Alberts Looking Long Term at UNO

Trev Alberts was only named athletic director at UNO one month ago...but in an interview with the Omaha World-Herald, he started to share his vision for UNO long term, showing more initiative and foresight than we've seen from UNO in many years.

Trev told a local Rotary Club yesterday that UNO needs an on-campus facility for hockey and other sports.

"What I'm trying to do is say, 'What will we look like in 15 years?' In my opinion, if we're still playing hockey downtown, and our athletes (in other sports) are driving all around town playing in various venues, then I don't think it looks very positive for our athletic department."

Trev gets it. That's it, in a nutshell.

"We're happy with what the CCHA has done for us. We realize the WCHA can provide some things the CCHA can't. The Big Ten might start (sponsoring) hockey. How does that affect us? How do we position ourselves? We can't think short-term, we have to think long-term."

Trev brings up an interesting argument in the WCHA/CCHA alignment debate. Namely, the rumors of a Big Ten hockey conference. If that happens, say good bye to Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State. Maybe Notre Dame as well. Suddenly the WCHA, with North Dakota, St. Cloud State, Denver, and Colorado College looks much more viable for UNO.

As for the hockey search, he indicates that current head coaches have also applied, and that a new coach could be named later this month. No word on specific candidates, but the pool of candidates could be even deeper than fans have speculated.