Quote:
Originally Posted by Tabaracci_31
Hey CP!
I haven't posted a thread (or at all, really!) in awhile. Lately, I've been curious about some of the previous Flames coaches. I'm wondering if any of you pals can provide some background info on the following coaches. Details like fan reception to their hiring/firing, how players/fans liked them during their tenure, what they were known for, if there were any other serious candidates in the running before their hire, etc. Thank you kindly for any info! I'm thinking of:
- Johnson (more the reaction/circumstances around him leaving)
- Crisp
- Risebrough (coaching only, haha!)
- King
- Page
Thanks for any contribution! Stay rad, CP!
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Johnson was a terrific coach but for some reason some vets didn't like him. Lanny and Peplinski in particular. That said, I'm not sure if that was a reason or there was something else other than he really wanted to run Hockey USA.
Crisp was the minor league affiliate head coach and had done very well there. So he was a fairly obvious candidate. I can't recall if there was a big search for a coach, or they just wanted him all along. He was fired because of the poor PO results when the Flames thought they had a dynasty on their hands.
Risebrough was an assistant and was really popular with the players. I remember Macinnis saying something like "we'd skate through a wall for Riser". The wall won, they didn't do well in the POs (again). Plus, he was promoted to AGM as well, and the GM when Fletcher left. His resignation was more to do with the perception that both jobs were too much for him (realding to the Gilmour trade).
King IIRC was actually the result of an actual deliberation and not just the "promote from within" mentality that put Crisp and Risebrough in. King was widely regarded as one of the best coaches not in the NHL. They gave him his full contract to try and do better, but they never won a PO round. So they didn't renew.
Risebrough hired Page who had once been an AC with Calgary, in the pre-cup years. He'd been a head coach for a couple teams. I think they wanted an Xs and Os guy and supposedly he was one. He had one good season and then they missed the POs so he was fired.
Brian Sutter was a veteran coach, a home town guy, with a lousy team to coach. Wasn't fired, just wasn't renewed.
Don Hay was a terrific junior coach and then a terrible NHL coach and then a terrific junior coach. Gilbert was his assistant so I am really not sure why they thought he'd be better than Hay. Anyway, he took over as interim coach when Hay was fired and somehow got the job the next year Gilbert's team actually got off to a great start (which I think coincided with the really good run Turek had). But then they sucked and he fought with Marc Savard, and after the following year got off to a brutal start he was fired. Then along came Darryl.
Really, I think the Flames have only had two top level coaches. I know I sound like a GG defender at times but he's only OK in my books. He's a Dave King/Brent Sutter/Pierre Page