Interesting Coaching Changes In South Florida

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

There were two Interesting Coaching Changes recently in South Florida.

One I can understand while the other was mind boggling.

Let's start off with the mind boggling dismissal.

On November 27, 2016, former Red Wing Gerard Gallant was fired after going two-plus seasons with the Florida Panthers. Gallant was 96-65-25 in his tenure in South Florida.

Gallant led the Panthers into the playoffs last season and was replaced by General Manager Tom Rowe. According to Rowe, Gallant wanted a little bit more size and the Panthers wanted to go in a different direction.

In Florida's short tenure in the NHL dating back to 1993, Rowe becomes the Panthers 14th head coach to sit behind the bench at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL.

Gallant was a Coach Of The Year Finalist last year and now by Christmas, he will be home for the holidays. He led the Panthers to a division title last year and the best regular season in franchise history with a 47-26-6 mark with 103 points.

This season, the Panthers have battled injuries and were 11-10-1 when he was ousted.

As of this post, through 30 games, Florida is 13-13-4 with 30 points and would be out of the playoffs.

Fortunately for Gallant, he was under contract through the 2018-19 season, having signed a contract extension back in January.

As I mentioned before, Rowe becomes the 14th Panthers coach and the fifth person to be behind the bench in the last five years.

Nevertheless, I don't expect Gallant to be out of work long.

Who knows where his next stop will be and since he's being paid to go away, there is a new expansion team set to begin play in 2017-2018 and it's in another warm climate called the Vegas Golden Knights.

Golden Knights Owner Bill Foley is looking to build a winner quickly, and after a successful tenure in Florida, I wouldn't be surprised if Gallant becomes a serious candidate for this job.

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About 35 Minutes away in Boca Raton, FL., the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Owls fired head coach Charlie Partridge.

In three years as coach of FAU, Partridge guided the Owls to a 9-27 record----with three consecutive 3-9 campaigns.

On Saturday, November 26, 2016, Partridge's last game with the Owls was one for the ages for perhaps all the wrong reasons.

FAU lost 77-56, and yes, this is a football score, to the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders on the road.

Folks in Michigan should be very familiar with FAU. The Owls defeated Central Michigan in The Motor City Bowl 24-21 on December 26, 2008.

FAU lost a pair of games to Michigan State in East Lansing, plus played the Spartans in a home game at Ford Field when its new on campus stadium wasn't completed on schedule.

FAU has only been to two Bowl Games under the legendary Howard Schnellenberger. In addition to the Motor City Bowl, FAU also played in the New Orleans Bowl. FAU is 2-0 in Bowl Games.

The program has recently produced some NFL players with the most notable being running back Alfred Morris of the Dallas Cowboys, in addition to QB Rusty Smith, formerly of the Tennessee Titans, wide receiver Lester Jean formerly of the Houston Texans, and many others.

Beautiful FAU Stadium has a capacity of 29,419, has a yearly Bowl Game and is the only venue in the USA that overlooks an ocean. If you're high enough, you can see the Atlantic Ocean. The stadium can also be expanded to as much as 60,000.

In the past couple of weeks, FAU's rival Florida International University (FIU) made a big coaching splash when it hired former Miami Hurricanes Coach Butch Davis.

When Partridge was fired, I knew that for FAU to be relevant, the Owls had to make a big splash of their own.

During FAU's last home game, on November 19, 2016, according to ESPN's Paul Finebaum, a crowd of around 5,800 saw the Owls lose to Old Dominion 42-24.

Aside from the loss to Middle Tennessee State, this is as close to rock bottom as you can get.

Some of the names which made sense to me that FAU would be ideal candidates for the job included former FIU Coach Mario Cristobal along with former Tampa Bay Bucs Head Coach, current Ohio State Assistant Coach and former Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano.

Another coach which came to mind was former University of South Florida (USF) Boss Jim Leavitt, who built that program from scratch and former Hurricanes Coach Randy Shannon.

All of these coaches have big Florida ties.

While none of these names will roam the sidelines, FAU did exactly what I feel they had to do and that was make a big splash with this hire.

The new coach is Lane Kiffin.

He's as high profile as it gets!

Kiffin was a head coach for the Tennessee Volunteers, USC Trojans and Oakland Raiders. He's been the offensive coordinator for Alabama the past three years under Nick Saban and has had the Crimson Tide competing for a National Championship.

Truthfully, I never thought that Kiffin and FAU could connect.

But as the opportunities dwindled with Baylor, Oregon, Houston, USF as well as other big time jobs being filled, this began to make more sense by the minute.

As I understand, Kiffin's salary at Alabama is $1.4 Million Annually but his three-year contract was up at the end of the season.

At FAU, he's slated to earn around $950,000 Annually over five years, but there is No State Income Tax in Florida, plus incentives.

Kiffin has a buyout after one year of $2.5 Million, but it goes down $500,000 each year over five years.

At age 41, Kiffin goes into a situation where he has a young football program which began play in 2001. Aside from the two Bowl wins, it has no real tradition.

FAU has won just 19 games during the past six seasons, and the entire athletic department's budget for this year was projected to be $27.1 Million.

This is an opportunity for him to build a legacy of his own and perhaps return to a Power Five Program down the road.

But to understand this hire, since Friday when Kiffin's name became a real possibility to become the Owls coach, the publicity FAU has received nationally is incredible.

Aside from traditional, social and digital media, ESPN and many of the other sports networks have swarmed like bees over this hiring.

ESPN has blanketed Kiffin's hiring on all of it's major programming platforms.

The Media is wondering whether Kiffin took a step backwards to go to a smaller program to return to the head coaching ranks. Some wonder if he fails at FAU will this be damaging to future opportunities?

Whatever story lines may be, the free publicity for FAU is comparable to hitting a grand slam home run.

Like Schnellenberger did from the outset, should Kiffin's offensive mastermind follow him to South Florida, this program could be a Hidden Gem. More importantly, Kiffin will have a chance to once again put this football program on the map.

One of Kiffin's strongest attributes is his ability to recruit.

With that said, the talent in Florida can support a lot of FBS teams when you consider Miami, Florida, Florida State, USF, UCF, FIU and FAU.

The State of Florida is a Gold Mind of talent all over the country. Michigan and Michigan State have recruited a lot of players to my home state.

There is no reason that FAU can't keep these players home as Kiffin hopes to do. I wouldn't be surprised to see Lane snap up a few prospects from California.

He'll be coaching in Conference USA which is a solid conference to play in and does produce it's fair share of NFL players.

While I know the hiring of Kiffin is drawing many mixed reviews on Facebook and Twitter, this is one time where I feel it's too early to make any preliminary predictions as to how well FAU and Kiffin do together.

In summary, My Gut Feeling tells me that FAU actually made a good hire, while the Florida Panthers decision to part company with Gerard Gallant is like trying to figure out the Rubik's Cube.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com and is a member of The Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association.

Interview With NHL Legend Denis Potvin

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

If I had to come up with a Mt. Rushmore of NHL Defenseman, My list would include Bobby Orr (Boston Bruins), Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings), Ray Bourque (Boston and Colorado Avalanche) and Denis Potvin of the New York Islanders.

I would welcome any feedback off of this list.

All of these players have won multiple James Norris Trophies, and played on Stanley Cup Championship Winning Teams.

When the Detroit Red Wings faced the Florida Panthers on March 19, 2015 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, FL., I had a chance to speak with Potvin before the game.

When I told Potvin that he was on My Mt. Rushmore List, he was humbled, his face lit up and his voice perked up as well. While he may have been surprised by this, any person that has followed hockey for decades would see justification in adding him.

Indeed, he deserves to be on it.

Potvin was the Islanders first overall selection in the 1973 NHL Draft. He played his entire career on Long Island from 1973-1988.

He's a four-time Stanley Cup Winner of the early 1980's Islanders' Dynasty. He also won the Norris Trophy three times.

In 1991, Potvin reached immortality by being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

He was the captain for the Islanders when they won four consecutive championships, in addition to making five straight Stanley Cup Finals Appearances.

During his eight years as Islanders Captain, New York never failed to reach to reach the playoffs.

When Potvin retired, his career numbers were as follows: 310 goals, 742 assists for 1,052 points in 1,060 games, along with 1,356 penalty minutes.

He was the first defenseman to reach 1,000 career points.

On February 1, 1992, Potvin's No.5 Jersey was retired by the Islanders, the first such honor bestowed by the franchise.

After his playing days, Potvin was a color commentator for the Florida Panthers television broadcasts on FS Florida from the team's inception in 1993 to the 2008-09 season.

On May 6, 2009, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that the Panthers would not renew his contract in order to save money. He was replaced by former Panthers player Bill Lindsay.

In September 2010, Potvin was hired by the Ottawa Senators to be their colour analyst on Rogers Sportsnet.

But on August of 2014, he was rehired by the Panthers new owners working with Steve Goldstein on Fox Sports Florida.

Before the Red Wings 3-1 loss to the Panthers, I had the Good Fortune of speaking with Potvin in a Q&A Interview.

Q: Are you happy to see the New York Islanders (44-26-5) winning again?

A: Sure I am. It's been a long, long time. I speak for all of the alumni. We've been waiting for this to happen. It's almost shameful what's happened since over the years where they're not very good, not able to get a lot of support in the county, and now they're finally leaving. It's kind of sad.

Q: What are your thoughts about the Islanders move to Brooklyn, NY? It never dawned on me that this would happen although I'm very aware of the issues they've had with the aging and outdated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

A: The arena in Brooklyn is supposed to be a basketball arena and it doesn't have the attendance the NHL normally requires (15,795). So I think it's a work in progress. I was told by Garth Snow the General Manager that they are signing a long term lease in Brooklyn. But we'll wait and see what happens. They did say to the alumni that they would preserve the jerseys, the Stanley Cups and everything else. So they want to keep the history of the Islanders alive.

Q: Do you see some positives coming from this move into The Big Apple?

A: On the other hand, I know the New York area very well. You're just a stones throw away from Madison Square Garden, and it could become another intense rivalry like we had. The City of Brooklyn has a lot of people and they can be very intense about their teams. That's the way it's going to go.

Q: How impressed are you that the Detroit Red Wings have made the playoffs 23-Consecutive Years?

A: Like everybody else, it's unbelievable. I don't know how they do it especially in the Salary Cap Era. But on the other hand, my quick answer is they have a formula that works.

Mike Babcock is a terrific coach, but he doesn't see a rookie until he's 23-years old. That's where you get the consistency. They don't bring players up that can make a lot of mistakes. They bring players up that are seasoned and that have had their chance to make their early mistakes at 19 and 20 years old. That's why you can see the consistency.

Q: What do you think of Red Wings GM Ken Holland?

A: Ken Holland is so well respected. When this 3-3 Overtime comes alive, you'll have a picture of Kenny on the side boards. Whenever a guy of this stature makes a recommendation, people listen to him. This is a game of wins and losses. That's the bottom line. If Ken Holland was in an organization which hadn't made the playoffs in five years, it doesn't quite work. This is all about wins and losses. And Holland has directed that very well for his franchise.

Q: What are your thoughts of the Red Wings switch to the Eastern Conference last season?

A: I like it. It's fine. I'm very happy for the realignment.

It's tough on the Florida Panthers to have to go to Ottawa in the Eastern Conference. I was hoping that there would be realignment that would allow Florida to be in the same area as Raleigh, NC (Carolina Hurricanes), Nashville, TN, Tampa Bay and Washington. For Florida teams, people don't understand the amount of travel involved.

Detroit more than anyone is going to benefit because of the amount of travel in the past playing in the Western Conference. They'll see how much easier it is in the Eastern Conference. It was brutal for them for a long time.

Q: Former Red Wings player Gerard Gallant seems to have done a nice job as Panthers coach. Is that why they're in playoff contention with a 34-26-14 mark?

A: Yes! We all like Gerard Gallant. When the players tell me that they look forward to coming to the rink everyday, you know you've reached them as a coaching staff. Gallant has done a nice job.

He has good assistants working with him in John Madden, Mark Morris, and Rob Tallas, who are doing a great job developing the young players. Dale Tallon (Executive VP & GM) has done a good job in bringing in the veterans.

Much like the Detroit organization, once the core of young players here settles in, you'll be able to take time and develop your younger players like Detroit does, and NOT have the 18 and 19 come up too early.

Q: Denis, I know you had excellent goaltenders in New York speaking of Glenn "Chico" Resch, and Billy Smith. What are your thoughts of Panthers standout net minder Roberto Luongo?

A: When Roberto Luongo left here (following the 2005-06 season), I will say he was looking to play in the playoffs. You can't blame the guy. In this day, when free agents are there, you can pretty much determine where you want to go. He went to Vancouver and he got a real taste of not only what it was like to be in the playoffs, but to compete in the Stanley Cup Finals as he did. He was on a team that twice went for the President's Trophy in the NHL (Best Record In The Regular Season).

So coming back was important that we all know what he had in mind. He made it very clear. He said I'm coming back here to Florida to help this team make the playoffs, and win a Stanley Cup someday. But at age 35 (turning 36 on April 4), he's still a young man in the game. Roberto Luongo right now has a .921 save percentage is holding up his side. He's a .919 save percentage career wise and he's been better that that all-season long. As Coach Gerard Gallant said, ' He's our MVP.'

Q: Finally, I'm from an Original Six City Detroit, how much of an appreciation do you have for the charter franchises?

A: Are you kidding (smiling), I really do! I've been a big fan all my life. I must say, I grew up a French Canadian so the Montreal Canadiens were probably My favorite team.

The Red Wings in my time were not a very solid organization so it's commendable to see what Mr. Mike Illitch and the ownership has done.

This is about to happen here with new ownership. they're really committed and if we can get close to making the playoffs, and to mirror what the Red Wings have done, South Florida is going to make a big name of themselves in the NHL.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com.