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McGuirre's saying fits Coach Miz!

The Ritan                   March 4, 1988
by Joe Schultz

Al McGuirre, former Marquette basketball coach, once said, "That's the good thing about freshmen: they come back as sophomores."
Rita hockey coach Mr. Jim Misiora couldn't be more happy with the statement. He's added to it so much that now his freshmen of three years ago are seniors and have nowhere to return to.
One thing, though, "they're the type of guys that I'd be glad to see ten years from now at the ballpark or in a men's league," said Coach Misiora. "They're all just good human beings. They're very coachable and none of them are dogs."
That could be because all but one of them have been with Rita hockey for four years. Tom McKenna transferred in sophomore year. "THEY'VE all got that Fr. Murphy Rita-family-and-pride in them," said Coach Misiora. "They all believe in that. "Of the seven seniors three of them are four-year,  centermen: Mike Herbs and captains Dave Sheedy and Dan Lopatka. The other captain, Tom Bryja, 
"I think the players respect

the captains' ability and work ethic," said Coach Misiora.
"I HAD them plan a few practices this year. It was a high-tempo workout. Those guys were more tired then than in some of my practices.
"In some years if I had anyone plan a practice they'd put down, 'We'll shoot off the boards for 20 minutes, then we'll play rat hockey for 20 minutes, then we'll see if we can kill the goalie for the last 20 minutes," he said.  In those times when Coach's voice would be on the fritz after a rough game, it's good to know that competent people can take over. "A 70 by 200 foot piece of ice and a coach that can't talk-it's a prime time to be a jerk," said Coach Misiora. "They got the guys ready and led them through the rest."
AND WHEN players try to help the coach run practices, that means barking the orders the coach can't. That can lead to some unpleasant opinions of each other. "I'm sure there are guys who don't like each other. Maybe some of the seniors don't like each other. I don't know but, I've never gotten that

impression. "I'll use the old Mayor Daley excuse," said Coach Misiora: "Christ couldn't get 12 guys who got along and I'm supposed to get 20?"
Over the years as seniors have come and gone, they all haven't been like this season's. "No matter what kind of team we've had-good, bad, or indifferent-we've always had a couple of guys who are nitwits." "THERE'S always the senior at the banquet that when you stand up, in the back of your mind you're saying, 'Thank God he's gone,"' said Coach Misiora. "There was a guy from one of our more successful teams a few years ago. 1 cheered when we were done with him."
"He was a great hockey player but the biggest pain I've ever coached!" There have been flakes and greats, hustlers and "dogs" to come through the program, but Coach Misiora claimed he has found three types: "Some guys make things happen, some guys watch things happen and some guys wonder what happened. We've got them all on our team."

Links to other pages

Page 1 Tribute

Page 2 Kennedy Cup
Page 3 Coach Miz Quotes
Page 4 Miz says Thanks
Page 5 More Thanks
Page 6 E-mail Tributes

Page 7 Pictures from 2005
Page 8 Pictures from 2007

Pictures from 2008

 

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