The hiring of Anastos is an interesting turn of events

I have been reading this story all day and into the night and my Bravo Sierra detector is in full force... The more I read this story the more it doesn't smell right. Who the hell hires a league commissioner to coach a high profile division one college hockey program? Especially, when the coach hasn't coached a hockey game in 20 years? This hiring makes no sense what-so-ever. I would think the game has changed in the last twenty years as well.

USCHO.COM --- In the press conference Wednesday announcing his hiring, Anastos said it himself: “It’s not every day a commissioner’s hired to come coach a team.”

I’d take that one step further. It’s not every day that someone whose last college coaching experience was nearly 20 years ago is hired as a head coach at a high-profile university.

That’s one question I have. Why did Michigan State choose someone with no recent direct college hockey coaching experience?

MSU athletic director Mark Hollis took everyone through his hiring process at the press conference. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet with so many people — people from the hockey world, people from the athletic world, and people from the business world, talking about what it takes to be a great leader, what it takes to be a great coach, and frankly what it takes to be a great Spartan. Through it all we started with 20-plus names.”

Twenty? Really?

“In the end,” said Hollis, “Tom Anastos jumped to the forefront on all the characteristics I believe take a true leader. I think when I step back and I look, any time I hire a coach I step back and look at my three children, and I think, ‘Who would I entrust my three children with to be a mentor?’ And that was a big factor in hiring Tom Anastos.”

Okay.

“I believe that we have to create a culture here,” said Hollis, “where folks in the NHL — scouts, general managers — believe that we’re giving our kids everything possible to train, develop not only to play in the NHL but for a life beyond, and that’s what Tom Anastos believes in.”

I am on board with this. There’s no question that NCAA hockey needs to compete harder with major junior Canadian hockey for college-eligible players. No question. From what Anastos has said on several occasions, I know that he’s passionate about keeping college-eligible players in college.