The responsibilities of an NHL coach?

[socratic]

What are the roles (or the jobs) that an NHL head coach is responsible for?

In my mind, there are 3 things expected of a coach:

Strategy, Motivation, and Media.


When I look at the coaches the Leaf's have employed, they don't strike me as being particularly good at any of these things. They've tended to be particularly bad at handling the media, which is odd given the media exposure in Toronto.


I've been thinking about this for a couple of years now, and what strikes me is that if I wanted three responsibilities filled to a world-class standard, I doubt I would look to hire one person to fill all three roles. If I wanted a world-class juggler, author and engineer, I'd expect that hiring 3 individuals would yield better results than a single jack of all trades.

So why not hire in that fashion? Have a figure-head like Doug Gilmour or someone who's well liked in Toronto and who's only job is to be in the room, and then address the media. Hire the best strategist you can find to run the practices and the bench, and a hockey knowledgeable motivational speaker/life-coach to look after team motivation and personal issues with the players.

(I know New Jersey has recently employed a 3-coach system, but it's divided into offense, and defense, which I think is less than organic way to run a hockey team).

 

[Longshot]

They've tended to be particularly bad at handling the media, which is odd given the media exposure in Toronto.

I don't think this is true at all.

The only coach I can remember that was a genuine idiot to the media was Ron Wilson (kind of ironic considering the past couple of days).

I thought Carlyle was good with the media. On occasion, he gave me the impression that he was enjoying himself. I remember a lot of reporters saying Carlyle was a breath of fresh air after the Wilson years.

I thought Paul Maurice was good with the media. (Hindsight is 20/20, but they should have just kept Maurice and let the young team they were assembling grow with him - rather than going with Wilson).

Even Pat Quinn, although he intensely disliked the media, was decent at dealing with them. Quinn, when he wanted to, would give very thoughtful and insightful answers.

Mike Murphy was excellent with the media and I remember Pat Burns being good as well.

Each of them had contentious relationships with some individual members of the media, which is normal in any sports situation. But, other than Wilson, I can't remember any of the recent Leafs head coaches being loathed and disliked universally by the media.

 

[socratic]

I don't think this is true at all.

The only coach I can remember that was a genuine idiot to the media was Ron Wilson (kind of ironic considering the past couple of days).

I thought Carlyle was good with the media. On occasion, he gave me the impression that he was enjoying himself. I remember a lot of reporters saying Carlyle was a breath of fresh air after the Wilson years.

I thought Paul Maurice was good with the media. (Hindsight is 20/20, but they should have just kept Maurice and let the young team they were assembling grow with him - rather than going with Wilson).

Even Pat Quinn, although he intensely disliked the media, was decent at dealing with them. Quinn, when he wanted to, would give very thoughtful and insightful answers.

Mike Murphy was excellent with the media and I remember Pat Burns being good as well.

Each of them had contentious relationships with some individual members of the media, which is normal in any sports situation. But, other than Wilson, I can't remember any of the recent Leafs head coaches being loathed and disliked universally by the media.

Fair comments. Perhaps Wilson is taking up a disproportionate amount of coaching memory. Though I still think Carlyle was less than spectacular with the media. He may have spoken with the media in a friendly manner, but he could often let things slip about goalies, or player performance, that could negatively affect player's confidence.

Anyways, I am obviously not much of a traditionalist, but yeah, I think divvying up the coaching responsibilities could be a good move.

 

[Bomber0104]

What are the roles (or the jobs) that an NHL head coach is responsible for?

.....

Not as many as people seem to think.

Apparently a large segment of hockey watchers (especially stats nerds) seem to think the players are inconsequential to the outcome on the ice.

Coaching.

System.

That's all that dictates an outcome.

Just don't ask said people what a "system" actually is.

They don't know.

 

[colchar]

What are the roles (or the jobs) that an NHL head coach is responsible for?

In my mind, there are 3 things expected of a coach:

Strategy, Motivation, and Media.


When I look at the coaches the Leaf's have employed, they don't strike me as being particularly good at any of these things.

You haven't the slightest clue whether a Leafs coach, or any NHL coach for that matter, is good with strategy or motivation. You aren't in the room and have no knowledge of what goes on so you can only make assumptions.

 

[socratic]

You haven't the slightest clue whether a Leafs coach, or any NHL coach for that matter, is good with strategy or motivation. You aren't in the room and have no knowledge of what goes on so you can only make assumptions.

I do actually have some insight into the matter, but I think just looking at the team through the media gives us a fair amount of material to base an evaluation on.

When you interview someone for a job, you general base their level of competency on how they answer a few questions related to the topic, and what one or two key references have to say.

I would estimate that for Carlyle and others, I've seen many, many hours of them answering questions related to the game, and heard others with inside knowledge speak about them.

Coaches, CEO's, and presidents have all been hired off of what is really very little insider knowledge - certainly much less than any Toronto Hockey fan would have of a long time Leaf's coach.

Even silly things like 24/7 - those moments we see inside the change room are all hand-picked for tv, but they are real moments. The way they're portrayed on those shows is at least one small part of who Carlyle and Babcock are.

 

[Stephen]

Hiring a celebrity ex-player as coach usually doesn't work out too well, Patrick Roy last season excepted.

 

[Giuseppe Sallo]

Sakic won't fire Roy, they're good buddies.

 

[socratic]

Hiring a celebrity ex-player as coach usually doesn't work out too well, Patrick Roy last season excepted.

I agree completely - on-ice success is not a strong indicator of coaching ability.

What I am suggesting is that it could be smart for a team to hire a former player based on their likability and media savvy, and to officially deem that person the "Head coach", but to leave all strategic decisions and speeches up to two other individuals.

I gave Doug Gilmour as an example of someone the city would embrace, and he could be hired to banter with the media, provide insight into the games, and keep the players and coaches out of the line-of-fire.

It could place the Leafs in the rare position of being able to embrace the ridiculous media circus they spark in this city, rather than constantly being at odds with it.