AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > October > 17
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
I’ll miss the one-liners
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What an exhausting day. A late night loss in Philly. A 5 a.m. wakeup call for the flight back to Atlanta for practice and then the word becomes official. Bob Hartley is out.
I don’t think anybody can be that surprised but it’s still no fun. We’ll find out if it was the right decision moving forward, and the consensus among the players is that a change was needed. As Moose told me, it’s easier to change one guy than 22. And he’s right. But from my perspective, Hartley was great to work with. Sure, we had our disagreements, but what beat writer and head coach doesn’t? He was a stand-up guy - win or loss. Even when the team was getting swept in the playoffs, Hartley faced the heat. He never shied away from the tough questions. As Eric Perrin said today, he is a class act.
Now, that has nothing to do with the 0-6 start, and the playoff sweep, and everything else that led to today. But from the beat writer’s perspective, Hartley was great. Always good for a quote — He’d tell me, “You get one good one a day,” and more often than not, he delivered.
Understandably, he’s not answering his cell phone right now. And now his voicemail box is full. But I’m sure he’ll be back behind the bench sooner rather than later, and I look forward to dealing with him again when our paths cross.
As for his replacement? Don Waddell’s not tipping his candidates just yet, but I’d start with a group of Dave Lewis, John Anderson, Pat Quinn, and Mike Sullivan and go from there. And who knows, if the team gets hot under Waddell, maybe he’ll give it a run for awhile. Do you have your short list yet?
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