After the Alaska State Hockey Association issued a vote of no-confidence to Alaska-Anchorage athletic director Steve Cobb earlier this week, the UAA Hockey Alumni Association, which includes former Seawolves’ hockey players, on Tuesday issued a similar vote of no-confidence to Cobb, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
“I wouldn’t have any comment on that at all,” Cobb said to the paper. “We’re busy trying to finish the [school year], having our Athlete of the Year banquet and hiring a new coach.”
Alumni association president Mark Filipenko said the group of former UAA hockey players feels alienated.
“This didn’t happen overnight,” he said. “It’s something that’s been ongoing for many years.
“Last year we had a vote to pull all support from the program and we did not because of some people that asked us to stay around, that there will be changes if the program doesn’t have a good year. There was a coaching change, correct. However, not a lot’s changed.
“… I would say, and I hate to say it, but from the group’s standpoint, the support will be lost. Individual people may still support it. ”
Since the alumni group was formed, it has raised more than $100,000 for UAA hockey and the athletic program, including $55,000 for an endowment fund, according to Filipenko, who added that future contributions could halt..
The alumni association’s resolution says Cobb “shunned” alumni and the hockey community. Filipenko added the group has offered ideas for beefing up attendance at Sullivan Arena, but the ideas have fallen on deaf ears.
The final straw in the matter was when no one from the alumni association or hockey community was asked to join a search committee to help determine a new coach after Dave Shyiak was fired earlier this month. Cobb told the paper that the university requires search committee members to be school employees.
