Colton Fretter, 19, is standing firm in his decision to play hockey for MSU next season.
The high-scoring forward from Harrow, Ontario, signed a National Letter of Intent with the university back in November after choosing the Spartans over Bowling Green, Miami (Ohio) and other suitors.
But November was a much different time in Spartan hockey. That was when longtime MSU head coach Ron Mason was still planning on coaching three, four or five more years in East Lansing.
Then, on Jan. 28, Mason shocked everyone by announcing his intention to step down from his position at the end of the season - his 23rd at MSU - to become the university’s next athletics director. At first, the decision seemed to rattle the very foundation of the hockey program. But now that the dust has begun to settle, it appears the world of Spartan hockey won’t be all that different without Mason.
MSU assistant coaches Tom Newton and Dave McAuliffe - if they don’t get the head coaching job themselves - are expected to remain on the new coach’s staff.
That’s important because their primary role in MSU’s program - recruiting - is the lifeblood of almost every athletic program. With the two of them serving as the bridge between the age of Mason and the (insert new coach’s name here) era, the cornerstone of MSU’s recruiting is still solid.
Longtime Michigan head coach Red Berenson sure sees it that way. Berenson, who knows better than anyone what it’s like to battle with MSU for local talent, said Mason’s departure won’t adversely affect MSU’s recruiting capabilities.
And Fretter, who completed his recruiting process by signing with MSU in the fall, doesn’t expect a drop-off either with Newton and McAuliffe still around.
“They’ve had a good hockey program for years now,” said Fretter, who has 51 goals and 51 assists in 49 games with the Chatham Maroons of the Western Ontario Junior B Hockey League. “And (Mason) will still be there, so he’ll probably pick a new coach that’s similar to him.
“It kind of caught me off-guard - I wasn’t expecting that at all. But there are so many other things pulling you into that school that it really doesn’t matter.”
Fretter’s feelings are echoed by plenty of others familiar with the MSU program - Mason’s departure won’t necessarily signal doomsday for the Spartans.
We want you as a new recruit
MSU already has letters of intent from Fretter and Okemos defenseman Corey Potter and a strong verbal commitment from Rhode Island defenseman Evan Shaw for next season.
East Lansing forward Drew Miller, the brother of junior goaltender Ryan Miller, also is signed on, starting with the 2003-2004 season.
Northville goaltender Justin Tobe also has verbally committed, and will join MSU in the fall if Ryan Miller leaves early for the NHL. If Ryan Miller stays, Tobe will come in with Miller’s little brother in 2003.
In the weeks after Mason’s decision, not one of those five committed recruits said he reconsidered attending MSU.
The most obvious lock for the MSU coaching staff was probably Miller, who hails from the first family of Spartan hockey. In addition to Drew’s brother, his father, grandfather, uncle and five cousins all played for MSU.
“I wanted to play for (Mason) for my whole life, and when I heard the announcement, I was like, ‘That kinda sucks,’” said Drew Miller, who has 12 goals and 10 assists in 38 games with Lansing’s Capital Centre Pride of the North American Hockey League. “But I’ve always wanted to play for Michigan State no matter who the coach is.”
Tobe also said he had no worries about the future of the Spartan program. The 5-foot-11, 157-pound netminder just turned 17 in December and plays for the Compuware Ambassadors of the NAHL.
He said he decided on MSU right before Mason made his announcement.
“It’s not just playing for Coach Mason,” Tobe said. “It’s playing for the whole program that he built over 25 years. The tradition will be just as good as it is now, and I have every reason to believe it will keep going.
“Hopefully, I can come in and help keep it going.”
Annual sale
While Mason is often the guy who seals the deal with a prospective Spartan, Newton and McAuliffe do the grunt work.
They are the ones that travel to small roadside rinks in the middle of British Columbia and around Michigan in search of players who have the potential to be stars in green and white. They are the ones that convinced Fretter, Potter, Shaw, Miller, Tobe and every player on the current roster to come to MSU. They are the chief salesmen of the Spartan program.
Of course, Mason’s legendary status was a key component of their sales pitch, but Newton says that recruiting angle won’t necessarily stop with Mason’s resignation.
“Hey, I’m still selling coach Mason to this day,” said Newton, who is in his 12th year as a Spartan assistant. “And I’ll always sell him.
“That he is still in charge of this program, even at a higher level, is a sale that we’ll continue to pitch. That he is on this campus is something that we will always pitch. That he is going to be in a position to make decisions about college hockey is something that I’ll always pitch to the kids.”
Newton and McAuliffe - along with Columbus Blue Jackets assistant Newell Brown and New York Islanders assistant Kelly Miller (Ryan and Drew’s cousin) - are considered part of the pool of candidates rumored to be interested in succeeding Mason.
But if neither of them gets the job and Mason brings in a coach from outside the program, Newton and McAuliffe are expected to be keys to making the transition between regimes as smooth as possible.
Newton said the continuity in recruiting, coupled with an already strong base of community and university support, will allow whomever takes over as head coach to pick up right where Mason leaves off.
“The program speaks for itself,” Newton said. “There’s not a program in the entire country that is in any better shape, facility-wise, staff-wise, support-wise, budget-wise than Michigan State. This is as solid as any of them.”
Although MSU lost a verbal commitment from one player, on whom the coaches are not allowed to comment, McAuliffe agrees that MSU fans can remain confident in the program’s stability.
“As long as I can get a kid to visit, I’ve got an unbelievable chance of getting him,” said McAuliffe, who is in his 10th season behind the Spartan bench. “The program sells itself, the school sells itself and our players sell the program and that will remain constant.
“I think it’s the program here at Michigan State that’s historically solid, and our league is historically solid on the national level. And also, (MSU) has the best track record when producing pros.
“We still have those selling points no matter who the head coach is.”
But for those who already have been sold - such as verbal commitments Shaw and Tobe - a critical recruiting juncture might still be coming. Newton said once the new coach is named, he might have to reassure some players both inside and outside the program.
“There’s going to be a point in time when that person has to jell with that kid,” Newton said. “Do their personalities match? Is there a relationship that clicks? We won’t know that until we move on to the next phase.
“But this is a great place to want to come to school and I don’t see recruiting dropping off at all.”
Pipeline of talent
Dean Miller, Ryan and Drew’s father, is as close to the MSU hockey program as any player’s parent.
He skated for the Spartans from 1977-79 - graduating right before Mason took over for Amo Bessone - and the elder Miller often consults with Mason about Ryan’s progress and the state of the team in general.
Now, with another one of his sons signed on to don the green and white in a little more than a year, Dean Miller said Mason’s departure is “somewhat disappointing” to his family.
“In our basket of questions during Drew’s recruitment, we asked how many more years Ron would be there,” Dean Miller said. “Ryan has had a chance to play for him for three years, which is great. But we kind of figured that at some time during Drew’s tenure, Ron might not be there.
“We were hoping to get at least one or two years out of the guy.”
Still, Miller said neither he nor his younger son would be dissuaded by the sudden question mark at the Spartan helm.
“Drew was going to be a Spartan no matter what. It’s in his heart, in his blood,” he said. “We trust Ron to bring in somebody that will be good for Spartan hockey.”
Aside from the fruitful Miller family, junior hockey teams in western Canada also are traditionally fertile breeding grounds from which numerous Spartan players have developed.
Harvey Smyl, the head coach of the Chilliwack Chiefs of the British Columbia Junior Hockey League, said he relishes having his players move on to his alma mater. To Newton’s and McAuliffe’s delight, Smyl, who played at MSU from 1983-85, has developed a pipeline from Chilliwack to East Lansing during the last decade.
Recently, he has graduated junior left wing Brian Maloney, freshman left wing Kevin Estrada, former center Jeremy Jackson and former defenseman Brad Hodgins to MSU.
And he doesn’t expect Mason’s replacement to disrupt the chain of progression.
“The first thing is, who are they going to hire?” Smyl said. “But you look at some of the names that are being thrown around, both around college hockey and internally in the program, and they are great coaches.
“It’s still going to be a quality program - as strong as it’s always been. Tom (Newton) and David (McAuliffe) are quality people and, if they’re retained, they are the ones that really go out and represent the university (to recruits).
“I won’t have any problem sending kids there.”
James Jahnke can be reached at jahnkeja@msu.edu.
