POTSDAM — A recent tour of the Quinnipiac campus was what finally swayed former Clarkson University women's hockey coach Rick Seeley to leave Potsdam to take over the Bobcats' women's program.

"It's just the feeling I got when I interviewed and toured the campus that attracted me and my wife, Chapel," Seeley said. "I believe Quinnipiac is one of the best-kept secrets in the Northeast. Hopefully it won't be one of the best-kept secrets for so long."

Seeley was introduced by Quinnipiac in a telephone conference call Tuesday afternoon and will look to raise the Bobcats to the standards he brought to Clarkson, where he built a program from scratch and turned it into one that just missed making the NCAA tournament in its fifth season.

"Any time you have a search of a major sport like women's ice hockey you hope you'll have a good and successful search," said Bobcats athletic director Jack McDonald. "This was a very, very good search. We are thrilled. Rick comes to us with great success in (ECAC Hockey) and Manhattanville. He knows the game as well as anybody and comes with great references."

Prior to arriving at Clarkson in 2002, Seeley also started a program at NCAA Division III Manhattanville and led the Valiants to a national championship game in just their third season.

This time, however, he's not starting a fresh program, but instead is inheriting one that's been used to failure. The Bobcats finished with a 5-24-5 record last season.

"The difference in starting a program from scratch and taking one over is you get to dictate the direction, totally, in terms of who is coming in," Seeley said. "I have to meet with the players and get a sense of where they are in the process. The goal is to get everyone to buy in.

"The cupboard is pretty bare at this point. It was a unique year in that most institutions were done with their recruiting earlier. There are still student-athletes out there who can help our program next year. I think we should be able to bring in four or five key players that are going to contribute next year."

Leaving Clarkson, which went 24-9-5 last year, was a difficult decision for Seeley.

"I'm leaving a group I love and adore," Seeley said. "They were strong this year and we had a phenomenal recruiting class. I'll be their biggest fan except for two games of the year. I know they'll be geared up to kick our butts, too. It was a real tough decision to leave this team, but a real easy decision to go to Quinnipiac."

Clarkson's players were surprised to find out their coach was leaving on Monday night.

"We're going to be pretty good next year," said junior Marie-Jo Gaudet. "He did such a good job the first five years here."

Seeley was replaced by his assistant coaches, Shannon and Matt Desrosiers, a pair of former St. Lawrence University players who will work as co-coaches.

"I think we are pretty close with Shannon and Matt," Gaudet said. "I think it was the best thing to do that, to bring them to head coaches. They are doing a great job and I'm looking forward to them. I think we'll have fun and be pretty exciting."