When I send out the boys prep coaches survey, I ask about the past season, the next one and big-picture topics. Fall hockey and college recruiting are popular ones. In recent seasons, players leaving early have been a big topic.
And, of course, I had to ask about the NCAA's new age-eligibility rule this year.
But I never ask about how they're doing.
Coaches will tell me throughout the year about how the ever-changing landscape is making things harder. It didn't used to be this way, they'll say. It shouldn't be this way, is what they'll often say, too.
Most coaches aren't full-time coaches. Some work at their prep school in varying roles. Some work other jobs entirely. But they're not being paid for 40-plus hours of coaching per week.
In this year's survey, I posed one final question: With all the pressure for players to leave early, has this impacted your desire to coach prep school? Why or why not?
I found many of their answers fascinating. They were granted anonymity; names won't be listed. Instead, it will be attributed to "Coach 1," "Coach 2," and so forth.
Let's dive into some of the most interesting answers.
Coach 1:Â "Yes. It's harder and harder to get kids past admissions and figure out who will stay or leave."
Coach 2:Â "No. I like the strategy of having to build a roster every year that can compete in an ever-changing landscape."
Coach 3:Â "It makes it more difficult, but the desire to coach prep is still there as it is still a very high level and great option for a lot of kids."
Coach 4:Â "Yes and no. Just another aspect that makes the job harder than ever. Families in general have become increasingly more difficult to work with, and this will add to that."
Coach 5:Â "The nature of amateur hockey, period, has impacted my desire to coach hockey, period. Amateur sports has entirely lost sight of what it means. They are catering to the 1 percent who will play professionally or the 5 percent who will play collegiately rather than to the 95 percent who gain invaluable skills and lessons from the amateur sports world. It is truly sad. It has become transactional and pressure-filled, and the victims are the kids and their families who are financially destroyed, emotionally abused and treated as commodities instead of people. I am thrilled that the USA Today article about Black Bear has caused some hubbub, but it is truly just the top of the iceberg."
Coach 6:Â "No. I love getting to work with talented players. At the end of the day, I look at kids leaving early as a good thing if they are truly ready. If I have three kids leave for the USHL and they play meaningful minutes the next season, then our program did a great job."
READ MORE: Part 1 of the boys prep coaches survey | Part 2 of the boys prep coaches survey
Coach 7:Â "I believe in the prep model, and if I can help navigate these next few years amidst all the uncertainty, then sign me up. I know we can all get hyper-focused on the hockey piece (which we love), but I also believe in helping these kids prepare to embrace (and thrive in) a work environment where AI is quickly impacting industries, for example. I think the critical thinking skills and ability to work with people from different walks of life are just two ways in which prep environments excel in helping kids grow."
Coach 8:Â "Yes. You are consistently recruiting your own players and families. A lot of good families feel the squeeze of the new rules and feel forced to make decisions that they never considered before. This is more than being a mentor and coach."
Coach 9:Â "It definitely makes it tougher to have to re-recruit your top players every year. You hate to see kids rush out of a great situation and not graduate from these schools. Junior hockey will always be there, but doing your senior year of high school online forces them to miss out on a special time in their life."
Coach 10: "I feel the pressure for kids to leave early has been present for a long time — it's not anything new. Perhaps expanding slightly, but it's an issue many of us have been dealing with for a long time. There are a number of other challenges, issues and changes that I believe are having a bigger impact on coaches' enthusiasm, energy and commitment to coach prep hockey."
Coach 11: "Nope. I love coaching this age group, and I love being part of a community that is bigger than just hockey. Players are going to leave early — that's simply part of today's landscape. And there's not much we can do to prevent it. Our job is to keep our player pool as deep as possible so that we can absorb the unexpected loss of a player."
READ MORE:Â What the 2026 NHL Draft says about playing your draft year in prep
Coach 12:Â "I don't think it's pressure for kids to leave early. It's the expectation that we are essentially college coaches doing something else as a full-time job that burns me out. If you are at a school without a strong assistant who can do film, recruit or even run a practice, then it really takes a toll. This is not even entering the social media aspect. Schools need to move to a bigger position for hockey if they want to be competitive and meet parent/kid expectations. Right now, it's exhausting, and I think burning a lot of coaches out."
