Dave Distelhorst/THE POST Ohio hockey Head Coach Craig McCarthy directs the action in practice. McCarthy has been the head coach of the Bobcats for seven years, winning three national championships in that span.

Ohio Club Hockey Head Coach Craig McCarthy is in the same boat he was in this time last year. In his seventh year as head coach of the highly successful team, this may be his last year at the helm.

McCarthy, an Ohio University graduate student, is close to finishing his dissertation and thus graduating. He is now weighing his options as to where he is going.

"I wasn't trying to lead people on one way or another," he said about the situation. "The nature of this program is all student run, whether it be players, staff or administrators. It is always susceptible to people doing other things."

After graduation, McCarthy will be in a spot where he will be looking for a more permanent position.

"If this were a perfect world, I may go on to coach here for 40 years," he said. "But that may not happen."

His most impressive coaching accolade is the team's performance in the American Collegiate Hockey Association tournament, in which he led the team to the ACHA championship in three straight seasons from 1995 through 1997.

"I'm a firm believer that winning is a skill," he said about Ohio's winning legacy. "If guys know how to win, they carry that onto the ice."

He said the reason the team has always been strong is because of who is recruited to play and Ohio's program always seems to attract the right individuals.

McCarthy's success can also be linked to his proactive coaching style.

Defenseman and Co--captain Jack Pepper said the first two years under McCarthy are very difficult because it involves not only learning his system but also the systems of every opponent.

During this time, McCarthy comes down pretty hard on mistakes, he said. It gets a little easier in the last two years because the players already know the systems.

The chance this year could bring an end to the McCarthy era also adds a little to the team's punch as it competes for another ACHA national championship, which would be McCarthy's fourth and the team's first in the past two years.

"Knowing I will graduate this year, this will be a year that I really push hard to get the best product out of my team I can," he said. "I could move on and never coach again. I feel like a senior in a sense - that this may be my last year."

Like last season, the team also realizes the future of McCarthy is in question, Pepper said. But the goal is always to win a championship.

"The goal is to win regardless," he said. "It's a group effort.

"It's not like I'm in hurry to pack my bags and get out of Athens. I like the area and the people, but this year I will be finished and we'll see what happens. I am here through the hockey season and after that I don't know. I made a commitment to the program through this year," he said.

Regardless of what happens to McCarthy after this season, coaching on any level remains in his future plans.

"I see myself in five years coaching my sons or daughters, but you never know what will happen," he said.