Q&A With ... Alaska-Anchorage Coach Matt Curley

by Christopher Boulay/CHN Writer (@chrismboulay)

Alaska-Anchorage had a difficult offseason following a difficult campaign, where the team went 4-26-4 and the school decided to not renew coach Matt Thomas’ contract.

Finding a replacement for Thomas wasn’t easy. The school narrowed down the search to three candidates, with Massachusetts-Lowell assistant Cam Ellsworth, Denver’s David Carle and Providence’s Kris Mayotte vying for the position. All three turned the job down after the interview stage.

In came a name many didn’t expect to take the position. Matt Curley, head coach of EC Salzburg II and a former player at Clarkson and assistant at Bentley, accepted his offer to be the sixth coach in Seawolves history. Now he has the task of taking Alaska-Anchorage out of the basement in the WCHA, and make the team competitive again the conference.

CHN: What made Alaska-Anchorage a viable option for you? Were you looking to get back to the US for a while?

Curley: There’s a lot of factors that played into it. One is I was looking for a chance to get home. I thoroughly enjoyed my time overseas. It was an outstanding learning experience, from the coaching side of things, getting the opportunity to be a head coach, which is what I wanted. From a family side, for life experience, it was great and I couldn’t have been happier with it.

These jobs are hard to come by, which was another factor. There’s 60 of these jobs in the country. They just don’t hand them out. I know where I am in the pecking order of the coaching world. When an opportunity like this presents itself, they don’t need to ask twice, so to speak. It was something that I was very fortunate to have come up, and there were a lot of dominos had to fall to have this opportunity. I wasn’t going to pass it up.”

I’m a northern New York guy. I grew up in the North Country. Coming from that area, and where I was overseas, it’s really very similar up here. Anchorage is a beautiful city. It’s a wonderful area — the climate, the people — it’s all things that I’m accustomed to. It really was a perfect fit all the way around, and for me, it was an easy decision.

CHN: What was your experience in Austria like? What do you take away from it?

Curley: It was a unique experience. Having gone through it, I would recommend anyone who had the chance to do it, to do it. The biggest takeaway that I had was your ability to communicate. For three years, I worked with a group of kids where English was their second or third language. Your ability to communicate effectively with guys, whether its on the ice, during games, practices, video meetings, individual meetings, it really becomes vital. What might be common language and common cues for you as a native english speaker may not be for a native German speaker.

It was a great learning lesson, trying to implement and get across what you want out of guys and getting them to understand what you’re looking for. So that’s something, coming here and starting fresh here, i just want to make sure im communicating clearly and be concise with our current players, as well as our incoming recruits, on expectations and what we want to try to get out of them and what our standard is.

CHN: When you were hired back in the spring, it was a tumultuous time for the Seawolves. How did it happen for you? Did you feel weird that you were not a part of the original finalists who were offered the job?

Curley: Not at all. I had gone through the process for the position. I had a phone interview. When I saw the finalists were announced and were called for interviews on campus. I know all three of those guys and all are very, very qualified and very deserving of the chance. I just put it on the backburner. I was in the midst of a playoff run with our team, and I really didn’t think much of it. I watched it from afar, and as the dominos fell, I was the next man up.

For some, they may look at it, ‘Well, they didn’t want me the first time around, so why would I want you?’ I don’t look at that at all. I believe everything happens for a reason, and I believe those things fell into place for me to be that next guy and have this chance. I’ve been very open and honest with our players about this, as well. I want to be there.I look at this as an opportunity, and a chance to do something.

With these jobs, it does take a lot of luck, it takes certain pieces to fall for things to happen in your favor. I was very fortunate that they did for me. As I got here in early May, I reiterated that to our players — that I’m happy to be here, excited to be here and really grateful to have a chance to work with them.

CHN: Kids from Alaska don’t typically know a lot about Alaska, which could make it difficult to recruit talent. That, on top of the financial trouble at the school, highlighted by the Strategic Pathways report, where is your confidence level in regards to being able to bring in recruits. How do your assistants help you achieve that goal?

Curley: We feel very confident in terms of the support of our administration, from the Alaska university system and athletic department. We have a new A.D. here, a new chancellor here, a new vice chancellor. They have all emphasized their support for us to move this thing forward. I feel it’s a breath of fresh air and a new energy surrounding our program. It’s good to go out on the road and tell kids that.

We’re all new. Myself, my assistants Mark Phalon and Matt Bruneteau. We’re all hungry to find kids who are looking for this opportunity.

CHN: Every coach sets up their staff differently. Some have one coach on the road all the time, while others split time. How do you set up your coaching staff in regards to recruiting?

Curley: This is a collective effort up here. It’s not an easy place to recruit. Logistically speaking, just for us to get to where games are happening outside of Fairbanks and Kenai (NAHL), we have to travel.

For Mark and Matt, it’s going to be divide and conquer, in terms of splitting duties. The recruiting aspect of our sport is the lifeline of a program, and it’s too important and too burdensome to put on one guy or two guys.

CHN: You touched on it briefly, but the school’s athletic department leadership has been in limbo for the past couple years. At the time of your hire, you didn’t have a permanent athletic director. What were your thoughts on that, now having a permanent AD?

Curley: It never really was a concern of mine. I went through a change like that overseas with a new GM and a new administrative leader. Coming here, it didn’t affect my decision. I felt confident in them finding someone to lead the department and have a vision for what they wanted to do. I believe they were spot on. (Athletic Director) Greg Myford has come in and has a great background working at Division I schools and at programs that have hockey. He’s an outstanding fit. I’m excited to be able to work with him and for him, and help our program and keep it moving forward.

CHN: You have previous college hockey experience. How did playing at Clarkson lead to your coaching career and how did what you learned there help in the years you've been behind the bench?

Curley: It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m the oldest of six kids. Whether it was organizing kickball games, baseball or street hockey, it was something I gravitated toward. My sister is the coach of the Clarkson women’s basketball team. Two of my other siblings are teachers, and that’s all coaching is: the ability young people.

At Clarkson, I was very lucky to have the chance to play there. George Roll gave me a chance to play for my hometown. I knew what my limitations were as a player. If you can’t be on the ice actually playing, the next best thing is to be on the bench with those guys, to help those guys to achieve their goals and reaching their plateaus as players.

CHN: Alaska-Anchorage has one winning season in the past 25 years. Why did you take such a difficult job and why do you think you're the right coach to turn it around?

Curley: I know a lot of the coaches who have come through here. I can tell you right now, those guys are outstanding at what they do. It’s one of those places, for whatever reason, things have just been difficult up here. I don’t know if I’m the right guy. I know this is the right place for me to be right now. I’m going to do whatever I can do to help project and move things forward here. We have a lot of good, positive things around our program now that might give us a chance to do that.

With the winning seasons, I don’t know if it’s going to be this year or if it’s going to be next year. For right now, living in the moment, the wins and losses are going to happen. Whatever the results are, we’re not going to be too concerned about. We’re focused on setting a foundation this year to give ourselves a chance to put a few winning seasons together down the road.

CHN: You’ve had time to evaluate what you have. While you’re not counting wins and losses, what are your realistic expectations for the Seawolves this season? How do you improve upon last year's four-win season?

Curley: We’ve talked about three things that are a baseline for us, in terms of how we will measure success for our program. First, is have character guys, whether on the ice, the way we play or in the classroom and the weight room. Being citizens that people are happy to be around, that are proud to be associated with.

The second is the commitment part, which is being committed to this program, being a Seawolf hockey player and being a student and community member of Anchorage. Lastly, it’s having a culture of compete. That’s probably on every coaches platform. From the sheer skill part, we have to establish that we will be relentlessly competitive day in and day out. Whether it’s in the weight room competing for that extra rep, in practice battling for that loose puck or playing some of the teams in our league and nonconference, making them earn everything they get.

