OMG67
Registered User
- Sep 1, 2013
- 12,065
- 7,821
You suggested hiring good help off-season while there is good help to be had, then replacing the failing coach with the new hire at the 1/4 pole as unprofessional.
That is what Flint & OS did, just sooner than Niagara.
It does not matter if you’re not sold on Boudreau, what mattered was Niagara replacing a coach it viewed as failing ASAP. Niagara cannot afford to allow another season to spiral out of control.
The difference is RK was only JUST hired…. You don’t hire a guy you seem confident in only to replace him, generally speaking. If you have a guy you feel confident in, or in this situation, the Boudreau family comes in, why not just cut the cord if you are that confident in it as an “organizational” move?
You are suggesting that it was performance based for Niagara. What kind of demented GM in the OHL fires a guy 15 games into the season on a rebuilding team because the team is 3 points out of a playoff spot that no one (other than you) thought they would be in? Five points out of 6th in the Conference. Performance based? Really? A full 10% improvement over last season in the early stages of this season.
This points to a short trigger in order to realign the direction of the club in the direction of the Boudreau’s. Why not do it in the offseason? Start the season off with one voice instead of shifting at the quarter pole.
The other teams had longer term coaches. Flint and Owen Sound have had success. Unless there was an off ice issue or conflict with management, neither of those teams “needed” to hire a guy to stay in the wings for an early season takeover.
There is a vast difference between being on your 4th coach in 80 games and what OS and Flint are doing. You cannot honestly suggest RK Was given an honest opportunity. He pretty much stepped in at the deadline last year after the team offloaded tons of bodies and was left with a shell of a team. Now the team is filled mostly with younger skill that needs time and the coach isn’t offered an opportunity to work with the young talent….
I think the situations are VASTLY DIFFERENT and to suggest otherwise is a heavy mischaracterization of what I said.