The constant in this whole narrative is Dave Brown. Kris Knoblauch was hired by Bassin, and one could argue that he was one of the better coaches in the OHL. After Bassin sold the club, Brown has made one bad hire after another...good ole' boys that think that swearing, yelling and bullying the kids is coaching. If Brown stays, he had better realize that he isn't a good judge of character. If not, so sinks the Otters.
Erie Otters 2024 - 25 Season Thread, Part I
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At this point, that should be their only choice.. zero reason or need to rush to hire someone to coach for 25 games unless you have a can’t miss name a la Knoblauch, but I don’t expect that type of hire. Really, the organization needs to spend real time and resources to get this next hire right and that means USE THE TIME YOU HAVE. 2-3 months to identify some candidates before interviewing / hiring someone in the spring or early summer. Use your time wisely..
IMO the current assistant coaches aren’t anything worth getting excited about and outside of Erie, nobody seems to have interest in them at this level. Time to move on from both of them either way, like bring in a complete new staff. Wolfe has been here far too long like what has he done?? Also, Erie already made this mistake promoting BJ from within because the team played with some fight down the stretch (just because Hartsburg was that much of a tool). I would hope the org doesn’t get tricked into using the results the rest of the year to justify the cheap, easy promotion. Nope, not good enough. Find real coaches!! Stop settling..
The team has performed below expectations all year so seeing a small jump in performance because the players actually like the personality of their leader(s) now would be normal and expected. It doesn’t mean either are actual good, capable long term solutions
EvenSteven
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EvenSteven
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Because the long time owner of the Battalion (Scott Abbott of Trivial Pursuit fame) is a life long buddy of Butler. So despite team record and his past, always had no fear of getting let go.
To an earlier post.. while it’s fair to talk about the past with SB - it’s also important to note SB was hired by a WHL team shortly after and then spent 20 years with an OHL franchise before Erie hired him.
It’s not really worth a discussion right now especially when nobody that I recall brought up these concerns on this thread when the hire was originally announced a few years ago.
I don’t know about lifelong. I don’t think they’d met before Abbott hired him in 1998.
I think he lasted that long in Brampton/NB because a) he’s good at persuading people of things, b) Abbott is a very loyal guy (see; Mike Griffin lasting as team president for a dog’s age) and c) for all of his money, Abbott isn’t exactly a genius at organizational management.
I think he finally got fired, or “made special advisor,” because he had just signed a contract worth a lot of money and promptly gave Abbott a team that was 20th in the OHL in year one. I think there was a front office-led coup at that point and Abbott finally said enough is enough.
If his history is as bad as everyone is stating, Dave Brown definitely needs to go...this was his own personal hire
LDN
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- Sep 29, 2017
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Spence is scratched, anyone have an idea as to why?
I’d think a sustained injury from last game but not sure.
I’d think a sustained injury from last game but not sure.
He switched to a fish bowl in the middle of the game in Niagara, so probably related to that
Maybe because he was acquitted in a court of law?
Citations please?
Again, citations please?
Where were you when he was hired?
Look, I'm not trying to stick up for him (especially the involvement with the minor, after which he should never have been allowed to work with teenagers), but at what point in someone's life do past mistakes deny them the ability to move forward with their lives?
YES, YES and YES to your last paragraph.. Like is where was all this “outrage” when they hired him…
I would rather sit here and talk about his mediocrity as a coach in terms of on ice performance and results. That is the second guess when it comes to hiring him. The other stuff? I just don’t really see how that ties into this. Both questionable things but the details of something from 1982 to the alleged comment in 2024 aren’t really apples to apples imo, but like I think we should all just move on from that topic…
It was the organizations job to vet him, not ours. Also, our small army of less than 20 people didnt know who the candidates for HC were even going into the process, just speculation. Sure, people could have researched the so called rumor mill, but having some stuff documented and other stuff not, we weren't going to make waves and get him immediately dismissed.
If there was a pattern of questionable behavior over the 30 years he was in the league and it wasn't addressed, that's on DB and possibly JW and anyone else involved in the hiring process. If they vetted him and believed that to be a thing of the past or he has moved on, then barring whatever got him canned here is either on SB solely, or partially on SB and the Otters brass that vetted him and brought him in.
Our explanation was SB was a "really close friend of DB that goes way back and was doing us as a favor to help turn the franchise around" doesn't really seem to me like he was vetted and JW put all his trust in DB to make a decision (my speculation).
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rangersblues
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Am I missing something or shouldn't Butler's involvement with a minor when he was teaching (which the judge concluded; it was the sex charge that wasn't proven) automatically disqualify him from being hired. The Battalion franchise needs to be questioned too.
That’s exactly what I said. As bad as it looks on us as a team for hiring him, it should’ve been the OHL who steps in to make the decision.
He was acquitted sure, but the involvement with a minor in any environment should be a red flag.
I want to note that I’m not at all saying the prior stuff with SB is not a flag or concern but let’s not pretend we have all the details from a matter that happened in 1982 when he was 26 years old. To your point, 2 other franchises hired him and he coached for 20+ years before Erie. Not to mention coaching u18/u20 Canada teams and OHL all-stars all throughout his coaching time. Imo it’s irrelevant to what happened with this alleged comment. 2 completely different accusations
Dave Branch was well aware of Butler’s history and would have been fine with Abbott hiring him. I imagine Branch is the one who got Butler out of Ontario and to Prince George for that one year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he kinda sorta told Abbott “you can have a team, and I’ve got just the coach for you.”
