Graham Couch

Lansing State Journal

Minnesota at MSU

When: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Where: Munn Ice Arena

TV/radio: Fox Sports Detroit (Friday only)/WJIM 1240-AM, WMMQ 94.9-FM

EAST LANSING — Nearing the end of his fifth season as Michigan State’s hockey coach, Tom Anastos’ program is nowhere near where he hopes it’ll one day be. Or where even the most loyal MSU hockey supporters think it should be.

The Spartans are 9-20-3 and 5-10-1 in Big Ten play heading into this weekend’s home series with league-leading Minnesota. They are 4-3-1 in their last seven games, with an uptick of confidence boosted in no small way by an overtime victory against Michigan on Feb. 5 at Joe Louis Arena.

Still, coming off last year’s late-season surge and second-place Big Ten finish and with Anastos’ own recruits beginning to arrive, year five wasn’t supposed to look like this. Longtime season ticket-holders are beyond simply doubting.

Anastos had higher hopes for this season, too. But he insists he isn’t discouraged.

His most heralded signed recruits are not yet on campus, some of them pegged to arrive next fall.

Anastos talked this week about his team, his program, fan frustration, and his hopes for what’s to come.

Question: Go back to 2011 when you took the job. Five years in, what’s happened different than you expected?

Anastos: “The biggest difference is the impact of age or maturity. I knew it to a certain extent. But when you come in and you look at the circumstances. And then you look at what’s aligned (in recruiting), what prospects are committed here … there were a number of kids that were aligned to come in here. And so the first decision making was, when? When do you bring those kids in? And if I could have a do-over, I would probably assess that a little bit differently. The average age of our sport has grown older. It means our student-athletes are playing against a different level of maturity. Maturity you can’t expedite. As an example, when we played our most recent series (against Penn State), I took the kids in the lineup of both teams, their ages at that time. Our senior class, we had 22, 22, 21, 21, 21, 21, 22 and one kid was in his fifth year, he’s 25. Penn State’s senior class was 25, 25, 24, 24, 23, 23, 22. ... Age and physical maturity I think has become a much greater piece of the puzzle in our sport.”

Q: Early on, you explained to me your plan for recruiting classes. It was a detailed look at how you planned to balance and build the program. How close is what’s happened to how you imagined it?

Anastos: “Well, it had been playing out perfectly until this past summer. There were actually three (departures) that really made an impact for us. … Now you’re faced with a decision — do you bring players in based on who’s left. And now that’s not a one-year decision. That’s a four-year decision. Or do you bite the bullet. And I’m just not a short-term thinker. So to me it was, you bite the bullet. So things have kind of played out as I anticipated up front. But you’re talking about two to three players on the back end that would have added depth, that would have added a different dynamic, that would have added to the skill set, the experience level. So the guys we have here now, they’ve been asked to play way more minutes than was probably planned. They’re asked to play against different levels of players than they were kind of ready for. And they’re battling every day. We’ve been limited to what we can do with that.”

“Now you’re faced with a decision — do you bring players in based on who’s left. And now that’s not a one-year decision. That’s a four-year decision. Or do you bite the bullet. And I’m just not a short-term thinker. So to me it was, you bite the bullet. So things have kind of played out as I anticipated up front. But you’re talking about two to three players on the back end that would have added depth, that would have added a different dynamic, that would have added to the skill set, the experience level. So the guys we have here now, they’ve been asked to play way more minutes than was probably planned. They’re asked to play against different levels of players than they were kind of ready for. And they’re battling every day. We’ve been limited to what we can do with that.”

Q: You mentioned not being a short-term thinker. That’s obviously not the perspective of the fan base. And when you talk to fans and long-time season ticket holders, you do hear grumbling. Even if they like you personally, they’re not sure it’s going to happen with you. What would you say to the frustrated fan?

Anastos: “I understand that type of thinking, I do. Yet, at the same time, I’ll tell you I spend my time focused on here. ... We’ve got enough on the plate here to get to where we want to be. I’m constantly assessing, reassessing what we’re doing, where we’re at, how we’re doing things. I believe in our staff. I believe in what our guys are doing, and I believe in the prospects we have committed to coming here. I think things are progressing. Now, like anything, sometimes you run into unanticipated roadblocks and you’ve got to figure out how to navigate them. And we ran into that this year. So you can focus on the negative, which is the most natural thing to do, and I get that. At the same time, I think when you’re really tested it’s through adversity. It forces you to kind of reexamine things. And it doesn’t help to point fingers. To me, what you do is you’re accountable for it and you figure strategies to overcome it. I think we’re doing all those things.”

“From a fan’s perspective, I get frustration, no one hates to lose more than me. I want to see the guys in the locker room, the players more than anything, have success, because they’re bringing it every day. But we are in a show-me type business and you’re measured every night on the most simplistic basis by a scoreboard. That’s how it is. So I get it. And yet at the same time, I know what we’re dealing with, I know what we’re doing, I know what we’re overcoming. And I believe in both our plan and how we’re going about it. Is this year a challenge to what we’ve done? Yes. Because I think we’ve made gradual progressive progress. And certainly we’re not where we want to be today. But I don’t think the plan is wrong.”

Solari: Clock ticking for Anastos as MSU hockey struggles

Q: When you were playing here (in the 1980s), the hockey program is where MSU fans got a lot of their worth as fans. It was the program they could count on. Now they have that elsewhere. How much do you think the success in basketball and football makes it challenging for fans to have patience and tolerance for a rebuild in hockey?

Anastos: “I see the success in football and basketball as a major positive. Maybe I’m naive, but I don’t see any negative from it. For our school to have that kind of national profile when we’re out recruiting, I think is incredibly positive. And it adds credibility in my mind because our coaches and the people involved in those programs are so supportive and engaged in what we’re doing. I can tell you, back when I was here (as an assistant) in the 90s, and hockey was nationally prominent and I was on the recruiting trail, there were lots of places I could go where people wouldn’t know who Michigan State was, despite the success of our hockey program. That’s not as true today. They recognize the school more because of the prominence of our football program and our basketball program, which to me trickles down and is a benefit to us.

“For me, I want our program to be carrying the flag with those programs. I can’t wait to get there and we can’t get there fast enough. But as (Tom) Izzo told me when I came here, you can’t take shortcuts, either. That’s the part, when I came here, one of the things (assistant coach) Tom Newton (who also coached with former coach Rick Comley) said to me: ‘One of the challenges we ran into for a period of time (under Comley), is we would lose some players early to the pros. And we made some decisions, if we could reassess it, we might approach it differently, because we’re kind of plugging holes with what’s left. And so we kind of made short-term decisions.’ And we collectively decided, and I’m pretty strong in my belief in this, we don’t want to do that.”

Q: What’s the timeline now for the turnaround, to be closer to what North Dakota and other elite programs are on the ice, where there’s a noticeable difference? You’ve got a heralded class coming in but those guys will be young next year.

Anastos: “Yeah, but we have some older kids coming in. We’re not getting to the point where we’re starting to be able to be more patient (in when we bring in a recruit). … To answer your question about North Dakota, I thought it would take a good eight or nine years to be able to get ourselves in a position where you’re competing for those most elite prospects, and you can build the depth in your roster. Because here’s the challenge — building the depth in your talent pool to overcome early departures. And that’s something you try to plan for, but you can’t. ... That’s a lot to overcome with where we are today. That takes time.

“It’s great to have those have those prospects, but it’s hard to plan for their departure. That’s where you have to develop your depth in your pool to be able to overcome it.”

Q: Would the sport be better off, would you guys be better off, if it was more cutthroat in recruiting in terms of, ‘I just got the job, I know this kid just committed somewhere else, but I wasn’t around then, so I’m going to recruit him,’ more SEC-, Urban Meyer-, Jim Harbaugh-style football recruiting?

Anastos: “I think it would allow you potentially to address things a little more immediately, in some cases a lot more immediately. When I came here there were commitments in place and these prospects had been planning to come to school here and the first decision I made was, were going to fulfill those commitments. Right or wrong, that’s what we did. And I don’t pass judgment on what other people do. Those are decisions other people have to make. And I’m not sure one is more right than the other. But that was a decision we made, and I made that.

Q: Has (athletic director) Mark Hollis remained supportive?

Anastos: “He’s been great. My goal for Mark Hollis is to make the program one that everybody can be proud of. He’s got his hands full with all the things he’s involved in. It bothers me personally that he has to even deal with pressure or controversy or negativity regarding hockey. I put more pressure on me, because I don’t want him to have to deal with that. And he’s been great. He’s given us all the support that he can.”

Q: Is he on board with your timeline for a turnaround?

Anastos: “He knows what we’re dealing with. He knows what our plan is. He knows the challenges we’ve faced. He knows the decisions I ultimately made to manage what we’re dealing with. He knows all those things. You’d have to ask him his own opinions on things.

Couch: Tom Anastos deserves patience, however trying

Q: How important was beating Michigan at Joe Louis Arena in early February after that first loss to Michigan, to getting something out of this group and this season?

Anastos: “There have been different challenges all season long. When we came out of the gate, I really felt good about our team and I really felt our team had a chance to be nationally competitive, I really did. I didn’t think our talent level was super high, but I did think we had some experience on our team and we built a little bit of confidence and we built a little bit of momentum last year. And early in the season we all of a sudden get these injuries. It was a bit of a set-back for some guys individually and for our team. And then we started to kind of pull out of that. I thought when we played New Hampshire here, we had a real good weekend and things were starting to come together. You could see the confidence rising. … And then coming out of there, for whatever reason, we started to find ways to lose games. And over a period of time, we had some very difficult emotional losses, where we’re leading the whole time and then we give up late goals. And now you can see the confidence (waning), guys were grabbing the stick tighter, you could feel it, you could sense it. And we were a team with very little confidence.

“And you come home and you play against your biggest rival at home and everything — (Michigan) could have beat the Red Wings that night (the 9-2 loss). And so that’s not helping our confidence. … And so we play that game (at The Joe, a 3-2 overtime win), you’re playing on a big stage and your performance is pretty darn good. And you know their team is a good team, but it also opens your eyes and your guys recognize, ‘Hey, when we play to our ability, we can be a pretty good team. We just haven’t found that with a level of consistency.’

“The one thing our team knows is we have to be accountable for our body of work to date, but we also know what we’re capable of pulling together. … (That win was) not an accident. And we should have the expectation.”

Q: Who’s been your go-to person over the last five years in low moments, high moments, whenever, to get you through things?

Anastos: “I’d probably say, the most would be my wife. She’d probably be No. 1. But I’d say the staff here. I’ve got a really good group around me and they’re all in. On a professional basis, they’ve been a rock. And also, the group of players. They inspire me every day. I want to win more for them than anybody else. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than seeing Mike Ferrantino hoist the trophy. Because every day he comes here (and works), every day. Not the most talented guy in the world. But, man, he gives you every ounce of talent, energy and emotion that he has. I’m just singling him out, there are a number of them.

“I’m inspired by those guys. But the highs and lows — I don’t want to let Mark Hollis down, I don’t want to let president (LouAnna) Simon down. I don’t want to let the fan base down. I don’t want to let down these people who are grinding it out every day. I don’t want my wife and kids and mother and sisters to have to feel the emotional of it, and they all do. They’re all in. And so you put a lot of pressure on yourself in that regard.”

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.

Minnesota at MSU

When: 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Where: Munn Ice Arena, East Lansing

Tickets: MSUSpartans.com or 517-355-1610

TV/radio: Fox Sports Detroit (Friday only)/WJIM 1240-AM, WMMQ 94.9-FM