[News] Flames open to idea of first female NHL coach

[btimbit]

Makes sense.

Hire the best person for the job, regardless of gender, race, whatever. But it still has to be the best person for the job first and foremost.

[CaramonLS]

How many NHL Head Coaches have no games of NHL experience?

IIRC, I think the only one is Babcock.

[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

How many NHL Head Coaches have no games of NHL experience?

IIRC, I think the only one is Babcock.

Huh? You think every coach in the NHL has played NHL hockey?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

How many NHL Head Coaches have no games of NHL experience?

IIRC, I think the only one is Babcock.

wut?

like, 1/3 of them.

Hartley, Therrien, Dejardins, Cooper, Maurice, Trotz, Hitchcock, plus a couple more I believe.

[chockfullofgoodness]

Originally Posted by pylon

I think that is the proper way to phrase that.

Last I heard, Hayley Wickenheiser is a woman.

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by fleury

Meh, talk is cheap. I'm skeptical of all this as it comes across as grandstanding and showing how progressive he is as an executive. There are other issues at play - namely the hockey culture in the dressing room and all the verbal insults thrown around. How would a woman behind the bench take to that? Right or wrong, it's probably going to be an issue for awhile. I don't know if any of the old boys clubs in any of the big major league sports will take the chance in the near term. Is there even a black coach in hockey right now?

this made me chuckle. have you ever been out to a women's hockey game? i score kept for the local 'beer league' here in kelowna a couple seasons back and every once in a while i'd get sunday night games - which is when the women play.

some of the stuff i heard on sunday nights was just 'wow!!' i've heard a lot of stuff on the ice when i play but some of the most "did you just say that?" moments i've had were score keeping the women's games.

i got to know most of the refs during my score keeping season and we'd talk about stuff like that. there was resounding agreement that the stuff the women say on the ice is usually waaaaaay worse than what you hear when the men play.

i'm pretty confident any woman that gets a coaching position would be just fine, especially since she would be 'well versed' in hockey culture

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by pylon

I think that is the proper way to phrase that.

Not really. We were talking about a specific person who was a female.

[chockfullofgoodness]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

this made me chuckle. have you ever been out to a women's hockey game? i score kept for the local 'beer league' here in kelowna a couple seasons back and every once in a while i'd get sunday night games - which is when the women play.

some of the stuff i heard on sunday nights was just 'wow!!' i've heard a lot of stuff on the ice when i play but some of the most "did you just say that?" moments i've had were score keeping the women's games.

i got to know most of the refs during my score keeping season and we'd talk about stuff like that. there was resounding agreement that the stuff the women say on the ice is usually waaaaaay worse than what you hear when the men play.

i'm pretty confident any woman that gets a coaching position would be just fine, especially since she would be 'well versed' in hockey culture

But this isn't about women using/hearing bad language. It's about whether they are ready to coach NHL players. I'm not against it, but they have a long way to go before they are anywhere NEAR coaching NHL players.

[Mickey76]

I live out in the sticks so I am asking this as a serious question, in the Calgary Minor Hockey System how many woman coaches are there? 5%? 10%? Intuitively I would think it is very low and I think it would be hard for an NHL player to buy into a female head coach, unless it is something that doesn't seem very odd and unusual and sideshowish about it. If he had 3 female head coaches while he was coming up I think there would be a much higher chance of success.

The more interesting question to me is do you think a woman head coach will ever win a Stanley Cup? I mean any owner could higher a woman tomorrow, but it doesn't mean they will be accepted or have any success. But to see a team completely buy in and win a cup that would be something. Personally I don't think I'll see if in my life (I am 39) but maybe my kids or grandkids will.

[Lanny_McDonald]

If she can improve the Flames special teams, welcome aboard!

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by chockfullofgoodness

But this isn't about women using/hearing bad language. It's about whether they are ready to coach NHL players. I'm not against it, but they have a long way to go before they are anywhere NEAR coaching NHL players.

my reply was was completely about the language/culture - that's why i bolded this part of fleury's post

There are other issues at play - namely the hockey culture in the dressing room and all the verbal insults thrown around. How would a woman behind the bench take to that?

i totally agree with you about women coaching in the nhl - they do have a long way to go

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by fleury

Meh, talk is cheap. I'm skeptical of all this as it comes across as grandstanding and showing how progressive he is as an executive. There are other issues at play - namely the hockey culture in the dressing room and all the verbal insults thrown around. How would a woman behind the bench take to that? Right or wrong, it's probably going to be an issue for awhile. I don't know if any of the old boys clubs in any of the big major league sports will take the chance in the near term. Is there even a black coach in hockey right now?

That ship has sailed, I think you've missed the whole reason the question was even asked to NHLers.
First Female Coach in the NFL

[Matata]

Are their any women who are on track to becoming an NHL coach? Also, I worry about their spatial reasoning and upper body strength *jokes*.

[Locke]

I dont know, I've always like the idea of 'the people that couldnt make it.'

Fringe NHL'ers become good coaches because they had to really think the game in order to stick and translated that ability to coaching.

Its possible. A woman who could have been an NHL'er except for lack of physical strength could still have excellent insight from a coaching perspective. I dont find it unrealistic at all.

I always felt that the first woman in the NHL would be a goalie. Its not that women arent strong they're just not strong in the right ways for the NHL in its current iteration but they might be strong enough in other ways to have a shot.

[YYC in LAX]

My honest opinion is a female head coach would lose the room really quickly if the team wasn't winning.

I don't see this happening in my lifetime.

[saillias]

Originally Posted by New Era

If she can improve the Flames special teams, welcome aboard!

Just special teams? If she could help out even strength, goaltending, forwards, defense, skating, hire that woman. We're not worldbeaters in any category.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by MarkGio

Yup. I wonder why that is. My guy tells me that women are generally less interested in sports than men, but I look to all the female jocks and wonder why they never coached their kids hockey team. I mean, we know of soccer moms and hockey moms, but they're never coaches for some reason. So either there's sexism at the development levels in giving coaching jobs, or there's some other factor, such as the double shift, maternal duties, or other barriers

Back in the 80s when my kid was 8 or 9 he had a female coach one season. She used to bring her slightly older son to the practises to help and also it encouraged the players to try to keep up with him. This went on for a few weeks until at one game the fathers were passing around a petition to fire the coach. I wouldn't sign it because she was doing fine and where were the fathers at the beginning of the season when they could have volunteered. Years later in a big co-incidence her boy and my boy played on a Junior A team together in another province.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Locke

I dont know, I've always like the idea of 'the people that couldnt make it.'

Fringe NHL'ers become good coaches because they had to really think the game in order to stick and translated that ability to coaching.

Its possible. A woman who could have been an NHL'er except for lack of physical strength could still have excellent insight from a coaching perspective. I dont find it unrealistic at all.

I always felt that the first woman in the NHL would be a goalie. Its not that women arent strong they're just not strong in the right ways for the NHL in its current iteration but they might be strong enough in other ways to have a shot.

The odds are still terrible. How may successful sub 5'10" goalies are playing right now? The position has evolved to the point where size = good and size+athleticism = better. It's getting more difficult by the year for smaller goalies to make it, to the point where size is almost a prerequisite for the position.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Mickey76

...I think it would be hard for an NHL player to buy into a female head coach...

Originally Posted by YYC in LAX

My honest opinion is a female head coach would lose the room really quickly if the team wasn't winning...

Why are so many of you fixated on the impossibility of a woman becoming a NHL head coach?

The article raises the possibility that a woman could realistically be added to an NHL coaching staff at some point in the near future. This is a far cry from being in the top position, and whether it be with special teams, goaltending or whatnot, there is really no good reason to think that a woman will not succeed in one of the several assistant coaching roles provided by every team. With time, this will likely produce a growing pool of more qualified female NHL coaching candidates.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by fleury

...Is there even a black coach in hockey right now?

No. And in my opinion, I think it would be more reasonable to see a female coach in the NHL before a black, male coach. I don't know off hand, but I would suspect that there are more females playing hockey than black males, and by quite a wide margin. There have already been female hockey coaches at the college level for women's hockey, so why is it a stretch to imagine that it will happen at the NHL level before the emergence of a black male coach?