USA Hockey announced that Mark Johnson, current head coach of the University of Wisconsin women's team--a perennial powerhouse, will be the women's national team coach next season. As in the 2010 Olympic season. So Johnson is the new Olympic coach basically. He will take over the Blaine residency program where current national team prospects (who are not committed to college teams) are currently training. And he will coach the team at the next Four Nations Cup in Finland in November.
Johnson certainly has the credentials. He has coached the national team before. He has experience coaching the men's national team and, of course, he was a pivotal part of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team and a former NHLer.
But still the choice surprises me for several reasons. First, when long-time coach Ben Smith left the position of head coach he advocated for a female head coach. Yet Johnson was the first replacement for Smith at the Four Nations Cup in 2006. Also, USA Hockey has been trying out different head coaches since the last Olympics. And these people have had some success. Katey Stone, Harvard's head coach, took the team to a win at the last Four Nations Cup (beating Canada). And Jackie Barto of Ohio State lead the team to a World Championship (beating Canada) last spring--an accomplishment not many others can claim. In other words, these two women have big wins over rival Canada in the very recent past--with teams that will likely contain many of the 2010 players.
But it's possible these positions were never tryouts for the head position. Johnson's Wikipedia entry states that he was always slated to be head coach through the 2010 games.
Still, it's a little disappointing that USA Hockey cannot get behind a female coach.
5 comments:
So just to make sure we're straight on this...Mark Johnson isn't the right choice because he's a he?
It doesn't matter that he's the best American-born women's hockey coach who wanted the job?
You left out a few facts about Johnson, who is the son of "Badger" Bob Johnson, the greatest American ice hockey coach this side of Herb Brooks. Johnson also played in eight IIHF World Championships, three Canada Cups as well as 11 seasons in the NHL. When he didn't get the job coaching the men at Wisconsin, he eagerly embraced the chance to coach the women's team and has never uttered a word to suggest that it was anything other than a fantastic opportunity. And yeah, you also left out the back to back NCAA titles his teams at Wisconsin won in 2006 and 2007.
In short, there's no person in the world more qualified to coach this team -- male or female -- than Mark Johnson. It's a shame you can't look past his gender and see him for the incredible talent that he is.
Dear Anon,
I know Johnson's bio. All that info is readily available on the internet. And I do know a smidge about women's hockey.
I know he has done great things with the program at Wisconsin. I was at the Frozen Four in Minnesota several years ago. He has a great program.
I never said he wasn't qualified. But I think there are great women coaching that could--and have done--equally good jobs--like Stone and Barto. Ben Smith, who built the women's national program himself thought the job should go to a woman. The fact that Johnson so easily moves between coaching men and women is indicative of the sexism in hiring. Until women are able to coach men and women, I think we really need to think about who we give opportunities to--and from whom we are taking them away.
WOW! Just because Ben Smith said a women should coach the next Olympic team, that would be good enough for you. It would have gone down as one of the all time biggest mistakes ever made in USA women's hockey. Give the girls a call and ask them how they like playing for Mark.
Do you know how good a coach Ben Smith was? Call the girls and ask them how they liked to play for him.
WOW! Just because Ben Smith said a women should coach the next Olympic team, that would be good enough for you. It would have gone down as one of the all time biggest mistakes ever made in USA women's hockey. Give the girls a call and ask them how they like playing for Mark.
Do you know how good a coach Ben Smith was? Call the girls and ask them how they liked to play for him.
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