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Originally Posted by Nargamaniac
What's the deal with him? I've always heard tidbits about his controversial firing, and 'blacklisting' but can anyone tell me the full story on what happened to him?
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Ted Nolan was NOT fired !!!!!!
Nolan was NOT fired, he walked away. He was offered a one-year deal by the Sabres, refused it and put himself on the market as a free agent.
Nolan had won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 1996-97. After the season, Nolan refused new general manager Darcy Regier's offer of a one-year contract extension saying the offer was insulting. He was quite a jerk using the press to snipe at Regier as he had done with Muckler before him. Regier then decided he couldn't work with Nolan and hired Lindy Ruff who has taken the Sabres to places Nolan hasn’t (Conference and Cup finals).
Nolan has not coached professionally since and has refused to consider anything less than a head coaching job. Most head coaches who are looking for work accept associate coaching jobs (Roger Neilson for example)or work minor pro while waiting for the opportunity to get the top job in the NHL. That at least keeps you in the game and current with the league. He's been offered head coaching jobs in the OHL, but wasn't interested. Not Ted Nolan - he's too good for that.
He clashed publicly on several occasions with Dominic Hasek and used the press to snipe at Hasek. Not a smart thing to do with your superstar who has a no-trade contract and who has won the Vezina and is the league MVP. Finally Hasek who had been silent throughout the turmoil was quoted as saying he didn't want Nolan to return. Matthew Barnaby a staunch Nolan supporter, blamed Dominik Hasek for Nolan's departure and went so far as to announce that he would run the superstar goaltender at the upcoming training camp.
The rumors that have circulated since his departure from the Sabres are what many think are preventing his return. He is said to have fought with former Sabres GM John Muckler and cost Muckler his job by going behind Muckler's back to team President, Larry Quinn. He was quoted as saying of Muckler "We just had trouble working together -- we didn't hit it off."
If the rumours are true, what GM wants a guy who is going to get him fired? There have been other rumours of drunkeness, missing practises and affairs as well. Nolan carries a lot of baggage.
Nolan now seems to regret his actions and attitude. In a January 2003 in article in The Sporting News he said:
"The first couple of years are really the chip-on-your-shoulder years," Nolan says from his home in St. Catharines, Ontario. "I wanted to get back in to prove them all wrong. That was the wrong approach for me. It took a lot of my time and energy, and I kind of lost focus."
He was interviewed for the vacant Flames head coaching job after Greg Gilbert was fired. Darryl Sutter was hired. Nolan's record does not compare to Sutter who coached three years with the Blackhawks and more than five seasons with the Sharks where he had improved the team's record each year during his tenure. In the 2001-02 season the Sharks won the Pacific Division with 99 points and posted a 7-5 record in the playoffs.
More to the point Nolan is a coach with a couple of year's experience as a head coach in the NHL, who had an overly inflated opinion of himself and acted like a jerk towards his bosses and the businesses top asset (Hasek). You try that and see how long you last in your job. Couple that with an arrogant attitude and 8 years out of the game, it is not surprising he is not first on any GM's list to be hired.
Ted Nolan - an unemployed coach with good PR and not much of a recent resume or desirable attributes. HMMMMMM - seems like a good fit for the Leafs.
