The “players’ coach” label comes with certain connotations, good and bad.
On one hand, it’s critical for any coach in any sport today to be able to effectively communicate with his or her players, and a players’ coach tends to have a better chance of doing that than an old-school hard-ass.
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On the other, a players’ coach can sometimes be seen as soft and unable to discipline his players or hold them accountable when the situation calls for it.
It’s a dynamic new Bruins coach Jim Montgomery is certainly familiar with. One of the first things every Bruins fan heard about him was how well he communicated and connected with players. General manager Don Sweeney highlighted as much in his statement announcing the hire.
Add in the reports of Bruce Cassidy struggling to get through to players this past season, and it was easy to see Montgomery as a more player-friendly replacement who won’t be as hard on the team. One quote in particular from his introductory press conference has been replayed on sports radio to reinforce that notion.
“I think you have to listen. I prefer to listen before I speak,” Montgomery said. “I’ll turn it back into what is always best for the team after I’ve listened to suggestions, ideas, or opinions. And we’re always going to be in this together. It’s always going to be a ‘we’ culture.”
There is certainly a lot of truth to the notion that Montgomery is a “players’ coach,” but there was also a fairly important “but” after that above quote that has seemingly been ignored.
“But when it comes to accountability and final decisions, I will be firm there,” he added.
On a recent appearance on “The Cam & Strick Podcast,” Montgomery expanded on the difference between how he actually coaches vs. how he’s sometimes perceived. He said he’s even had former players tell him it took a little while to get used to how strict he is on the ice compared to how friendly he is off it.
“It’s a really good question, because when you first get there, I’m trying to get to know people as people,” Montgomery told hosts Cam Janssen and Andy Strickland. “That’s the way I’ve always been. I think you learn from that situation.
“I do think, and I know a couple players remarked this to me, that they thought because I wanted to get to know them as people, that I wanted to be this super friendly players’ coach. And I think then they saw how demanding I was in practice, and with details in the game, and they maybe thought, well, who is this guy? Like, which one is he? … I think they understand that I was going to be me over time, and we developed really good relationships.”
It seems like an approach that has served Montgomery well. It’s hard to find former players of his who have anything negative to say about him. It’s also hard to find much losing on his resume -- his teams have had winning records and made the postseason in all nine of his full seasons as a head coach at three different levels (three USHL, five NCAA, one NHL).
It could also be a good approach for this Bruins team. Clearly, the organization considered good communication a necessity and made it a priority during the coaching search. But Brad Marchand also told Montgomery the team is “ready to be coached,” so a demanding approach on the ice shouldn’t be a negative.
In that respect, Montgomery told Cam & Strick he feels “lucky” to be walking into a situation with leaders like Marchand and Patrice Bergeron (still not officially signed, but expected to be back).
“I do feel like I’m really lucky with the situation I’m going into in Boston,” Montgomery said. “It’s a really good team, but the leadership I think is unparalleled. This is from everybody I’ve talked to. Like I talked to [Mike Babcock, who coached Bergeron twice in the Olympics] … and I told him I got the opportunity to talk to Bergeron on the phone a couple times, and you feel like you’re talking to a coach. And he just talked about how unreal of a person he is. … He just said, ‘He was as important to Sidney Crosby as Sidney Crosby was to him.’ That says a lot, because obviously Sidney Crosby is Sid.”
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