Robert Morris hockey players mourn loss of men's and women's teams, lash out at administration

Terry Shafer and Dyllan Lubbesmeyer had one thing in common. They were both goalies at Robert Morris University. They missed each other on campus by a year. Shafer graduated in 2016. Lubbesmeyer arrived in 2017.

But they still have that bond. Or at least they did.

Now they have something else in common. They are both orphaned alumni. They are now ex-players of a program that no longer exists.

Wednesday afternoon, the administration at Robert Morris University announced it was eliminating both men’s and women’s hockey.

“Today’s announcement weighs heavily on all of us,” said Robert Morris athletic director Chris King. “We are saddened for the student-athletes who are impacted by this decision, and we will make all of our support systems available to help them navigate this difficult time.”

Both Division I programs formed in the early 2000s. Both have won conference titles and have made it to the NCAA Tournament.

“I feel like a man without a country. It’s tough,” Shafer said. “Fifteen years from now, I’m going to tell people I played at Robert Morris. And they are going to say, ‘What’s that? Where was that? That doesn’t exist.’

“I’m going to feel like I’m telling fisherman stories.”

Lubbesmeyer feels the same way.

“It’s almost embarrassing,” Lubbesmeyer said. “You want to look back. You want to cheer on your boys. You want to have something to be proud of.

“You’re kind of homeless. What do you say? ‘I played Division I hockey.’

“‘Oh yeah, for who?’

“‘Well, I played for Robert Morris. I loved it there. We were a great team. But now we aren’t a team anymore.’

“It’s a hard pill to swallow.”

Lubbesmeyer and Shafer aren’t alone. Consider former women’s goalie Brianne McLaughlin. She represented RMU as an Olympian in 2010 and 2014. Her husband, Logan Bittle, played on the men’s team and was an assistant coach on the women’s team through last season.

“Because of this program, I was able to live my dream of playing Division 1 hockey when no other program showed interest,” McLaughlin posted on Facebook. “Because of this program, I moved on to my next dream of putting a ‘USA’ on my chest and competing for my country. Because of this program I met my husband and brought two beautiful boys into my world. I hate that I will never be able to cheer on my Colonials ever again.”

The reactions Wednesday were raw, in part because the news came so abruptly. I heard from multiple people that the university told men’s coach Derek Schooley about the demise of the program with less than two hours of warning before the announcement went public.

I’m told women’s coach Paul Colontino got a heads up of about 90 minutes.

Since no one currently with the teams got advanced warning, the former players that helped build these programs from scratch were blindsided as well. The men’s team began in 2004 with Schooley at the helm, followed by the women’s program in 2006 with Colontino coming on board in 2011.

After 12 hours of digesting @RMUMHockey news today, I am still shocked, disappointed & sad for the current/incomjng players, alumni & staff of RMU Hockey. Please support & appreciate everything these student athletes have done over the past 18 years.

— Derek Schooley (@derekschooley) May 27, 2021

Not only are they orphaned, they are unemployed. At the end of May. About six weeks after the college hockey season ended and the off-season job carousel stopped spinning.

To say nothing of the current players who now have to find a place to play in the fall through an already overly stocked transfer portal thanks to the 2021 coronavirus rules which are allowing free movement and extra years of eligibility for seniors.

“I got access to look at (the portal),” Lubbesmeyer said. “There were 50 goalies and hundreds of other players trying to bounce from team to team. And there are kids coming up in juniors who have a say. That was February or March. Now, these other D-I teams have filled their rosters. Guys on my team all signed leases for the next year. (Robert Morris) just put them so far behind.”

Timing wasn’t the only issue. RMU’s administration was also far from transparent in its reasons for cutting the program. University spokesperson (note, I said “university spokesperson,” not “athletic department spokesperson”) Jonathan Potts announced the news to the media in an email with a subject heading that read: “RMU Charts Strategic Course Headed into its Centennial Year.”

Well, yippee indeed! That sounds wonderful.

But, once you open the email, this is the first sentence of the press release.

“Robert Morris University announced today it will no longer field NCAA Division I men’s and women’s ice hockey teams as part of a series of strategic initiatives intended to position the university to be amongst the most agile and professionally focused schools in the nation as it prepares for its upcoming 100th anniversary.”

Ah! Let the beauty of this think-tank, double-speak, bait-and-switch, form-quote wash over you.

I didn’t realize my MacBook Pro was equipped with “smell-o-vision.” But I’m getting an odor of corporate B.S. so strong it’s stinking like a stockyard in my den right now.

The press release went on to boast about the university’s new “Center for Equity and Professional Advancement” via a $500,000 donation. It bragged about RMU “running 26 percent ahead of last year’s pace in deposits for first-time freshmen for the fall semester.” And the statement trumpeted how the school surpassed “its goal in its record-setting $100 million fundraising campaign, nearly a year ahead of schedule.”

Great. So if you are bathing in gold coins like Scrooge McDuck, why gut the hockey teams then?

This is like when — say, for instance — a major radio broadcast corporation slashes its payroll every December 23 while bragging about the health of the company due to increased profit margins.

Um, not that I’d know anything about that.

“This whole spin is criminal,” one of McLaughlin’s former teammates on the women’s team said via text. “Fools!”

I understand her anger. Wouldn’t you rather just hear, “Hey, we don’t have the money to keep it going. I’m sorry”? Instead, you get spit in the face and are told it’s raining.

She wasn’t the only alum alone in her venom toward how the school was handling matters.

An update? Or a kiss of death? Completely sickened with the lack of support or communication to alumni. Two programs that were the strong suit of the university with continued lack of support. While the entire university’s identity stands on a 1st round NIT win https://t.co/tw1SentFOR

— Matt Cope (@Cope_WithIt22) May 26, 2021

@RMU While I do understand that this must have been a very difficult decision, the details and reasoning behind the decision are... underwhelming. To be frank, whenever the decision to eliminate 2 successful programs is made, there should be ample proof and reasoning as to why. https://t.co/QviloBEuSL

— Chase Golightly (@4goinhard) May 26, 2021

Something must be done to fix this, feel sad as an alumni, feel terrible for the amazing staff and players that are currently with the program. This can’t stand. https://t.co/dxSLimgKJp

— justin kapelmaster (@jpkappy) May 26, 2021

To completely blindside the @RMUMHockey & @RMUWHockey programs without even giving them a chance to fundraise is disgusting...you will never see a penny from me! @DrChrisHoward #highestgpa #modelstudents #mydiplomaisalreadyinthetrash

— David Friedmann (@Friedsy) May 26, 2021

What's even more appalling by @DrChrisHoward 's decision is it gives players little to no time to transfer...how can you make a decision to this magnitude with very little lead time...The decision and decision making process involved needs to be INVESTIGATED

— David Friedmann (@Friedsy) May 26, 2021

The tweet from former men’s player David Friedman about fundraising is noteworthy. Not long ago, Alabama-Huntsville was able to resuscitate its program because it was able to raise funds, in part because of a goose from graduate Cam Talbot.

The Colonials don’t have an NHL goaltending alum like him. But if the alumni base was afforded a little time to find a few deep pockets, would that have been enough? It may be working for Alaska-Anchorage.

I was told by someone within the athletic department that university management didn’t seem interested in such an option.

“How can you save something that you don’t know needs to be saved?” Shafer asked. “It seems so simple to give us a chance.”

Full disclosure, I’ve done play-by-play for RMU men’s hockey for seven years. I love the program and the people in the athletic department surrounding it. And, yeah, I got paid to do it. On the women’s side, I consider McLaughlin and Bittle friends.

Yup, I’ve got an ax to grind. Good thing I’ve got this column to do it, huh?

So I don’t mean to trivialize things by advancing an undercurrent of “It’s not what Robert Morris’ brass did. It’s how they did it.”

I mean, university officials could have handled things 180 degrees better, and the programs would still be gone. And that would be awful, but it might just be reality.

Keep in mind, though, I just got done talking to three goalies who are agonizing over the loss of these programs. And all they wanted was an opportunity to make the save.

It stinks they got screened by their own alma mater.