Weirdest or most out of the blue coaching hire

[God]

It's hilarious that all of these examples are basically OBC hires and goes to show just how stupid it is to operate like that on professional franchises.

 

[overpass]

Detroit's hiring Ned Harkness as head coach in 1970 was a bit out there. He had been a successful college hockey coach, but at that time no coaches had gone from college hockey to the NHL. NHL players didn't respond well to his methods.

 

[Crosby2010]

Honestly MSL was a bit of a weird hire. He had been coaching his kids AAA team, didn't really have any pro experience. I guess it "made sense" in some weird way because Hughes had been his agent? But he wasn't exactly seen as a coaching candidate or even mentioned in pro coaching circles when the Habs hired him.

A lot of it does come down to the French language issue. St. Louis is french, and can speak it. Ask Randy Cunneyworth how that works with the Montreal media if you are a coach that can't speak french. So in a way they are limited to who they can pick.

How did Brad Park get his short, disastrous period in Detroit? Did he have any experience?

I would guess that since he retired in 1985 on the Wings that they offered him the job. Although he didn't come in until December. They fired Harry Neale then as the Wings were awful. But they were still awful with Park. Honestly, no one saves that team.