Monday, November 28, 2011

Coaching Changes All Around

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     According to his agent, Urban Meyer has accepted the Ohio State coaching position.  After denying reports last week that he was going to accept this job and basically going in hiding over the weekend, his agent is now claiming the job is his.  To me, Meyer has always been a hard person to figure out.  But there is no doubt he is one of the best coaches around.
     After he resigned from Florida in 2009 to rest, he came back for the 2010 season.  He left the program again because of stress related health issues.  Last week he denied that he took this job, but it might have been out of respect for Ohio State because they still had a game to play.  Either way, it looked sketchy.  Over the weekend ESPN reported that they had called him but never received an answer.  He has been working at ESPN as an analyst.  If he did not intend on taking the Ohio State job, would he have ignored his employer?  At 5:15 today, Ohio Sate will have a press conference and this should all be official.  Ohio State needed a change after a 6-6 season, let's see if Meyer still has what it takes.

NHL Changes
     In the NHL, there were two coaching changes today. Paul Maurice was fired from the Carolina Hurricanes and Bruce Boudreau was fired from the Washington Capitals.  Carolina has had a bad season holding a 8-13-4 record.  They have replaced Maurice with Kirk Muller, an AHL coach, and previous NHL assistant.  The Boudreau firing surprises me.  They have been in a free fall since starting 7-0, going 5-9-1 since.  His coaching career at Washington ends with a 201-88-40 record.  He was the quickest to get 200 wins in the modern era NHL.  Ovechkin claims he was "shocked" to find out about the firing of his coach.  Boudreau was replaced by Dale Hunter.


UPDATE: 12/1/11 9:02 am: Boudreau Quickly Back In The Game
The Anaheim Duck have fired head coach Randy Carlyle and hired Bruce Boudreau.  Carlyle had a 273-182-61 record for Anaheim, but is only 7-13-4 this year.  The hiring of Boudreau should pay off for Anaheim.  It is tough to understand why he lost his job in Washington, but conflict with Ovechkin may be to blame.  Boudreau is a great coach and it did not take him long to find work. 


NFL

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UPDATE 11/29/11 9:30 am:  Jags Coach, Jack Del Rio Fired In Jacksonville
This morning, Del Rio was fired after compiling a 3-8 record this season.  He coached for 8+ seasons in Jacksonville and put together a 68-71 record.  He is a better coach than his 3-8 record this year shows.  Del Rio was managing a terrible team in Jacksonville and I am surprised that team was even able to win 3 games this year.  Look for Del Rio to be picked up next year by another team in the league.  The Jags defensive coordinator Mel Tucker is filling in as the interim coach. 

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