It’s been a strange couple of years for Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley.
On May 26, 2021, with no warning, RMU’s president and board announced that effective immediately, it was canceling their men’s and women’s hockey programs.
Coaches, players, alumni, and fans were in shock. But quickly, Schooley helped lead a massive effort to restore the programs. Over $2.8 million was raised in donations and pledges in a span of six months.
The efforts paid off and on Dec. 17, 2021, it was announced that men’s and women’s hockey would be coming back. Atlantic Hockey officially granted the Colonials re-admission to the conference in April for the 2023-24 season.
Schooley is in some ways back to where he started his first season at Robert Morris, which was also the school’s first at the varsity level: building a team almost from scratch. He says he was initially worried that the cancelation, although temporary, would cause permanent damage to the program’s reputation.
“One of my biggest fears was that people wouldn’t trust us,” he said. “But as it turns out, nothing can be further from the truth.”
“Recruits have had no qualms about it. We’re getting more support from our Board than ever. Our new president has been great. There’s more community support than ever. We have sold more season tickets than ever before.
“People have embraced the relaunch. It’s been pretty fun.”
“Fun” wasn’t a word being used much in the weeks after the cancellation.
“I wouldn’t wish that on anybody,” said Schooley. “Emotionally it was hard on all of us, hard on my family. But there were some positives. I didn’t lose my income. I got to be more of a hockey dad with more opportunities to see my kids play. I had chances to do
new things.”
Once it was made official that RMU would be back, Schooley began the task of rebuilding his program. Most of his players with remaining eligibility transferred when the cancellation was announced.
“We have three guys who are still on campus,” he said. “Other than that, it will be all new players.”
Schooley says that times have changed since he started the program back in 2003, both in terms of recruitment as well as for him personally.
“I was 32 then, (and) now I’m 52,” he said. “Back then, it took us a while to get rolling. I don’t want to wait four or five years to get back to where we were.”
The transfer portal has changed the game. But it will be spring before Schooley knows who will be available to him.
“We’re saving around 10 spots for portal guys,” he said. “Our plan is to be flexible. We’d like to balance out class sizes, but we’ll take an additional freshman over someone in the portal if it’s the right thing for us.
“It’s Moneyball stuff. There are different types of players in the portal.”
One of Schooley’s first moves was to bring back Matt Nicholson, who was an assistant at RMU from 2009 to 2015. Since then, he has stints at Niagara and most recently, at Mercyhurst.
“Matt started in June,” said Schooley. “He’s been a key part of our success. We’ll be hiring additional staff in April.”
Additional fundraising has allowed Robert Morris to not just restore things as they were, but to improve them.
“We’re upgrading the locker rooms and lounge area thanks to some generous donations,” said Schooley. “Everything’s on the table. We’re talking about a video board. We expect to be sold out every game. We’re not going back to the same old Robert Morris as before.
“It’s going to be even better.”
