Derek Claussen's Page

Hi, are those free pitching workouts on Monday for kids only? I'd be interested in learning more. I visited your website. It's great that you utilize sports science in your instructing. Do you by any chance follow Dick Mills?

I thought on this one for a long time as well - here is a summary of the reasons from a blog I read recently on the subject - the blog is called puckdaddy and usually always has some interesting reads for hockey fans. For better or worse, this is an interesting look at it.

1. Immortal athletes make very mortal coaches.
Athletic dominance isn't a harbinger of managerial greatness. Legendary quarterback Bart Starr won two Super Bowls in a 16-year career with the Green Bay Packers; in nine years as Packers head coach, he was 24 games under .500 and made the playoffs once. Ted Williams had a .344 career batting average in 19 MLB seasons, and a .429 winning percentage as a manager for the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers. Gretzky's just the latest example.
2. Gretzky was a poor investment as coach.
The average NHL coach's salary hovers around $1 million. Gretzky's coaching contract called for a $6.5 million salary this season; the Coyotes' highest-paid player, defenseman Ed Jovanovski(notes), will make $6 million. If Phoenix won the same number of games as last year (36), Gretzky's salary would have averaged out to $180,555 per victory. In 2010-11, he was due to make an incredible $8 million -- or only $1 million less than superstar Alexander Ovechkin of the Capitals.
What about paying Gretzky for being a gate attraction? Sorry: As a source told the Globe & Mail earlier this year, "He doesn't translate to one ticket sold."
3. Hockey coaching isn't a four-year college.
Momentary cartoon nostalgia aside, former Coyotes defenseman Derek Morris(notes) said the team was "changing systems every single day" under Gretzky. Highly-touted prospects saw their progress slowed or the potential never realized on his watch. In 2007, Gretzky told the New York Times "I'm going to make myself a good coach." On the day Gretzky resigned, Phoenix captain Shane Doan(notes) told ESPN that The Great One "was on his way to becoming a great coach."
The on-the-job training didn't work, and Gretzky hadn't paid his dues, either. Former Dallas Stars Coach Dave Tippett, who replaced Gretzky yesterday, played 11 NHL seasons as a forward and has coached for 13 seasons. Gretzky's coaching experience before Phoenix? Put it this way: He spent more time hosting "Saturday Night Live" in his career than managing a hockey game -- and he only hosted "SNL" once.
4. Then again, he wasn't given much to work with in Phoenix.
Scott Morrison of CBC Sports made the only legit argument in defense of Gretzky's coaching prowess: That he was overseeing some truly awful teams in Phoenix. It was frequently a team built on the cheap, from other franchise's castoffs and its own underwhelming personnel decisions. The old adage is that coaches coach the team they have, and not the team they wish they had; and the teams Gretzky had usually stunk.

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Actually I coach in Joliet-- I coach 7th/8th graders at Whiteford baseball in Joliet