The trend of hiring “proven” coaches in pro sports is not a new one. But there is also a fine line between giving a previously successful coach (or general manager) another shot and merely recycling the same 40-50 names in perpetuity. The worst offenders? Probably the NHL and the NBA in a tie. And both were back at it recently with coaches, with the Sacramento Kings hiring Paul Westphal (which conveniently allowed us to use that amazing 1980 SI cover) and the Dallas Stars hiring Marc Crawford.

At face value, both men have had some success in previous stops. This is Crawford’s fourth NHL head coaching job; he won a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 1996; he had several good teams in Vancouver as well (and subsequent postseason flops cannot be pinned solely on a coach when he is forced to play Dan Cloutier between the pipes). Westphal had some fun in Phoenix, leading the Suns to the NBA finals in 1993 before they lost to the Bulls in a very good series.

That said, and in full recognition people can change with the times, neither man is likely to bring much innovation to their respective sports. Their strategies are known. Their methods have already been taught. While they are reasonably safe hires, they are hardly imaginative hires. They are merely names that make the average fan go, “Oh, yeah. Him.”

Questions: why are so many teams afraid to bring some new blood into the coaching/GM equation? And who are some of the (past or present) greatest “that guys” in coaching or the front office?

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 11:15 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.