting Quinn. The young Canadian had been expecting to play alongside Curadi and under Montgomery in Dubuque, but a USHL ruling on the number of imports allowed to play on any given team meant that one had to leave Dubuque, and Quinn ended up being the odd man out in Monty's plans. Quinn will play instead for Des Moines, assuming he stays in the USHL. If he does, he's probably looking to go to another school (which would likely make him Chris Huxley's replacement among the RPI student section, especially if he goes to another ECAC school). If he doesn't, he's probably just another NCAA recruit who leaves to go to the OHL. At any rate, the departure leaves RPI with one defenseman (Curadi) and one forward (Laliberté) committed for 2011 at present. Three defensemen and five forwards graduate at the end of the upcoming season.

These events have RPI fans looking fairly punch drunk, waiting for the next bit of bad news to fall down like a sandbag from overhead. Well, not to sound like a negative Nancy, but brace yourself - the whole college hockey world, perhaps, should be bracing themselves.

Penn State
Year after year, one of the schools most often rumored to be starting a new varsity program has been Penn State, thanks to their wildly successful and popular club program. Now it appears that this rumor may actually be about to become reality. The school is apparently getting closer to announcing plans for a new 6,000 to 8,000 seat arena and men's and women's varsity programs which could get underway as independents in time for the 2012-13 season, potentially with an eye on the CCHA as an initial home.

Exciting, right? Well, it's also... "interesting." Penn State would more than likely change the face of the college hockey world more than any other school could. They would become the sixth Big 10 school to sponsor college hockey (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State). Six is the magic number for a conference with an autobid. Is a Big 10 super-conference in the works, one that would fundamentally alter the landscape of the sport, especially in the west, where the CCHA would be utterly devastated?

But western teams are not the only ones who should be watching the situation at Penn State. If they're going to have a team in 2012, especially at a big name school like theirs, recruiting has to start this season, which means, they need a coach. Know any that have shown a recent ability to bring outstanding players to a program without a lot of natural advantages? Wow, I can think of two of them right here in the Capital District - our own Seth Appert, and Union's Nate Leaman. Penn State would be fools not to inquire as to either man's availability, and both men would be fools not to at least consider the position if it were offered to them. The chance to be for Penn State what Ned Harkness was to either Capital District program is practically priceless.

So yes... if you're an RPI fan, there's got to be some cause for concern as we watch Penn State potentially become the 59th Division I program.

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We asked the question at the beginning of the offseason "will he or won't he (be in Troy)?" for four talented scorers. The answer was "he won't" for three of the four. If all four had been coming, who knows what this team could have done. We'll never get the chance to find out, so it's time to move on, forget about what might have been, and focus on the future.

Be happy for them
We will miss their services dearly, but Montgomery, D'Amigo, and Pirri are moving on to bigger and better things. We've at least got the consolation of being able to watch them pursue those bigger and better things.

Nolan Graham arrives
At the very least, Montgomery's replacement among Appert's lieutenants is not only a familiar face, but a rising star among the coaching ranks. Nolan Graham has had success everywhere he's gone behind the bench since hanging them up, especially last season in Alberni Valley. He's an alum to boot, which likely gives him a little edge in the passion department when it comes to speaking to recruits. It will be good to have him back in Troy.

The new faces arrive
There's every bit of reason to be excited about the new players who will be pulling on the cherry and white this year. Viewed through the scope of last season's incoming crop, this group may not seem as exciting. Viewed through the scope of 10 years worth of incoming groups of freshmen, and it's another solid class. Nick Bailen will more than likely step in and provide the same type of outstanding defense we would expect from an upperclassman. Patrick Koudys is likely to be a high draft pick in 2011. Apparently, we got the right Tinordi after all, and Matt appears to have size and a scoring touch. Then there's Brock Higgs and Johnny Rogic, both of whom we have mentioned could be key players right off the bat.

Signs of success
In the modern game, losing players early is a sign that your program is successful in attracting the best. We'd like to remind some of the haters that RPI has sent more players to the NHL in the last month than most ECAC teams have sent there in the last few years, or in more than one case, more than they've ever sent there. And we don't want to get too far into rumor and innuendo, but... there may be some more blue-chippers in the near future. Stay tuned.

We don't suffer alone - or in poor company
The other teams to lose multiple players early to NHL contracts? Minnesota. Wisconsin. Boston University. Denver. Michigan State. Notre Dame. Ohio State. UMass. Northern Michigan. That's some pretty select company. Only Minnesota also lost two freshmen. The only downside to this company is that most of those teams are better suited to rebound from their losses this year or next year.

The rebound will be the challenge. With the team we've got right now... it's possible, as long as they believe. It won't be easy to stop thinking about what might have been, but that's exactly the hurdle the Engineers will need to overcome early in the season - there is no "might have been," there is only what is.

Classes start today on the hill. One month left. Wake me up when September ends.