New Holy Cross coach Bill Riga is a rookie in a league known for coaching longevity.
The average tenure for an Atlantic Hockey coach is currently 15 seasons, and the last change was the addition of Canisius’ Trevor Large and Niagara’s Jason Lammers five years ago.
It’s the first collegiate head coaching stint for Riga, who spend the last 13 seasons as an assistant at Quinnipiac.
His Crusaders earned their first win of the season, and Riga’s first win as coach, last Saturday with a road 3-2 victory over Bentley.
“It’s been a bit of a process so far,” said Riga. “We’ve been getting better every game.”
Riga was hired in May, so the team he inherited from David Berard, who left to become an associate athletic director at Providence, was already set with a few exceptions.
“The transfers were mine,” he said. “Because of the timing, those came even before the assistants.”
The two transfers, sophomores Tyler Ghirardosi (Quinnipiac) and Matt Guerra (Robert Morris) are first and tied for second, respectively, on the team in scoring.
Riga said at the beginning of the season there were a lot of details to consider in preparing for his first stint as a head coach. Now, it’s mostly about the hockey.
“Many of the distractions went away,” he said. “It’s more hockey-intensive now.
“As we move along, it’s not about learning and doing new things, like we were before the season. It’s more about adjusting rather than re-teaching. (Before the season), everything we did was new. Now we’re trying to improve and adjust.”
Riga noted that one of the big differences between an assistant versus a head coach is being responsible for the overall mood on the bench.
“A head coach is more in control of the emotional tone,” he said. “Everything affects a team’s mentality and how they handle play.
“It’s about keeping the bench calm and speaking with one voice, especially with officials. If somebody’s going to get warned, I’d rather it be me.”
When asked to compare his new conference to others in college hockey, Riga points to improvements in several areas of Atlantic Hockey.
“As a whole, it’s getting better and better,” he said. “The transfers have clearly made a difference so far this season. It’s upped the anti. Teams are older and have added skilled players, guys in some cases that have played 100 games.
“When you combine that with the (new) facilities, it’s very promising.”
The Crusaders, like a lot of AHA teams, have an aggressive nonconference schedule. Holy Cross has already played Northeastern and Boston College and travels to Notre Dame next weekend.
“(A tough schedule) helps with recruiting,” said Riga. “The guys here want to play those teams. Games like that set the standard and let you know where you’re at.”
This week, Riga squares off against his former team, Quinnipiac.
“It will certainly be special,” he said. “Seeing all the players and everyone that works in the rink. At the same time, I’m trying to to stay focused on what we’re doing. Hopefully it will be a really competitive game.”
