Joe Bertagna is adamant that this isn’t a retirement.
Monday’s announcement that the upcoming 2019-20 season would be Bertagna’s 23rd and final year as Hockey East commissioner won’t be the end of Bertagna’s hockey career. He’ll still be the executive director of the American Hockey Coaches’ Association, a position he has held since it was created in 1991, after the organization announced it had extended Bertagna’s contract through 2023.
Already there are other ideas swirling around the 67-year-old’s head about what his next move will be, but retiring isn’t anywhere near his mind at the moment.
“I’ve got two kids in college and I’m not a person whose happy when he’s not working, so it’s clearly not a retirement,” Bertagna said on a conference call Tuesday.
“As I look for what I might want to do, it wouldn’t shock me if I returned to the lifestyle of having projects and teaching and writing and consulting,” Bertagna added. “Right now, I don’t know what those things might be, but it’s nice that the ACHA position is an anchor to start with.”
Bertagna has known about his impending departure since April when the 11 athletics directors of Hockey East declined to negotiate a new contract with the longest serving commissioner in college hockey history. He said he had hoped to extend his contract for an 11th time with his deal set to expire at the end of this season, but the decision was made before he started the conversation for a renewal.
He said he didn’t press for much of a rationale from the decision makers and told media members that only the athletics directors know the true reason behind the decision. However, it didn’t stop him from discussing his view on the decision.
“I had a director tell me recently that we’re in the entertainment business,” Bertagna said. “I thought it was a distinction that we were in the education business but we don’t want to fool ourselves, we’re selling $30 tickets in these beautifully renovated buildings with the Jumbotrons, so we do need to be entertaining. But I’ve always felt that when you cross the line to stating on the record that you’re in the education business with a need to be entertaining is a lot different than flat-out claiming you’re in the entertainment business. That might make be a dinosaur at this point.”
Bertagna said he has seen other shifts in the way the athletic directors view the direction of the league, which has grown substantially under his leadership. He became the league’s first full-time commissioner in 1997 after the conference’s coaches requested a full-time leader in the league office.
In his first 22 years, Bertagna spearheaded Hockey East’s television deals to help grow the conference’s reach within the region and nationally. He was also instrumental in helping organize marquee events such as the Friendship Four Tournament in Belfast, Northern Ireland and the games at Fenway Park in recent years.
But none of that seemed to matter as much to Bertagna as leaving the league better than where he left it both from an operational and reputation standpoint.
“I’ve always said I know we have to put those things out there — the Fenways and the Belfasts and the TV — but I’ve always felt what we do daily, just the running of the league as a machine and keeping the machine going (was more important),” Bertagna said. “It’s not as exciting and it doesn’t jump out on a resume, but we collectively the staff, have not only tried to do right by Hockey East — because that’s who signs our checks — but by the sport. My friend, Sam Kennedy, with the Red Sox, he used the term ‘stewardship,’ you should feel good about your stewardship of the league, and that’s what I would want to hang my hat on the most.
“Day-to-day whether it was a positive issue, a negative issue, you’re in a position where you have to say no a lot to schools and I’ve always tried to identify what is best for Hockey East as a single entity and then stand by that.”
He leaves his post still highly respected by those in and around the sport, even if his views don’t line up with the trajectory of college athletics. His work to be a good citizen within the hockey world, as Bertagna put it Tuesday, did not go unnoticed by those who ultimately had to make the decision that a new direction was needed for the conference.
“Joe has been a tremendous leader of our storied league for a long-time and I certainly respect his good work representing Hockey East in college hockey circles,” UMass athletics director Ryan Bamford wrote in an email statement. “UMass looks forward to celebrating Joe’s outstanding career as Hockey East Commissioner in the Mullins Center at some point during the 2019-20 season.”
Bertagna will get his victory lap around the conference this season as all 11 schools will almost certainly celebrate the commissioner. He said he has come to better terms with the decision since April and is excited for the future.
“I think in the end, it’s going to be a good thing for me,” Bertagna said. “It’s been a process to deal with this for three months, but I’m starting to come around to seeing this could end up being a pretty good thing.”