While the fundraising date for the Robert Morris Athletic Department and Pittsburgh College Hockey Foundation (PCHF) is quickly approaching, Derek Schooley, men’s hockey coach and Director of Hockey Ops, isn’t solely focused on the money.
The PCHF was formed after RMU cut their men’s and women’s hockey programs and has joined with the athletic department to fundraise and work to ensure the programs can be brought back. The goal has been to raise $1.4 million in actual donations and an additional $1.4 million in pledges by December 15 – the end of the fall semester.
Derek Schooley is the men’s coach at Robert Morris. He’s also the Director of Men’s and Women’s Hockey Operations. That title encompasses a wide variety of roles, from fundraising and marketing to event planning and, you know, actual hockey work. In addition, former RMU women’s player Brianne McLaughlin-Bittle has been brought on as a Special Assistant For Hockey Operations.
While much of the discussion about Robert Morris has centered on the process of trying to bring the program back, Schooley said that there has been significant work behind the scenes to ensure that both the men’s and women’s programs are in a position to take the ice and play hockey in the fall of 2022.
Schooley, who has two teenage daughters who play hockey, has added scouting for the women’s team to his repertoire this season. It’s been a novel experience of attending tournaments and games with an eye to the opposition, instead of as a fan and dad, he said. But his familiarity with the women’s game has helped him ease into the role.
Men’s and women’s hockey have some similarities, but ultimately they are two different games, Schooley said. What he watches for in a possible male recruit is not the same things he’s looking for in a possible female recruit. While he’s not doing any formal recruiting – he’ll leave that to whomever is named as the new women’s head coach, he’s ensuring that the women’s program is in a position to take the ice and play.
He recently spent the weekend in Nashville as a fan and scout at the Smashville Showcase. While women’s college hockey fans have become familiar with the event thanks to the addition of college hockey games in 2019 and 2021, the event is primarily a tournament for girls hockey teams from across the country.
It was a great place to watch players and the college games have added an exciting aspect for girls to see what play at the next level looks like, but Schooley said the championship game between Colgate and Minnesota was an NCAA-tournament level contest. Getting to play in games like that in November is huge for teams looking toward the post-season. The short-turnaround and tournament atmosphere are great tools for getting teams in a post-season state of mind.
Though he’s officially the men’s coach, Schooley is as committed to the return of the women’s program as he is the men’s. This is personal for him. In August of 2003, Schooley was named the first head varsity hockey coach in Robert Morris history. He was on the search committee that hired the first women’s hockey coach and again when they brought on Paul Colontino.
“I have been at Robert Morris for 18 years and started the men’s program. We have had so many good things happen and so much success that we want to make sure that we keep this going for the next generation of colonial hockey players both men and women,” he said.
Schooley says that in the chaos of the nearing deadline, one thing they lost track of was communication with CHA and Atlantic Hockey Commissioner Bob DiGregorio. Schooley is referring to comments DiGregorio made to USCHO a few weeks ago about having too many questions and reservations to count on the Robert Morris women’s team returning to play in the CHA. Schooley has since reached out to the conference and rectified that breakdown. He said he remains committed to idea that the RMU women’s team will return to play and that they plan on being able to call the CHA home when they do.
The future remains uncertain – the fundraising page set the PCHF has set up shows just under $800,000 raised – well shy of the $1.4 million necessary to fund next season. We do not know how much has been pledged of the $1.4 million that would need to be secured to fund the 2023-24 season.
According to Schooley, there are donations that have not been added into the GiveCampus total yet, so the number is closer than it shows, but the group is not to their goal with fewer than two weeks to go until their deadline.
The fundraising goal is only part of the process – there will be a university Board of Trustees meeting in the coming weeks – Schooley was unsure of the exact date. The future of the programs will be discussed in that meeting.
