On Oct. 28, 2005, Guy Gadowsky and Keith Fisher stood side-by-side behind the visitors bench in Joyce Arena. Princeton opened its season on the road against Notre Dame, and it marked the first game in Gadowsky and Fisher’s careers that they served on the same staff. 

Fast forward 20 years and the two’s reign on college hockey came to a close as Lindenwood poached Fisher from the Nittany Lions to become its head coach. Decades of partnership which included a combined seven NCAA Tournament appearances, two conference postseason championships, one conference regular-season title and one Frozen Four berth is now just a memory. 

Gadowsky touched on his departure in Tuesday’s media session.

“Well, first of all, I’m pumped for Coach Fisher,” Gadowsky said. “He’s been such a good guy and such a great coach for not only Penn State, but also where we were in Princeton. He’s been awesome. This is long overdue. It is. I’m really excited for him. I think he’s going to do a great job, and he’s definitely ready. So everybody from Penn State and a lot of our alumni, they’re just, they’re pumped for him.”

But the heart-warming exit just meant Gadowsky had to turn the page and start a new chapter. Weeks later, Penn State announced the hiring of former Nittany Lion defenseman Vince Pedrie as its replacement for Fisher. 

Pedrie is a household name for Penn State fans as he helped lift his club to its first Big Ten Tournament championship and NCAA postseason berth in 2017. The former defenseman was “ecstatic” to return to his Alma Mater.

“I am ecstatic to be returning to Penn State as an assistant coach for the men’s ice hockey team. I extend my sincere gratitude to Coach Gadowsky, the entire Penn State staff, and all who contributed to the realization of this opportunity,” Pedrie stated in a press release. “It has been nearly a decade since I enrolled as a freshman on this campus, and now to be returning as a coach for my Alma Mater is truly surreal. I am honored to be entrusted with this responsibility and eagerly anticipate furthering the program’s already remarkable success.”

The move came to no surprise as Pedrie was rumored as a leading candidate for several weeks. His background, which includes four seasons in the AHL playing with three different NHL organizations and serving as a player agent for the Will Sports Group, made him an enticing candidate for the assistant coach position.

Gadowsky was “thrilled” to add Pedrie to the staff, noting in a statement that he brings “first-hand experience to help develop our defenseman.” 

On Tuesday, Gadowsky highlighted a different perspective Pedrie will bring to the staff as a former player. His addition now helps represent every position hockey offers on the staff with assistant coach Pedrie as a former defenseman, Andrew Sturtz as a former forward and Juliano Pagliero as a former goaltender.  

Pedrie’s experience as a player could pay dividends in developing the talented incoming defensemen Jackson Smith, Nolan Collins and Mac Gadowsky. 

“He’s a D-man, so we haven’t had a high-level defenseman before that’s going to come in. He’s going to be great for guys like Jackson Smith and the rest of our D-corps to help them develop,” Gadowsky said. “And he’s a guy that’s been through the grind. He’s been through the grind as a player. He’s been through the grind as an agent.”

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QB1s

Quarterbacks are different.

They have to be prepared to deflect credit to lesser-heralded teammates in good times and lean into the criticism in downtimes.

It’s frequently called the most important position in sports, and really only an elite fast-pitch softball pitcher or a red-hot NHL goalie can directly impact the success of an entire team as a truly great QB1.

And among the truths at the mid-July dog-and-pony show that is SEC Media Days, here’s what caught my eye.

› Hot seat coaches speak differently. It’s false confidence trying to hide the uneasiness.

› The NIL-funded jewelry worn by players who ventured to the A-T-L is flashy. Man, what do you think those watches and diamond-studded numerals the size of mini-hubcaps on those necklaces list for?

› The SEC is flush with some big-time QB1s this year.

The Athletic dropped a quarterback tier ranking for all 136 FBS football programs.

There are 10 in tier 1, and half of them were at SEC media days with LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier at 1, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers at 3, Oklahoma’s John Mather at 4, Florida’s DJ Lagway at 5 and Texas’ Arch Manning at 10.

Somewhat surprising was the ranking — based on interviews with more than 40 college coaches and scouts — for projected starters Ty Simpson at Alabama and Gunner Stockton at Georgia.

Simpson was in Tier 4 and 47 overall, and Stockton was in the same tier and one spot back at 48.

UT’s projected starter Joey Aguilar was ranked 60th, and former UT starter Nico Iamaleava was ranked in the top-20 at 19.

Thoughts?

College football craziness

Yeah, that feels assuredly redundant in our current climate.

And no, this had nothing to do with the lunacy at SEC Media Days, either.

(Side tangents: Check out the daily stuff at Southeastern16 as we chop up the SEC media event each day at noon. Also, Brent Venables seemed extremely excited about his Oklahoma roster in a make-or-break-year for him. And I think Billy Napier feels similarly about his Gators crew.)

No, the next frontier of the constantly changing college football landscape lives currently in College Station, Texas.

That’s where former A&M defensive lineman Shermar Stewart and a first-round pick by Cincinnati last spring is currently residing.

Stewart is in a bitter contract dispute with the Bengals and is working out with his former college team.

His agent now says they could possibly explore challenging the rules that forbid players who declare for the draft but not signing should be able to return to college.

While the idea has Aggies fans salivating — Stewart is a monster — the NFL CBA has language to the extent that Stewart’s draft rights would remain with the Bengals if he played another year in the SEC and re-entered the NFL draft in 2026.

So while Stewart could prompt monster rule changes, it looks like the NFL is already prepared not to have the draft manipulated by players returning to school.

Man, the NFL lawyers are crafty.

I wonder if they got Gary?

Morning glory

Got up too early this morning and eagerly found the British Open broadcast on the USA Network.

It’s almost 7 a.m. Eastern and the leaderboard is a mix between crowd favorites — Shane Lowry and Phil Mickelson were in red numbers — and “Who the heck is that guy?” Seriously, someone named J.S. Olesen is leading currently at 4 under. Forgot professional golfer, Jacob Slov Olesen sounds like one of Draco Malfoy’s henchmen in House Slytherin aiming to sabotage Harry Potter.

The course is diabolical.

The rain is on its way. The wind is twisting. The pints are flowing.

I have been blessed to attend more than a few cool sporting events, but on a bucket list that includes Super Bowls, decisive World Series games, the Masters, Olympic gold medal games in baseball and men’s hoops, Final Fours, the Kentucky Derby, the Indy 500 and more, the British Open is high on the list of things I have not done but would love to.

This and that

› So John Malkovich’s villain turn in “Fantastic Four” was cut. It also happened to Kevin Costner in “The Big Chill” as his character — the corpse that drew all those former college friends back together — was removed from the final cut.

› Braves did not lose. That’s a good thing, right?

› Auburn wide receiver Malcolm Simmons was arrested on domestic assault charges. Been a busy stretch for the AU athletics legal team — do they need to get Gary? — since point guard Tahaad Pettiford got pinched for a DUI and linebacker DJ Barker — no relation to Bob (that I am aware of) — was arrested on multiple drug charges last week.

› The ESPYs were last night. I did not watch. Here’s the list of winners. Heard Shane Gillis was a good host.

› Here’s Paschall with a report on Alabama Coach Kalen DeBoer heading into Year 2 with the Tide.

Today’s questions

It’s the ol’ AGT — Anything Goes Thursday — so fire away.

We’ll start with a couple for you:

› Which SEC QB1 do you wish was starting for your favorite team?

› Shouldn’t college football players be allowed to go back to school if they are unhappy with their draft position, like baseball players can?

› Did you watch any of The ESPYs?

As for today, July 17, let’s review:

Donald Sutherland would have been 90 today. What’s on a sneaky great Rushmore for Keifer’s old man?

Go, and remember the mailbag.

GETTYSBURG — An American extradited from France to face charges that he sexually assaulted a fellow Pennsylvania college student in 2013 — and later sent her a Facebook message that said “So I raped you” — pleaded guilty Thursday.

Ian Cleary, 32, pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault more than a decade after Shannon Keeler says he sneaked into her first-year dorm at Gettysburg College on the eve of winter break and assaulted her. Cleary’s guilty plea was the first time she’d seen him since the assault.

“I had been thinking about this moment for 12 years,” said Keeler, who clenched her husband’s hand as Cleary was led into court by deputies. She called it a surreal moment. A decade ago, a former prosecutor had declined the case.

“It’s taken a lot of twists and turns to get to this point,” said Keeler, now 30. “It took a lot of people doing the right thing to get us here.”

Judge Kevin Hess set an Oct. 20 sentencing date. The two sides proposed a four- to eight-year sentence, which the judge can accept or not.

Keeler, in interviews with The Associated Press, described her decade-long efforts to persuade authorities to pursue charges, starting hours after the assault.

She renewed the quest in 2021, after finding a series of disturbing Facebook messages from his account.

Cleary has been in custody since his arrest on minor, unrelated charges in Metz, France, in April 2024. A defense lawyer told the judge Thursday that Cleary experienced several mental health episodes there and was hospitalized around the time he sent the Facebook messages in 2019.

Cleary left Gettysburg after the assault and finished college in Silicon Valley, California, where he’d grown up. He then got a master’s degree and worked for Tesla before moving overseas, where he spent time writing medieval fiction, according to his online posts.

The AP published an investigation on the case and on the broader reluctance among prosecutors to pursue campus sex assault charges in May 2021. An indictment followed weeks later.

Authorities in the U.S. and Europe tried to track Cleary down for the next three years, but seemed unable to follow his trail, online or otherwise.

In court Thursday, defense lawyer John Abom said Cleary was homeless at times and unaware of the charges. Adams County District Attorney Brian Sinnett on Thursday said he has his doubts, but cannot prove that Cleary was on the run, so it’s unlikely to be an issue at sentencing.

The second-degree sexual assault charge carries a maximum 10 years in prison. His family members have declined to comment on the case and have not attended his court hearings. Abom also declined to comment on Cleary’s behalf Thursday.

The AP typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Keeler has done.

“I hope that we as a society, the institutions around us, can make truly successful legal outcomes more viable for victims,” she said after the plea.

“It starts with listening to victims and making sure their voices are heard,” she said, “even if the system’s slow to catch up.”