A bad omen was cast upon Rick Comley before he even coached his first game behind the MSU bench.

One day before classes began in fall 2002, Comley found out that his star player, Ryan Miller, was leaving school to sign a professional contract with the NHL's Buffalo Sabres. Comley was left in a bind. With inexperience between the pipes, the Spartans missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1992-93 season.

"We were not prepared for that loss," Comley said. "Even though you anticipate it, the people that were here to play goal at that time could not pick up the slack, so it takes you a couple years (to recover)."

Lee Falardeau and Brock Radunske also left the program

after the 2003-04 season to turn pro while A.J. Thelen, an All-American as a freshman in that same season, was kicked off the team by Comley for failing to meet student-athlete expectations last year. Duncan Keith, Nenad Gajic, Tommy Goebel and Peder Skinner also left MSU early.

That's how the first three years went for Comley at MSU. He was living Murphy's Law: Everything that can go wrong, will. And it did. The 59-year-old Comley struggled to step out of the shadow and the expectations cast by the legend he replaced — current Athletics Director Ron Mason — as he brought in a new system without the benefit of having players used to playing in it.

But what many didn't understand is that Comley is a legend in his own right. He ranks fifth on the all-time wins list — third among active coaches — and has a national championship under his belt. A vocal minority of fans brought about the "Fire Comley" bandwagon last season as the year turned sour.

"We live in a very proud community. They want success," Comley said. "They live and die green and white. They support us so much emotionally and financially, and they're never going to be happy (when the team's not winning)."

But now it appears the bandwagon is stalling out.

Last season, the team struggled with internal strife from a senior class that was recruited by Mason and played a season under his watch. The entire year was a struggle — the team finished 20-17-4 and was bounced in the semifinals of the CCHA Super Six while missing the NCAA Tournament. The season is one that Comley described as "challenging, frustrating — to the highest degree."

Now Comley has all his players in the fold and the results are showing. The Spartans are 16-3-3 in the new year.

"Unfortunately, time is no one's friend, but it's taken us this long." Comley said. "But you must have your own locker room. You have to have the support of that locker room as a coach, and you have to be happy with it as a coach. You have to like the product, you have to like to come to the rink and you have to like to coach."

Not only is Comley happy to come to work every day this season, his players make his job easy.

"I never doubted myself," Comley said, "but the recruiting process is what creates a bond between coaches and players, not inheriting players and not just being named the coach of a program."

Comley has molded his team to resemble his personality — humble and unassuming. Not only that, Comley has managed to recruit a squad that plays team hockey, where the name on the front takes precedence over the name on the back — and Comley has taken care of the ones who don't feel that way.

"Attitude is critical, getting along is critical, accepting roles is critical because they've all been great players coming here," Comley said. "They all want to play a lot, they all want to be on the power play."

But not everyone can play special teams minutes, even if they were used to it before coming to school. Yet on this team, the philosophy is that the fourth line is just as important as the first.

"They've all dealt well with that. It's easier when you're winning, for sure, but overall that's the best strength for us," Comley said.

Comley was right: It did take a couple years to climb out of the dust, but he now has his ship sailing in the right direction. Freshman Jeff Lerg and junior Dominic Vicari finally give the Spartans a consistent 1-2 combo in net, and all four classes are significantly contributing on the ice.

Although the CCHA Tournament championship is nice, Comley and his team are hungry for more.

"We haven't reached our peak yet — none of us are satisfied," Comley said. "I think we can play better than we played last weekend, and we're looking forward to it."

Matt Bishop can be reached at bishop20@msu.edu.