By: Andy Baggot (Madison.com) -

When you land a major gig with a Fortune 500 company, conventional wisdom says you shouldn’t have to worry about an identity crisis.

Good luck trying to get that one past Mark Osiecki.

Three days ago, Osiecki accepted an offer to become the men’s hockey coach at Ohio State, one of the biggest, most well-to-do athletic departments in the NCAA.

It represents a fantastic opportunity for Osiecki, the former University of Wisconsin defenseman who spent the last six seasons at his alma mater becoming a highly regarded assistant coach and recruiting savant.

In the coming days, I fully expect Osiecki to coax his close friend and fellow UW teammate, Steve Rohlik, from Minnesota-Duluth to Columbus, Ohio, where they’ll set about creating their shared vision of excellence.

In the coming years, I fully expect the Buckeyes — the only Big Ten Conference member without an NCAA title in men’s hockey — to be a perennial force on the national stage.

“He’s ready,” UW coach Mike Eaves said of Osiecki, whose recruiting acumen helped bring no less than 10 prospects to Madison who were chosen in the first or second rounds of the NHL draft. “He’s got the energy. It’s a perfect match.”

Osiecki has this habit of winning wherever he goes and it should be no different at Ohio State, a Central Collegiate Hockey Association entry order prescription drugs that returns its top nine scorers, its entire defensive corps and both goaltenders next season.

Barring any early departures to the pros — there are six NHL draftees — Ohio State will have nine players with at least 100 career games at the college level, the kind of experience that carried the Badgers to the NCAA championship game earlier this month.

Osiecki will know what to do with that kind of substance because that’s what habitual winners do. He helped produce major titles as a player at the high school, college and pro levels. He did it as a coach in juniors at Green Bay. He did it as an assistant at North Dakota and Wisconsin. He did it with Team USA in the World Junior Championships earlier this year, serving as an assistant to another one of his mentors, Dean Blais.

Arguably the biggest issue Osiecki will face is one you might not expect at Ohio State, one of a handful of NCAA Division I schools that earns and spends in excess of $100 million annually.

The Buckeyes field 35 sports — more than any in the Big Ten, including relative exotics like lacrosse, synchronized swimming, pistol and rifle — and have a marquee with very little room for sports other than football and men’s basketball.

Meanwhile, the local hockey community has a high-profile outlet in the Blue Jackets, an NHL franchise that debuted in 2000 and drew an average of 15,416 to Nationwide Arena in 2009-10.

Interest in the on-ice Buckeyes has varied over the years, but their current drawing power is definitely not what Osiecki is used to having played and coached in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Ohio State has the largest facility among 58 Division I schools — Value City Arena, built in 1998, holds 17,500 — but averaged 3,095 fans per home game last season to rank 24th in the nation. It had as many crowds over 5,000 as it did under 1,000 (two) while also utilizing the OSU Ice Rink.

For perspective, nine of the 10 WCHA teams had better attendance averages than the Buckeyes. UW, North Dakota and Minnesota are routinely 1-2-3.

“The fan base is certainly there in terms of support for OSU athletics; it’s almost through the roof,” Osiecki said. “Now it’s just a matter of getting out, shaking some hands and educating them.”

It’s all part of a process — a winning process — that Osiecki knows all too well.

No related posts.