Why dont we merge the GM and Head Coach Position?

[Vesa Awesaka]

With more teams seemingly moving to have a POHOs position i began to wonder what the point of adding needless bureaucracy and adding positions that just leave more room for disagreement amoung management and less accountability.

Why not combine the two positions and create kinda a football/soccer manager hierarchy.

1.Owner/board-held accountable by the fans and responsible for outsourcing non hockey stuff like marketing and season tickets ect.

2a.Manager-held accountable by the owner/board responsible for the duties of a general manager and head coach. Implements a system and makes trades acquires players.

2b optional. Director of Hockey-If the Manager elects not to take full control of roster moves the director of hockey acts as his representative and negotiates salaries, cap and trades with the permission of the Manager

2c. Director Of Youth Development- manages the farm system and responsible for youth development and scouting/scouts

3.Assistant managers- assigned duties by the head coach similar to the assistant coach position

4.Goalie coach, fitness coachs ect other off ice staff

5. players

Basically if theres a mess up at any level you know who's to blame. Youth system sucks? Fire the Youth director. NHL team sucks? Fire the Manager

Click to read more...

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Because Mike Milbury.

 

[Mickey Marner]

Was Pat Quinn the last person to hold both positions?

 

[Bee Sheriff]

Was Pat Quinn the last person to hold both positions?

What about Darryl Sutter?

 

[Tawnos]

The duties of a GM have simply become too vast to handle. Why would you want the guy who is supposed to be working with the players on a daily basis wasting his time with trade negotiations and contract negotiations anyway?

I do think that having a separate POHO and GM is a little ridiculous, generally, but GM and coach need to stay separate.

 

[Mickey Marner]

What about Darryl Sutter?

Good call.

 

[stuffradio]

Canucks tried that. Didn't work.

 

[Helistin]

Because Mike Milbury.

And Mike Keenan.

Holding both positions for some reason makes the person lose their minds.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

Canucks tried that. Didn't work.

Why didnt it work? I'm curious. Seems like theres a lot of bickering on the sens board right that could be resolved by having this system. Different fans blaming the coach/GM/Owner/Assistant coach

 

[leafsfuture]

Its funny because you could actually make the argument the mess Toronto found itself in post-05 lockout were caused because we split up the positions.

In the 4 years Quinn was both coach and GM we won 4 playoff series, or an average of 1 every year. Then JFJ came in....

Anyways, its a tough task to ask from one man. Look at football. Managers find it hard to stay in one position for long because of the demands (see Pep Guardiola). I would also argue its a tougher task in hockey because most of a manager's jobs in football are about preparation, what they can do during a game is more limited than in hockey

 

[Coily]

What about Darryl Sutter?

First year in Calgary was good.

The rest. Meh.

 

[canuckster19]

Canucks tried that. Didn't work.

Huh? PQ turned the Canucks from a laughing stock to a contender in the early 90s, should he have won a cup to prove it works?

 

[HanSolo]

Because too much work.

 

[hisgirlfriday]

Being a GM is way too complicated with the talent pool of players to scout being far too diverse and widespread and the requirements involved in managing compliance with the CBA and the salary cap for any single person to that job and coach 82 games simultaneously well enough to win a Stanley Cup.

 

[DyerMaker66*]

Why not merge the President with the GM?

 

[Not So Mighty]

I think the hours and stress would just be too much for one man.

 

[Freudian]

The simple answer, beside it would be very exhausting for one person to handle both tasks, is that a GM and a coach don't necessarily have the same goals.

A coach is more focused on short term success. He wants to win this season. A GM have to take a long term view where you have to balance the needs of the team five years from now against the needs of the team now.

A coach/GM would most likely be tempted to sacrifice the long term for short term gains, much like what happens when a GM today is on the hot seat. They make trades that are designed to save the season or their job (Erat+Latta for Forsberg).

 

[DonskoiDonscored]

As a coach, you get to work with the players on a way more personal level, and that might skew contracts/trades. I personally don't want 1 person to have all that responsibility and power.

 

[Unlimited Chequing]

Yeah I remember Sutter saying he had to stop doing both jobs full time because it was just too much work to juggle both simultaneously.

Bryan Murray was also GM and interim head coach for the second half of the 2007-2008 after he fired Paddock.

 

[Viqsi]

Why not merge the President with the GM?

Around here, we call that the "Doug MacLean approach".

He actually also added Head Coach to his job responsibilities at one point, but gave up after about a year or so.

 

[jmart21]

Because too much work.

This.

I can't begin to fathom how much work it takes to be a head coach in the NHL.

I also can't begin to fathom how much work it takes to be an NHL GM.

Both? I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy.

 

[njdevil26]

Football clubs have 1-2 matches per week so there is so much more time to be strategic and make moves. Plus there are only two transfer windows where moves can be made... Mid-summer and January.

In hockey with a constant "transfer window" and 3-4 games per week it's just too much for one guy to handle.

 

[Melrose Munch]

Dual Roles used to be common before the 2004 lockout.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

The jobs require separate skill sets.

To be a good NHL head coach, you need to be one of the best head coaches in the world.

To be a good NHL general manager, you need to be one of the best general managers in the world.

Although possible, what's the likelihood that a single man in one of the best in the world at two separate (albeit related) types of skills?

 

[DoubleDouble*]

The jobs are really quite different.