Newsgroups: rec.sport.hockey
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 09:52:07 -0400 
From: Anna Matyas <am2x+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Bowman: my 2 cents


Sherri Nichols writes:

>In article <1992Aug14.214003.12501@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
golchowy@alchemy.c
>hem.utoronto.ca (Gerald Olchowy) writes:
>>Bowman was really asking for a token difference, and the Pens wouldn't
>>oblige...what a team...what a way to treat a person who stepped into
>>the breach like he did last year.
> 
>I'll take a perhaps unpopular stand: the Pens should *not* hire Bowman as
>coach.  Just because he was successful in last year's playoffs doesn't
>change the fact that there were serious problems between Bowman and the
>team during the regular season.  They shouldn't fool around like this,
>either, but I think they should move Bowman back where he was, and hire
>somebody else as coach.

Unpopular perhaps, but I like it.  I'm growing less fond of Craig Patrick
by the day, (and I also wonder more and more why it took him until February
to order his team to support Bowman).  I still maintain that this has to do
with more than money.  Maybe $50,000 isn't the key number here; maybe
66 is.

I thought the organization handled the whole Bob Johnson situation poorly
and that added to Bowman's problems.  When he stepped in to coach he
made it clear that he didn't want to do it.  He should have kept his
personal feelings to himself and showed some enthusiasm for coaching
such a talented team.
I would have respected him more for that than I do for his work behind the
bench during the playoffs.  Patrick may be at fault here just as much as
Bowman was; fact is, we'll never know what went on behind the scenes.

Someone mentioned a rumor about EJ returning to coach.  Many, many long-time
Penguin fans are still stewing about the way he was treated, altho the
hiring of
Bob Johnson and the winning of 2 Cups served to temper that anger a bit.  I
wouldn't mind seeing EJ back here; nor would I mind seeing Frank Pietrangelo
back here.  Anything would be better than Ken Wregget, the Human Noodle.

I don't understand Gerald's complaints about the Penguins' treatment of
Bowman either.  Yes, he did Patrick a favor -- making it very clear what a
big favor it was, too.  And now Gerald thinks that Bowman is being treated
unfairly because Patrick won't bend on a mere $50,000.  But isn't this the
nature of the business?  Isn't this what people told me when I complained
that Coffey and Pietrangelo were being treated unfairly?  Bryan Trottier
didn't like what the Isles had in mind for him, so he exercised his options
and it's worked out very well for him.  Bowman is a big boy -- he can go
somewhere else to beef up his record and earn another $50,000.  Bowman
acted like a martyr -- now he's being treated like one.  That's life.

I'd love to see the Penguins have a coach with **enthusiasm** -- someone who
is there because he WANTS to be there; someone who is not only concerned
about how much more $$$ Coach X is making.  Maybe winning the Cup with
Bowman at the helm helped the prima donnas on the team realize that they
can be coached (by someone other than Bob Johnson).  If that's the case,
then winning it is an even bigger bonus than we think it is.

Mom.


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