In the world of professional sports, the person who usually shoulders much of the blame is the head coach.
And when things go wrong, he or she is the first to go.
Dave King found that out firsthand yesterday after he was fired by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“You are always disappointed, but that is why we (coaches) are as tough as we are,” King said. “I’d really love to be here for a long time, but that’s not going to happen.”
Doug MacLean, the Blue Jackets’ president and general manager, will take over on an interim basis for the remainder of the season.
“One doesn’t enjoy doing this,” MacLean said before he and the rest of the team left for tonight’s game in Minnesota. “A good person got relieved of his duties today.”
King has been the only coach the Blue Jackets have known since the team’s debut in 2000. He was in the final year of a three-year contract. MacLean and King have also grown close over the past three years.
“It’s a part of the job we don’t enjoy doing,” MacLean said. “I’ve been through it myself. It was a very difficult decision.”
According to MacLean, the decision to relieve King of his duties came late Monday night after the Blue Jackets’ 5-1 loss to Nashville, the Western Conference’s last-place team. The Blue Jackets are the second-worst team in the conference.
Blue Jacket players were shocked by the news and visibly shaken up after the announcement.
“Dave King is a good man and a good coach,” said center and captain Tyler Wright. “I’ve learned a lot from him. It’s sad to see.”
In King’s first season, the Blue Jackets earned a surprisingly high 71 points as an expansion team. However, Columbus has fallen every year since.
That inconsistency is what led to the change behind the bench.
“I was just frustrated by the inconsistency,” MacLean said. “I was frustrated by our good stretches, bad stretches and tremendous letdowns at times.”
King agreed with MacLean’s assessment.
“Our team wasn’t as consistent as we’d like to see,” he said. “I think that was Doug’s reason and I have no problem with his rationale.”
And while his firing came as a surprise, King understands it was a business decision.
“The general manager’s got to benchmark the team where it is and how much progress it is making,” King said. “In our profession in coaching, we are a way to change things quickly and sometimes kick-start the team.”
While MacLean has spent the past three seasons behind the scenes, he is no stranger to coaching.
Before coming to Columbus, MacLean spent two full seasons as the head coach of the Florida Panthers.
During his first year as a National Hockey League coach in 1995-1996, MacLean led the three-year-old franchise to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Colorado Avalanche.
Overall, MacLean has spent 17 years in the NHL, occupying a variety of coaching and personnel positions. However, only two full seasons came behind the bench for the Panthers.
Regardless of his previous success, MacLean has no aspirations of staying on as head coach beyond this season.
“I definitely want to have a new head coach next season,” MacLean said. “We’ll wait until after the season to interview when the pool of coaches becomes available.”
As for King, he has no regrets about his time in Columbus.
“I am just grateful Iwas the first coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets,” he said. “This was a great franchise to work for.”
While he wants to coach in the future, King plans on staying in Columbus until something comes along.
“I’ll be around here for a while and follow the team and maybe go to some games and enjoy it a little bit,” King said. “But I’ll continue to coach.
“I love hockey; it’s my life, and I’ll stay with the game because it’s something I enjoy very much,” he said.
