Mark Morris

[tbch13]

I was just wondering if I could spark some conversation on the issue of the coaching of Morris...I was told that Morris is quite nasty to his players (even when they are winning)....does anyone have any thoughts

[vicb]

And I've heard Joe Marsh is a Saint to his players from those who like him and that he can be as nasty to his players as anyone when he is upset. I hope this thread dies a quick death. Have you been talking to Puck Av or reading his venom on USCHO? Let the coaches coach and let the won lost record and the quality of the program speak for itself.

[tbch13]

I just don't believe that a win-lose number is the best indicator...some players don't listen to the coach...they have assistant coaches too...maybe that is the reason why Roque got kicked off the bench last year...

i'm not saying that morris is terrible, just wanted to see what others were thinking about the lines and things

[chuck]

I hate to perpetuate this thread by posting to it because as Vic said I hope it dies quickly, but I've left the USCHO board because of the spew about Morris and the gossip about the coaches especially by the supposed ex-Knight Puck Av it makes me nausious! :mad:

[Pete]

The last thing we need is to get into this crap again, every time the Knights hit a downturn, this comes up. At one point or another all coaches are nasty to their players, big freakin' deal. Terry Martin at Canton Tech could be one of the most nasty coaches ever when his teams were losing (and sometimes when they were winning if he still thought the team was not playing well), but he was also a great coach. You have to have a thick skin if you want to play the game. The only former players I have ever heard whine about Morris are those who rode the pine and thought they were too good for that. As for PuckAv, he is just a classless moron who, if he did play for Clarkson, probably fits the above description. As a player, if you are not going to listen to the coaches, you have no business being on the team.

[scottcomstock]

I believe that unless you are/were a player on the team (and can prove it) and actually experienced being coached under Mark Morris, any allegations of 'nasty' are rumors at best, and are entirely groundless at worst. Simply "being told" that he's nasty to his players doesn't cut it. I will lock this thread if the discussion continues along those lines.

All teams are subject to ups and downs, as much as we'd like to believe otherwise. As Pete and Vic said, coaches can (and do) get 'nasty' at times, and as a player, you deal with it the best you can; let the coaches do their job, and let the statistics speak for themselves.

[Earl_Leatherland]

This all goes back to political correctness. "You will ruin a students self-esteem if you don't treat him properly and encourage him instead of . I used to have a coach who would throw garbage cans around the locker room when we played bad and would require us to leave our helmets on after a game so he could slap us across the head. He could get really ticked sometimes, but he was good coach.

Parents were never told, because we were not wusses. We were hockey players and the game was not for wimps. We played good, we got praised. We played bad, we got knocked across the head.

This might be an extreme example, but it is just like your boss. If you don't like the way he leads and you just can't put your heart into the work, leave. Same for the team. They can defect to other teams.

[joecct]

Eric

Did you go to school in Rhode Island??? It sounds like a coach I've heard of.

Joe

[tbch13]

There was no negative vibes being sent to Morris....I was simply asking some questions to hear others thoughts....
sorry if it caused some anger...

Morris received his 300th win tonight against Princeton....Joe Marsh (SLU) is also in this club....

[Goldie Knight]

Do you know what?

Mark Morris's 250th victory was against Princeton too. It took place in March (19th I think) of 1999 in Lake Placid, and the score was CLARKSON 6 Princeton 5.

Does anyone recall if that was the playoff game in which Willie Mitchell scored the winning goal with 2.5 seconds remaining on the clock--a shot from center ice?

Four point Clarkson weekends are the very best!

OUR KNIGHTS ARE AWESOME!

[vicb]

Originally posted by Goldie Knight

Does anyone recall if that was the playoff game in which Willie Mitchell scored the winning goal with 2.5 seconds remaining on the clock--a shot from center ice?



That was the game all right :) .

[Stemmer]

Whenever I watch the tape of the next Knight's game...the win over slu in the title game, I see Willie's shot...the Empire broadcast used it as a lead in.

I remember watching the score of the game against Princeton on the CNN Headline News "crawl" for the last hour from our resort in the Caribbean when we were on vacation. Finally got the details on the phone when we reached the Miami airport the next day on the way back. Unbelievable game!

[chuck]

I was in LP for that game and I'm pretty sure there was only 1.7 seconds left!!!!:D

[yooper]

I just hate to see stuff like this pop up.

I have been a Golden Knight fan since 1950 and coaches come and coaches go and I think that Mark Morris is the greatest that the Knights have had. As far as I am concerned he is greater then
Len C. and Mr. O'F!!!

[yooper]

Some more thoughts on what I just posted.

Northern Michigan just let their football coach go because some players signed a petition that he was to hard on them!! I know two of the players that signed the petition as they are from here (Iron Mountain, Mi) and their high school coach tells me they were cry babies in high school.

Northern as interviewed replacements but after finding out just what went down with the fired coach their top two picks that were offered the job decided not to take it.

It is a shame that players that think a coach is hard on them can get the man fired.

[JR]

I didn't play while at Clarkson, but I did work for the team during my junior and senior years, and Coach Morris never appeared to any worse than most coaches I have experienced throughout my life.

If you want to put a label on him, I would say that he is more towards the demanding end of the spectrum, but it's not like he's a Bobby Knight type tyrant.

Heck, after losing in the NCAAs to Lake State in '95, the entire team was pretty loose in the hotel afterward. Sure, there was disappointment about how things went. And the seniors were a little down. But the whole team was able to let off steam after their season was complete.

IMO, Mark Morris is a fine hockey coach. And if there is a player that "claims" he is too hard, my bet is that the player in question didn't get a lot of playing time, was an underachiever, and he doesn't want to take responsibility for the fact that he didn't live up to his own expectations.

I'm syre if you ask Todd White, Todd Marchant, Craig Conroy, Erik Cole, Willie Mitchell, or Chris Clark they won't think Mo was too hard on them. And I'd love to hear how Todd would compare Mo to Mike Keenan, or Willie would compare Mo to Jacques Lemaire.

[Hoppy]

It's been about 2 years since I've browsed at the roundtable forum but it's funny that the first thing that I open up is a conversation about Coach's locker room approach. I truly belive that is what I ended on 2 years ago when everyone was screaming "Bring back George Roll!" I haven't had time read some of the previous posts or to figure my way around this chat room yet but it sounds like someone is calling for his head again!

The last post sums his approach up well and if you haven't been in the locker room then you don't have a foot to stand on. He is dealing with men in the locker room and not Mighty Mites and if what he says can generate 5 third period goals then he has done his job. This is a Div 1 mens's hockey team not a house league, you play to win! When the team wins he is also full of praise for all of the players and staff.

Everyone must remember that there is much adversity that a coach has to deal with day in and day out that is beyond his control, especially injuries. He doesn't play the game he coaches the game and does a good job in my opinion.

[RSTuthill]

Hehehe.

Haven't we plowed this ground before??

This reminds me of the MAAC post two weeks ago over on USCHO. Someone from Province BC, obviously close to a player, was wringing his/her hands about the fact that Coach Jim Hunt of Fairfield would not tell the players who wouldn't be dressing for a night's game until about two hours before gametime.

I replied that they were big boys and would deal with it.

I agree, Goldie!! OUR KNIGHTS ARE TRULY AWESOME!!

[chuck]

Alright, the concensus seems to be that we shouldn't even be talking about this so can we end this thread already.... PLEASE!:o