Mike Cavanaugh has been the coach of the University of Connecticut Huskies since taking over for the 2013-14 season.
An assistant and then associate coach for 18 years under the legendary Jerry York at Boston College, Cavanaugh was reportedly on the verge of quitting coaching before taking the job in Storrs. He's now in his seventh season with UConn, and has overseen the transition of the Huskies to Hockey East from the Atlantic Hockey with middling results in the standings.
But this season, despite a 2-5-1 start (including 0-4-1 at home), the Huskies posted their first winning record in Hockey East. Despite a loss to UMass-Lowell on Friday, UConn finished with a 12-10-2 record, fifth in the conference (15-15-4 overall). They will face No. 4 Maine (12-9-3 in the conference, 18-11-5 overall) in the Hockey East tournament.
"It was a tough start, but I give a lot of credit to our seniors and our leadership for being able to change the course of the direction of the season by just demanding excellence every day," said Cavanaugh. "And not getting focused or paralyzed on results, but just playing hard, playing for each other and playing the right way.
"I’d love to tell you that it was something that I did, but it wasn’t. It was our seniors, our captains and leadership that really changed the course of the season."
Playing meaningful games has been a welcome experience for Cavanaugh.
"If you’re not playing for anything, it’s really hard to motivate your players, I believe," he said. "Last year was a lot tougher season for me at the end of the year, when we were knocked out of the playoffs, trying to motivate them, ‘Hey, we’re playing for pride.’ You can have all those conversations and pep talks that you want, but it’s still very hard to do that.
"When you’re actually playing for something, that’s easy. Kids come to the rink and they’re excited to be at the rink and they can’t wait for the games on the weekend. So, the fact that we’re in a position now where the games really mean something, we’re going to be going into the playoffs for a chance to compete for the Hockey East, the Lamoriello Cup, it certainly makes coaching a lot easier."
Cavanaugh, 51, grew up in North Andover, Mass., and spent two seasons playing for Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine, where he scored 26 goals and added 24 assists for 50 points in 52 games. He followed that up with a season with Richmond of the English league, where he scored an amazing 62 goals and added 37 assists for 99 points in just 28 games.
He retired after that season and took an assistant's gig at Dartmouth for a season before beginning his run with BC in 1995-96.
Here's what else the engaging and thoughtful Cavanaugh had to say after we posed our five (plus follow-ups) questions to him before the final weekend of the season:
1. What is the most important character trait that you look for in a player when recruiting?
The most important character (trait) is how they handle adversity. It’s very hard to figure that out during the recruiting process, but I think the greatest trait of all the players I’ve had is, when adversity hits, how do they handle it? And the ones that can accept it, try to understand it to the best of their ability and then work to overcome it, are going to be your most successful players, regardless of talent.
How did you figure that out over the years?
It’s not easy. You have to trust the people that they’re playing for, the coaches they may be playing for. You have to be able to really do your homework on them as individuals because some coaches will tell you he’s the greatest kid in the world and no matter what, he’s not effected by this or by that, when in the end he’s just trying to sell his player, right? You have to be able to weed through that.
Some of it’s intuition when you bring a kid in or you go visit them in their homes and you see how they act with their parents. There’s little keys I have, which I don’t want to give all my secrets away, but some of it’s just instinct.
2. What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned after all these years at UConn (and many years at BC)?
Most valuable lesson I learned is, no matter what your record is for the season, it doesn’t define you as an individual, it defines that season and that team. But it doesn’t define you as an individual. And when you can get past that, when you can truly understand that, you will be the most successful you can be.
How have you applied that to your players?
Well, I try to tell them, 'So you’re playing in a big game, you’re playing in a national championship game, whether you win or lose that national championship game, it doesn’t define who you are as a person,' right?
There are guys that I coached that have won national championships that I would never hire in a million years. And there are guys that I’ve coached that have never gotten to a national championship game that I’d hire on the spot because of the individual they are.
So, just because you may have had success on the ice, it doesn’t define who you are as an individual, and just because you may have failed and not have won, doesn’t define who you are as a person.
And I think too many times in society, ‘He never won a ring, he can’t be the greatest of all time.’ Maybe not, but he’s one heckuva person and that’s way more important.
At the end of the day, I just know this: People that I hang out with, I don’t care how many rings they have or how many championships they’ve won. Do I enjoy their company? Do they try to make me a better person? Are they going to give me honest feedback in life? Those are the people you want to hang out with.
3. What advice would you give to a player who is considering options for their career? Why pick college hockey over something else?
Well, it’s all about balance in life. And I think college provides you balance in the three most important areas when you’re 18 to 24 years old in college hockey: that it provides you a structure for social life, it’s meeting people and networking; it provides an incredible platform for academics; and to grow you educationally and learn, just overall knowledge.
And, athletically, in the sport of ice hockey you’re seeing it more and more how many players are playing in the (NHL) … There’s a record number of players playing in the National Hockey League, which is the greatest league in the world, that have played in college.
So, not only are you going to mature as a person, come out of college with a degree, but you’ve given yourself a chance to play at the greatest level you can play at in the sport. That’s why I think it’s the best vehicle for an ice hockey player who wants to become the best that they can be.
4. What is your aspiration in hockey; what is your long-term goal?
My long-term goal is … that’s a tricky one.
Do you have pro aspirations or anything like that?
Oh, no, I don’t, really. I mean, I don’t today.
My goal is to graduate my players, make them better men and have them compete for trophies. That’s my goal with kids that enter UConn. And then when they leave, I hope five years from now they can say, ‘My experience at UConn, I really enjoyed it and I grew as a person, I found myself and it was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.’
5. Who’s the team to beat in Hockey East this year? (You can’t say UConn.)
Clearly, it would be Boston College. From our standpoint, they beat us up pretty good the two games that we played them and they’ve clinched the league with a week to go. They’re deep in all areas. They probably have the most experience of any team. I think they have at least eight seniors. And some high high-end talent to go along with it and a very experienced coach. I would say that they’re the team to beat in Hockey East.
It’s been a pretty amazing and tight season. Is this the way of the future or is this an aberration for this year?
No, I think it’s been this way for a long time.
I remember in 2008 at BC, we had to win our last game of the season against Northeastern just to get home ice in the playoffs. We were not a lock for the national tournament and we won the whole thing.
College hockey, especially Hockey East over the years, the parity in the league has been unrivaled, in my opinion.
You look at Merrimack this year, we lost two games to Merrimack. I though they were a really, really good team, they’re just young. I was in that same situation last year that they were this year, they had a lot of young freshmen, or a lot of new players to the team and that’s hard to win when you’re that young and inexperienced. They’re a really good hockey team. They swept Providence at the end of the year.
So, it’s a very, very tough league. And then you see what Vermont did to Northeastern last weekend.
There’s not an easy game in Hockey East. Very rarely can you play a “C” game in Hockey East and expect to win.
Paul Grant is an editor and a writer for HockeyJournal.com and Seamans Media. He previously oversaw hockey content at ESPN.com and Sporting News. You can connect with him at pgrant@hockeyjournal.com.
