BU Will Move Quickly to Line Up Quinn Replacements

by Mike McMahon/Staff Writer (@MikeMcMahonCHN)

Boston University athletic director Drew Marrochello learned over the weekend that he has to hire a new coach for one of the most prominent positions in college hockey, now that BU’s David Quinn has accepted the head coaching position with the New York Rangers.

Lucky for him, there’s no shortage on candidates.

BU is one of the most high-profile positions in the sport, and because of that, many former Terriers have chosen coaching as their profession. The experience of these candidates run the gamut, up to and including a former NHL head coach in Joe Sacco, currently an assistant with the Boston Bruins and, ironically, who had Quinn on his staff as an assistant when he was the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche.

Quinn, I’m told, wasn’t looking to leave Boston University. The Rangers first showed interest in former Denver head coach Jim Montgomery, but he chose the Dallas Stars. Quinn then turned down a four-year contract from the Rangers that would have paid him $2 million per season one week ago. The Rangers had their man, though, and they sweetened the pot, settling on what’s believed to be a $12 million offer over five years ($2.4 million per season).

Quinn, 51, now has his shot to make it in the NHL, and the Rangers seem committed to the process of a rebuild. The extra year means a lot, especially to a coach who knows the first year or two might be challenging as the franchise tries to put young pieces together.

That brings us to Marrochello, who is now tasked with making his biggest hire since taking over as AD four years ago, but this won’t be his first rodeo. In 2013, when Marrochello was the Deputy AD, he spearheaded the process of replacing Jack Parker, a process that ultimately led the Terriers to Quinn.

All things considered, here are the top contenders to be BU’s next head coach:

Joe Sacco, Boston Bruins Assitant Coach

We’re going to hear a lot about Joe Sacco and Boston University over the next few weeks.

Sacco, 49, was formerly the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche and has been with the Bruins for the last four seasons. Sacco has kicked the tires on some college jobs in the past, I’m told, so there’s no reason to believe he won’t be a showing heavy interest in the job at his alma mater.

One stumbling block brought up by some in regards to Sacco has been salary, but one NHL executive speculated that Sacco’s salary with the Bruins is somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000; BU would pay more than that for a head coach. There’s also been speculation as to whether or not Sacco earned his degree at BU — he only played three seasons — but there are ways around that, including what Wisconsin did with Tony Granato (making it a part of the deal that he needed to earn his degree while also being the head coach of the Badgers).

The knock on Sacco will be that he has no college experience. All of his coaching has been at the professional level, and while hockey is hockey, he’s also never had to recruit players. The Avalanche were impressive in Sacco’s first year as head coach, going 43-30-9 and making the playoffs despite low expectations, but the team fell apart after that, going 87-104-21, missing the playoffs for three straight years and Sacco was fired after the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season that saw the team finish dead last in the Western Conference.

Steve Greeley, Buffalo Sabres Assistant GM

There’s a thought that Greeley is destined to be an NHL general manager, and given his current career trajectory, that seems to be the case. Greeley turned down the Carolina GM job just a few weeks ago. But, he’s also a former BU player and coach, and every former Terrier has that scarlet and white running through their veins.

Greeley is a former associate head coach under Quinn and helped recruit the likes of Charle McAvoy and Clayton Keller. Greeley was also instrumental in recruiting Jake Wise, who hasn’t even arrived on BU’s campus yet.

He was also recruiting with the New York Rangers when he was in player personnel — he helped them land college players like Jimmy Vesey and Neal Pionk as free agents — and last year he was hired as the No. 2 in command of the Sabres organization.

There was a point where Quinn looked like he was going to be a long-tenured coach for the Terriers, which could have been the reason why Greeley decided to move on from BU three years ago.

It’s also possible that Greeley, getting a taste for the NHL life, wants to stick it out in pro hockey. But if he’s interested in the BU position, he has to be considered one of Marrochello’s top candidates. He’s younger — just 37 years old — but he also has a young family and is anchored in a suburb of Boston. He’s the candidate Marrochello could hire that could have the longevity of someone like Jack Parker.

The knock on Greeley will be that he has no head-coaching experience, but that’s been overcome plenty of times. In fact, I think you could make the argument that Greeley leaving BU makes him a stronger candidate now. Working in the NHL, especially at the level he has, opens doors and also gives him insight into how NHL coaches run their teams.

Jay Pandolfo, Boston Bruins Assistant Coach

Pandolfo, 43, has been with the Boston Bruins in a coaching capacity since shortly after his retirement from playing in 2013. Pandolfo, who graduated from BU in 1996, began as a development coach and then advanced to the Director of Player Development before being promoted to assistant coach in 2016.

Pandolfo has many local ties to the hockey community, and like Greeley, is raising a young family in a Boston suburb. Some have speculated that Pandolfo is more of a “pro coach” than a college coach, and the same things said about Sacco apply as well. All of his experience has been in the NHL, and while he has a tremendous track record as far as player development, he has no history recruiting.

That aside, he has been on the bench for a Bruins team that has had a resurgence since Bruce Cassidy took over last year, and Pandolfo was retained on Cassidy’s staff after he was originally hired to work under Claude Julien.

From a development standpoint, you can’t argue with the success of some of Boston’s younger players, including McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, David Pastrnak, Danton Heinen, and the list goes on. Pandolfo has had a hand in the development of many of those players.

Clark Donatelli, Wilkes-Barre Scranton Head Coach

Donatelli wasn’t really on the radar the last time the BU job was open in 2013, but that has changed now. Instead of being in his second year with the Penguins organization, Donatelli has now coached eight seasons of pro hockey, including almost three seasons in charge of the Penguins’ AHL affiliate.

At the same time, Donatelli has coached younger players with Team USA’s Under-18 team at the Hlinka Memorial tournament the last two seasons.

However, like with Sacco, all of his experience comes in pro hockey. How easily will the 50-year-old adapt to college hockey? That’s a question.

Albie O’Connell, BU Associate Head Coach

If BU wants to keep things in house, O’Connell is the logical choice. He’s been at BU since 2014 and also has time spent as an assistant coach with Harvard, Northeastern, Merrimack, Holy Cross, Niagara and Colby College.

O’Connell is still young (42), but despite a long track record as a top recruiter, he still hasn’t been able to break through and land a head coaching job. Some of that could be through his own volition — coaches will want to wait for the right job — but it has some people questioning whether or not he’ll ever get that opportunity.

This isn’t new to college hockey. For years people thought Mike Cavanaugh would never get a chance to run a program after being what felt like a perennial finalist for jobs year after year as the top assistant at Boston College, and then he finally landed the UConn job and has the Huskies adapting well to Hockey East, landing some top recruits despite limitations with their arena (sharing it with an AHL team).

Is this O’Connell’s opportunity? It’s safe to assume he’ll have interest in the job. The question will be whether or not Marrochello seems him as a head coach.

Other names you may hear …

Mike Grier has coaching experience at the prep level, along with a slew of other former BU players, but all of these candidates (Carl Corazzini, Shawn McEachern, Tony Amonte) seem better suited as an assistant coach than a head coach.

Mike Bavis is a former BU assistant who wanted the job when Parker retired in 2013, but it doesn’t seem likely he’d be a top candidate this time around. Joe Pereira is an assistant under Cavanaugh at UConn, but he’s on the young side at just 31 years old (he does have five years experience with the Huskies, however).

Scott Young was on the BU staff as an assistant from 2014-17 and left to work in player personnel with the Penguins (and help coach the U.S. Olympic team).

Mark Dennehy was let go by Merrimack in March, and of all the potential candidates, he’d be the only one with experience as a Hockey East head coach. He’d also have more resources at BU than he had at Merrimack, but it might be sacrilegious for Marrochello to hire a BC guy to run the Terriers. Jerry Keefe has helped lead Northeastern to a lot of success, and while he’s also from a different Beanpot school, it wouldn’t be a reach to think he might have interest here.

Paul Pearl nearly got the Merrimack job and has helped turn around Harvard’s program. Reid Cashman was a key player at Quinnipiac who now has a strong role in pro hockey and is looked at by many as a stud young coach.

If Marrochello is looking for someone he can keep around long term, as opposed to someone who might bolt for the NHL, then these other names are worth a lot of consideration.

My dark horse pick would be Dan Muse, the former head coach of the Chicago Steel (USHL) who has been with the Nashville Predators as an assistant coach for the past year. Prior to joining the steel, Muse was a four-year assistant at Yale, including being on staff when the Bulldogs won the national title.

Then the question becomes whether or not BU will try to poach another program’s head coach. Going after a sitting head coach in the same league is almost unheard of, but does BU look at someone from a nearby league, like Union's Rick Bennett?

Regardless, most within the coaching community feel like the process to hire Quinn’s replacement could be quick. It’s already late-May, and with the summer approaching and recruiting about to pick up, solidifying the position will be important.