Sharks' coaching search begins

By David Pollak
Mercury News
Article Launched: 05/14/2008 01:42:27 AM PDT



The man in charge of the hiring is not saying much about what traits he is seeking in the next Sharks coach.

But a San Jose player whose history with Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson goes way back is willing to offer his two cents' worth as far as the type of bench boss the locker room could use after the firing of Ron Wilson.

"I think they need a guy that's confident like Ron was," veteran forward Jeremy Roenick said. "I think they need a guy who knows how to coach players with different egos. That's very important - that you know when to put the egos in check and you know when to let them blossom."

Whatever coaching staff takes over, Roenick added, has a "very big job ahead of them in terms of how prepared they

Slide show
Former Sharks Coach Ron Wilson
are" because Ron Wilson and his staff excelled at that.
Roenick, 38, and Doug Wilson, 50, are close. They were teammates for three seasons in Chicago and Roenick credits the G.M. with resurrecting his career this season. So Roenick - who is expected to return for a second season with the Sharks - was reluctant to offer too much advice and say whether the next coach needs NHL experience.

"That's Doug Wilson's job to figure out," he said.

At this point, Wilson is keeping his options open and, for the most part, his mouth shut.

He won't get into ideal coaching philosophies - up-tempo or deliberate? - or personality types - disciplinarian or player-friendly?

Wilson does use the term "coaching staff" more than "head coach" when talking about the task ahead. And he said again Tuesday that he likes the idea of all players - youth and veterans - having to earn their ice time from a new man in charge.
"It's not all bad that players have to re-earn their equity because there's a new face in there," Wilson said. "That's part of the process."

He has said that he won't limit himself to coaches whose résumé includes an NHL stint, leaving open the possibility of pulling someone from the minor leagues, colleges or Canadian juniors system.

The list of former NHL coaches who might get consideration for the Sharks job is the same one that surfaces now when any vacancy occurs: Pat Burns, Bob Hartley, Paul Maurice, Joel Quenneville and Pat Quinn.

Burns could be the most intriguing. He coached the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup in 2003 before taking a leave of absence two years later to battle colon cancer, which is now in remission. He has said he wants to return to the NHL as a head coach.

Under contract to New Jersey until July 1, Burns is serving as an assistant coach for Team Canada at the world championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

"This is like taking baby steps back into it," Burns, 56, told the Nova Scotia Chronicle-Herald. "But I'm certainly excited about it."

Among minor league coaches, Kevin Dineen of Anaheim's farm team in Portland, Maine, regularly gets mentioned for NHL openings. That also applies to NHL goaltending legend Patrick Roy, who was Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic's juniors coach with the Quebec Remparts.

In addition to talking with outside candidates, Wilson has mentioned an internal search as well. That would seem to focus on assistant coaches Rob Zettler and Tim Hunter as well as Roy Sommers, the coach at San Jose's minor league affiliate in Worcester, Mass.

But it also might mean a spot on the coaching staff for Mike Ricci or Brian Marchment, former Sharks now in the team's front office.

Naming Ricci or Marchment as an assistant coach would be consistent with a change in the team's identity that Wilson has been working on for the past year.

When the Sharks were considered a team with an abundance of skill and a shortage of heart and grit, the G.M. set out to add the latter. First, he came up with a catch phrase, saying he wanted his talented team to have "a blue-collar heartbeat." Then he acquired players such as Roenick and Jody Shelley to move the Sharks in that direction.

Ricci and Marchment both meet Wilson's blue-collar definition. And it might not be out of line to expect a new head coach to exhibit that characteristic as well.

That could mean Wilson is looking for someone similar to Detroit's Mike Babcock or Anaheim's Randy Carlyle.

Or not.



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Read David Pollak's Working the Corners blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/ sharks. Contact him at dpollak@mercurynews.com.