Johns Hopkins 2021

[HopFan16]

Colwell removed from the roster as expected, while The White Whale of the Midfield, Alex Mabbett, is now wearing #16.

Transfer portal entrant Gainey is still on the roster, which, for now, means six goalies with the addition of Kirson, incoming freshman DiMarsico, the apparent retention of redshirt senior Giacalone, plus Darby and Marcille. I would still be very surprised if we enter the 2021 season (assuming there is one) with that many goalies. On the alumni Q&A call, Milliman was asked specifically about the goalie number, he basically gave a non-answer, saying the guys are excited about the competition and they intend to start the best guy for the job.

I don’t see the problem with having more goalies. A lot of times the recruited commits don’t measure up, and a hungry unknown comes in and puts on a display. Goalie is a tough position. You either have a coach the gets reps in for the backups or the coach that hangs his hat on one amd rides them exclusively. My advice to goalies is to evaluate the coaches, the first type will see to it you develop, whereas the latter will cause you to wilt.

The argument is those are spots you could be using at other positions that require more depth (like midfield)—or they're spots you don't need at all, given how huge the roster size is. There's a reason you only see one goalie per recruiting class. I don't think you need more than 4. 5 is borderline and 6 is definitely at least one too many, IMO. If you can't identify one solid goaltender out of 4-5 recruits, then something is either wrong with your recruiting or your ability to develop those players (perhaps one reason why we have a new staff right now?). Is it the end of the world? No. But if you need to get the roster down to a more realistic size, then I think it makes sense to start with your 6 goalies. I am not advocating for any specific players to be cut (especially because we have almost no real data on many of them), I just think that position is a natural place to start trimming the fat. But far from the only place where that may be necessary.

[DocBarrister]

Not sure why there is so much discussion of roster management.

A head coach who can’t manage his roster has no business being a head coach. It’s Coaching 101.

I have no doubt Coach Milliman will get a handle on the roster. Much more interested in seeing what he does with it.

DocBarrister

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

Not sure why there is so much discussion of roster management.

A head coach who can’t manage his roster has no business being a head coach. It’s Coaching 101.

I have no doubt Coach Milliman will get a handle on the roster. Much more interested in seeing what he does with it.

DocBarrister

I don’t get hung up on the 60 or whatever either.

The fact of the matter is depth PER POSITION.

Attack - MF - Close D - G - SSDM - LSM - FOGO - Maybe wings - maybe clearing specialists

What matters to me is the depth at each of those.

If the grand total adds up to 60, so what?

Sierra Hotel - Stuff Happens. Injuries. Next man up. A diamond in the rough appears because this staff might have the ability to spot it, DEVELOP it and USE it.

With all the COVID interruptions, teams might experience more injuries next year. Who knows?

Bottom line to me is who wants to be on the team and represent Hopkins no matter their role?

If that adds up to 60+, well hell, I’d say Hopkins is surviving the transition impressively, and I’m proud of every single one of them.

W

[flalax22]

Not sure why there is so much discussion of roster management.

A head coach who can’t manage his roster has no business being a head coach. It’s Coaching 101.

I have no doubt Coach Milliman will get a handle on the roster. Much more interested in seeing what he does with it.

DocBarrister

I don’t get hung up on the 60 or whatever either.

The fact of the matter is depth PER POSITION.

Attack - MF - Close D - G - SSDM - LSM - FOGO - Maybe wings - maybe clearing specialists

What matters to me is the depth at each of those.

If the grand total adds up to 60, so what?

Sierra Hotel - Stuff Happens. Injuries. Next man up. A diamond in the rough appears because this staff might have the ability to spot it, DEVELOP it and USE it.

With all the COVID interruptions, teams might experience more injuries next year. Who knows?

Bottom line to me is who wants to be on the team and represent Hopkins no matter their role?

If that adds up to 60+, well hell, I’d say Hopkins is surviving the transition impressively, and I’m proud of every single one of them.

W

I agree with you. However from my understanding the concern is less about managing the roster of 60 or more players on game day and in practice and more about a locker room designed for 40, film room designed for 40 etc

[HopFan16]

There is only so much practice time, especially this year when there might not even be any fall ball. You'll have 15 guys standing around doing nothing. And if you start giving more attention to those 15 guys, then you take attention away from everyone else. Finite time, finite space, finite resources—literally and figuratively. Needing to give 6 goalies reps means that's fewer reps per goalie. Having so many extra attackmen to mix in means that's less time the actual contributors have to form chemistry with each other. There are a million examples of this kind of thing. And then there are the personal relationships the staff has to maintain. Do you really want the total roster to be significantly more than DOUBLE the number of guys who actually get into games? I don't think there should be a hard and fast rule, and obviously every staff (and every school) has different management abilities and preferences, but I struggle to see how the program as a whole wouldn't be better served by a slightly more....disciplined numerical approach. You want depth, but you want it to be good depth. At a certain point it starts to hurt more than it helps.

[bauer4429]

Given the circumstances I think every team is going to have huge rosters. You have an incoming class of freshman, a huge class of 5th year seniors, and an active transfer portal. There will be tons of players at every position.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

This is balderdash.

Speaking of which, I wonder how he’s doing?

[nyjay]

I'm not worked up about the size of the roster. It will work itself out and we're no different than any one of 15 other schools with the same problem.

An enterprising coach at, I dunno, Fairfield? a NESCAC school?, could probably gather a pretty good roster of castoffs from top ten programs and win a couple of league titles over the next few years.

[jhu06]

There is only so much practice time, especially this year when there might not even be any fall ball. You'll have 15 guys standing around doing nothing. And if you start giving more attention to those 15 guys, then you take attention away from everyone else. Finite time, finite space, finite resources—literally and figuratively. Needing to give 6 goalies reps means that's fewer reps per goalie. Having so many extra attackmen to mix in means that's less time the actual contributors have to form chemistry with each other. There are a million examples of this kind of thing. And then there are the personal relationships the staff has to maintain. Do you really want the total roster to be significantly more than DOUBLE the number of guys who actually get into games? I don't think there should be a hard and fast rule, and obviously every staff (and every school) has different management abilities and preferences, but I struggle to see how the program as a whole wouldn't be better served by a slightly more....disciplined numerical approach. You want depth, but you want it to be good depth. At a certain point it starts to hurt more than it helps.

"personal relationships to maintain"
-this was a 2-4 program last year and none of these kids has made a ff. He doesn't owe any of them anything. They all know they were recruited by someone else who is no longer the coach in part because of their lack of performance on the field. He's here to bring accountability.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

He’s here... TO WIN.


Strike up the band.

[DocBarrister]

Not sure why there is so much discussion of roster management.

A head coach who can’t manage his roster has no business being a head coach. It’s Coaching 101.

I have no doubt Coach Milliman will get a handle on the roster. Much more interested in seeing what he does with it.

DocBarrister

I don’t get hung up on the 60 or whatever either.

The fact of the matter is depth PER POSITION.

Attack - MF - Close D - G - SSDM - LSM - FOGO - Maybe wings - maybe clearing specialists

What matters to me is the depth at each of those.

If the grand total adds up to 60, so what?

Sierra Hotel - Stuff Happens. Injuries. Next man up. A diamond in the rough appears because this staff might have the ability to spot it, DEVELOP it and USE it.

With all the COVID interruptions, teams might experience more injuries next year. Who knows?

Bottom line to me is who wants to be on the team and represent Hopkins no matter their role?

If that adds up to 60+, well hell, I’d say Hopkins is surviving the transition impressively, and I’m proud of every single one of them.

W

Completely agree.

DocBarrister

[51percentcorn]

While I've made my position on this issue quite clear I am compelled to say again - completely disagree with anyone that doesn't think the roster size is an issue. There are so many correlations and potential ramifications it's ridiculous.
1. The magic number of 23/24 - that leaves 35/36/37 kids that will never leave the bench in a competitive game. While there are many I am sure that get tremendous value out of being on a DI team while not getting to start or play all that much - 35 (and let's face it -if more than half the team is not playing the problem starts at that number) cannot be good for team chemistry - parents/friends/players themselves - way more birds to start chirping in the nest
2. As '16 pointed out - practice - if you can't give 35 kids any game experience you have to them practice time - it makes practices harder to run and takes time and reps away from the 23 that will play.
3. Facilities/staff - aside from space that is probably optimal for 45 or so - Hopkins has 4 coaches and very few trainers - this isn't Clemson where they can hire someone to hold on to the pants of their DC so he doesn't get a penalty for going on the field - 60ish kids have to stretch the facilities to the limit.
4. Recruiting - While any individual hypothesis on why a kid left or decommitted I've put out there may be incorrect - undoubtedly Hopkins has lost recruits over the past several years when the roster size has ballooned due to the fact that an attackman may not want to join a team that already has 12 of them or whatever
5. Money - Hopkins is a very expensive school (duh) I believe that the potential competitiveness for certain recruits could also be increased by being able to offer slightly bigger pieces of the 12.6 pie. 12.6 divided by 60 = .21 12.6 divided by 40 = .31 - the numbers are thrown out there as examples -I know not everyone receives athletic aid or gets the exact same amount - the point is still relevant.

Having depth is important - injuries of course happen and you need the next man up to get the job done but 60 is absurd. It just is. The Hopkins women's volleyball team went 35-0 and never had more than something like 9-10 players so they never held a true intrasquad scrimmage. I am going to bet every single one of them contributed and felt very much a part of the team. Do you really think a team where 62% of the players never really play can say the same thing? If you do fine - afraid that means an agree to disagree situation.

[steel_hop]

Not sure if it was posted earlier, but Hopkins is fully going back to school with a bunch of modifications including giving freshman their own room that will be guaranteed, sophomores will have some space on campus but many will be housed off-campus, etc. I wonder if there was a room lottery in the spring? Do they still do the sophomore dorm room lottery? My wife "won" the lottery in her freshman year.

While I certainly have my issues with President Daniels on some issues, I applauded him for making the right decision here. If you are going to have school, there should be absolutely no reason it shouldn't be on campus with classes open. If college kids can't wear a mask and social distance on campus then they have a bunch of other issues. Harvard and other schools that are charging full tuition for only on-line classes should be ashamed of themselves. Harvard should be especially ashamed given the size of their endowment.

https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/06/30/johns-ho ... plans/#cta

[flalax22]

So with many saying the roster is unmanageable at the current number I will ask again. What was Petro thinking and what was his motivation? He wasn’t going to cut guys he recruited. So anybody have an idea of what his plan was with his 65 man squad?

[jhu06]

Not sure if it was posted earlier, but Hopkins is fully going back to school with a bunch of modifications including giving freshman their own room that will be guaranteed, sophomores will have some space on campus but many will be housed off-campus, etc. I wonder if there was a room lottery in the spring? Do they still do the sophomore dorm room lottery? My wife "won" the lottery in her freshman year.

While I certainly have my issues with President Daniels on some issues, I applauded him for making the right decision here. If you are going to have school, there should be absolutely no reason it shouldn't be on campus with classes open. If college kids can't wear a mask and social distance on campus then they have a bunch of other issues. Harvard and other schools that are charging full tuition for only on-line classes should be ashamed of themselves. Harvard should be especially ashamed given the size of their endowment.

https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/06/30/johns-ho ... plans/#cta

I wasn't impressed with health and wellness under amr 1 when I was there but as much ---- as Hopkins takes here, is there a single educational institution on the planet that probably has more knowledge and resources available to make the best calls here?

Read with delight the universities efforts to revisit its past. I'm guessing the restoration of the cannon is at the top of the list. perhaps they can do a video one sponsored by bloomberg lp.

https://pages.jh.edu/jhumag/1106web/letters.html

[Typical Lax Dad]

Not sure if it was posted earlier, but Hopkins is fully going back to school with a bunch of modifications including giving freshman their own room that will be guaranteed, sophomores will have some space on campus but many will be housed off-campus, etc. I wonder if there was a room lottery in the spring? Do they still do the sophomore dorm room lottery? My wife "won" the lottery in her freshman year.

While I certainly have my issues with President Daniels on some issues, I applauded him for making the right decision here. If you are going to have school, there should be absolutely no reason it shouldn't be on campus with classes open. If college kids can't wear a mask and social distance on campus then they have a bunch of other issues. Harvard and other schools that are charging full tuition for only on-line classes should be ashamed of themselves. Harvard should be especially ashamed given the size of their endowment.

https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/06/30/johns-ho ... plans/#cta

I wasn't impressed with health and wellness under amr 1 when I was there but as much ---- as Hopkins takes here, is there a single educational institution on the planet that probably has more knowledge and resources available to make the best calls here?

Read with delight the universities efforts to revisit its past. I'm guessing the restoration of the cannon is at the top of the list. perhaps they can do a video one sponsored by bloomberg lp.

https://pages.jh.edu/jhumag/1106web/letters.html

Do all juniors and seniors live off campus at Hopkins? Or is it that housing is not guaranteed for sophomores and juniors, historically?

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

While I've made my position on this issue quite clear I am compelled to say again - completely disagree with anyone that doesn't think the roster size is an issue. There are so many correlations and potential ramifications it's ridiculous.
1. The magic number of 23/24 - that leaves 35/36/37 kids that will never leave the bench in a competitive game. While there are many I am sure that get tremendous value out of being on a DI team while not getting to start or play all that much - 35 (and let's face it -if more than half the team is not playing the problem starts at that number) cannot be good for team chemistry - parents/friends/players themselves - way more birds to start chirping in the nest
2. As '16 pointed out - practice - if you can't give 35 kids any game experience you have to them practice time - it makes practices harder to run and takes time and reps away from the 23 that will play.
3. Facilities/staff - aside from space that is probably optimal for 45 or so - Hopkins has 4 coaches and very few trainers - this isn't Clemson where they can hire someone to hold on to the pants of their DC so he doesn't get a penalty for going on the field - 60ish kids have to stretch the facilities to the limit.
4. Recruiting - While any individual hypothesis on why a kid left or decommitted I've put out there may be incorrect - undoubtedly Hopkins has lost recruits over the past several years when the roster size has ballooned due to the fact that an attackman may not want to join a team that already has 12 of them or whatever
5. Money - Hopkins is a very expensive school (duh) I believe that the potential competitiveness for certain recruits could also be increased by being able to offer slightly bigger pieces of the 12.6 pie. 12.6 divided by 60 = .21 12.6 divided by 40 = .31 - the numbers are thrown out there as examples -I know not everyone receives athletic aid or gets the exact same amount - the point is still relevant.

Having depth is important - injuries of course happen and you need the next man up to get the job done but 60 is absurd. It just is. The Hopkins women's volleyball team went 35-0 and never had more than something like 9-10 players so they never held a true intrasquad scrimmage. I am going to bet every single one of them contributed and felt very much a part of the team. Do you really think a team where 62% of the players never really play can say the same thing? If you do fine - afraid that means an agree to disagree situation.

Math

0424380F-55D8-4178-B04A-450AFE87750F.jpeg (74.39 KiB) Viewed 1999 times

[jhu06]

Do all juniors and seniors live off campus at Hopkins? Or is it that housing is not guaranteed for sophomores and juniors, historically?

-housing is guaranteed for sophomores. Honestly charles village is wonderful and most people enjoy living off campus because it's a lot lot less expensive, the houses/apartments are great.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Do all juniors and seniors live off campus at Hopkins? Or is it that housing is not guaranteed for sophomores and juniors, historically?

-housing is guaranteed for sophomores. Honestly charles village is wonderful and most people enjoy living off campus because it's a lot lot less expensive, the houses/apartments are great.

I was just wondering. I didn’t realize so many kids lived “off campus” at Hopkins. Not having to deal with dormitories may make things easier.

[jhu06]

It's been awhile since I lived there. they charge you a lot to live and eat on campus to help pay the adminstrative bloat. off campus is better, big row houses. no ra's, more WOMBAT style living. just don't get shot or mugged.