AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2007 > October > 17
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Goodbye Coach Bob and Thank You
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just prior to the opening of last season, my oldest son and I attended the open house at Philips Arena. Just after touring the locker room we noticed Coach Bob Hartley standing on the floor with several fans. Now, my son had attended a couple of the coach’s hockey clinics and so of course he wanted to go greet him and shake his hand.
What I remember most about this is, as he stood with the crowd around Hartley, once the coach saw him standing there, he reached over and placed his hand on his shoulder pulling him over saying, “Come here, I know you”. Then Bob called him by the nickname he gave him at one of the clinics. A name that I am not even allowed to call him by because, as he says, “Only Coach Bob can call me that”!
The two of them stood and chatted for a while. My son was asked how his hockey season was going, if he was putting is full effort into it and if he was keeping his grades up at school. There were thousands of people in attendance that night, but for a few minutes, it was just the two of them. Here was the head coach of an NHL franchise spending time with a 14 year-old kid and displaying a genuine interest.
I’ll never forget that moment. More importantly, I know my son never will either.
Today we learned that Coach Bob Hartley was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Atlanta Thrashers. 0-6-0 to start a season following a playoff sweep will do that in most cases. Some may view this move as welcome news. Some may wonder why so soon, that the team should have made some roster moves first to give the coach something to coach with. Some will scratch their heads and wonder why, if Hartley was shown the door, was the man who constructed the current roster not done the same? After all, Hartley did try to mix things up once it was shown not to work. It’s not as though he started coaching differently with this group of players then when he coached the team to a division championship last season.
But then again, General Mangers don’t fire themselves when things go wrong, do they?
As with any situation where a head coach is fired the question is always if it was the right thing to do or not. My feeling is that the answer to that question can only be given once we know who will replace him. So, on that level I will reserve my judgment.
As for Coach Bob Hartley, I can only wish him good luck and Godspeed in whatever the future holds for him. And thank him for being a positive influence in Thrasher organization, the Atlanta community, youth hockey in this area, and one young man that will not take this news very well.
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