Comley to Retire At Season's End

Rick Comley  announced today at his weekly press conference that he will retire once his team's season is over. I'm assuming he means that literally, since figuratively, Michigan State's season has been over for months now. Comley has been a head coach for 38 years between Lake Superior, Northern Michigan and Michigan State, winning a national championship at Northern Michigan and Michigan State, but has been a part of the steady deterioration of the Michigan State program in recent years.

Comley's legacy is certainly a difficult issue to tackle. There's no denying the positives. He's one of a handful of coaches with over 700 wins and multiple national titles to his credit. But at the same time, his 778 wins have come in 1496 games, with a winning percentage of just .557. He won a national title in 2006-2007, but two years later, also oversaw perhaps the worst season by a major college team ever. He's made a tremendous difference in the careers of many hockey players. He also kicked a player off his team two days after that player's brother chose to play for a rival school, and reminded us all that the real tragedy in Steve Kampfer being assaulted by his players was that someone swore at him. I guess when you stick around for nearly 40 years there's bound to be lots of good and bad along the way.