PU’s Gadowsky heading to Penn State to start hockey program
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
After quickly building the Princeton University men’s ice hockey program into an ECAC championship contender, head coach Guy Gadowsky was a hot commodity.
Gadowsky finally found an offer he couldn’t refuse when Penn State announced plans to start a hockey program. He accepted the offer to become their first head coach Sunday, which left him to inform his Princeton players that afternoon of his decision.
”I completely lost it,” Gadowsky said. “That’s never happened to me before. I was a complete train wreck. I can’t believe it happened. It couldn’t have gone worse.”
Gadowsky had poured his energy into them over seven seasons at the helm and rebuilt a Princeton program that won only eight total games combined in the two seasons prior to his hiring. They won the ECAC crown in 2008, and enjoyed 22- and 21-win seasons under Gadowsky. This year, they finished fourth in the ECAC, their fifth straight season in the top half of the league. Gadowsky leaves with a career mark of 101-105-15.
”I just loved it here,” Gadowsky said. “My family loved it here. I loved dealing with the players we had. They’re the highest quality of hockey players in the world. It would take an extremely special opportunity to get me away from this. It’s what we have at Penn State. It’s the perfect storm of events.
”We have Terry Pegula, who owns the Buffalo Sabres, donating to get it started. He wants to see hockey succeed at Penn State. They have a committed athletic department. They have the highest standards. In graduating their athletes, they’re No. 1 in the BCS. They don’t compromise their values at all. They’re not a school with violations. They take doing things right seriously, like Gary Walters does. They have a guy in Joe Battista, who started the hockey program there. I love his passion. I love his vision. I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Princeton will begin an immediate search for Gadowsky’s successor. He is leaving what he established for the unknown at Penn State, which will begin varsity play in 2012, and join the Big Ten in 2013 with the likes of Michigan, which just played for the national championship. Pegula’s donation of $88 million has helped to get the ball rolling in starting both men’s and women’s ice hockey at Penn State. The money is earmarked in part to build a new arena that will bear Pegula’s name, but it will be on Gadowsky to bring in the players and perform the necessary duties to start the program.
”I never did it,” Gadowsky said. “I did start a program once in the West Coast Hockey League. This is a whole new deal. We’re going to have an absolute first-class arena coming in. It’ll be phenomenal. They’re already well ahead of the game.”
Gadowsky showed at Princeton that he can turn around a proud program. His 105 wins rank fourth all-time among Princeton coaches, and he helped guide the Tigers to two NCAA appearances, doubling their all-time total. He exits happy with where he is leaving the Tigers.
”I’m really proud of what happened here,” Gadowsky said. “To be honest, I was just along for the ride. Very quickly, it became the guys’ program. I remember having a conversation with Pat Neundorfer (a 2006 graduate) when I knew it was a players’ team. The guys are such high quality guys. I was along for the ride. It’s a great group of academic fellows that’s helped. The school gave the guys the chance to see they were valued for their contributions. I just hung on and enjoyed the ride.”
Gadowsky now has Princeton alumni in the NHL. This season, Taylor Fedun became the program’s seventh All-America player. The Tigers also have a new standard of success on the ice, but Gadowsky will reserve judgment on the success of his tenure.
”You come to Princeton to work with the most intelligent, highest quality of hockey players in the world,” he said. “The true test about if we were successful is what they’re doing in 10-15 years. I’m excited to see what these guys do. I’m going to keep tabs, to see what they’re doing on the ice, or in the community, or with the environment.”
Gadowsky will take to Penn State high standards from his experiences at Princeton. It will be tough to beat the introduction he got with the Tigers.
”From Day one, the alumni, I couldn’t believe how they took me in,” Gadowsky said. “It was the best feeling. It was awesome. They’re such high quality guys. It just felt great right from the start. I’ve been with a lot of general managers and athletic directors, but no one treated me as well as Gary Walters. Gary Walters has treated me as well as anybody. He couldn’t have been more supportive of a program, our players, and me. I think our players felt that. They felt support he gave.
”It’s Princeton. I had extremely high expectations about the environment that we were going to have and the team we were going to have, with the alumni and the university. They met every expectation I had, but I had extremely high expectations because of the reputation of Princeton.”
The Princeton reputation has been built up by Guy Gadowsky. He did what he was brought in to do by turning around the Tigers and helping them become contenders again.
”I’m going to remain a very proud alum of this program,” Gadowsky said. “I learned so much about values and class and substance not only from Gary Walters, but from the players and alumni we have. To this date, it’s been the most positive hockey experience of my life.”