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Thursday, June 12, 2003

The Penguins have reached out and hired a coach who brings skills to the job that the franchise badly needs, that it has lacked for too long a time. Eddie Olczyk, who was the darkest of dark horse candidates, figures to be a bright, enthusiastic, motivator behind the Penguins' bench. His excellent communication skills should help him not only as a teacher but also as a spokesman for a franchise badly in need of reaching out to its fans.

Only one question: Can he coach?

No one knows since he has never done it.

Which makes this fourth coaching hire in the past six years by General Manager Craig Patrick rather suspect.

Across the length and breadth of what Olczyk likes to call "the great game of hockey," surely there must be a man who possesses exceptional communication and motivational skills, perhaps even better than Olczyk's, who also has spent some time behind a hockey bench and would love to be one of the 30 men coaching an NHL team.

Of course, in all likelihood, Patrick did not explore the length and breath of the continent to find the best man. As he did with Olczyk's predecessor, Rick Kehoe, he chose not to search North America for his next coach but only Mellon Arena, where Olczyk has worked for three seasons as color commentator on Penguins telecasts for Fox Sports Net.

Asked how many candidates he had face-to-face interviews with, Patrick said, "I'd rather not get into that."

Once Patrick began discussions with Olczyk, he became enthralled, and what he thought would be a longer search began to quickly wind down. Patrick called Olczyk "the perfect fit," a peculiar description for a man who never has coached a professional game.

It's easy to see why Patrick was impressed. Olczyk cut quite a figure at the news conference yesterday to announce his hiring. He's strikingly good looking, with a presence that commands respect. At 36, he still looks as if he could take a regular shift in the NHL, something he did for 16 seasons. He spoke well and with emotion, at least once becoming teary.

He'll be a delight for the media because not only was he recently a member of it, but he also was one of those athletes who always seemed to understand what the media needed. In communicating to the media, he'll be communicating with the Penguins fans, something that was missing during the regimes of Kehoe and Ivan Hlinka.

Those all are important qualities in a coach. But they are far from being the most important.

In his remarks, Olczyk said two of his greatest strengths are as a communicator and as a teacher. He clearly possesses strong communication skills, but, as a teacher, he has almost no experience.

"I've always tried to teach the young players," he said. "I did that toward the end of my playing career when I wasn't playing that much."

It's a long way from a veteran player helping a young player to a rookie coach doing the same. Hopefully, Olczyk realizes that.

Although Patrick ran off a long and impressive list of coaches who were successful in the NHL without having paid their dues as an assistant, there really is no substitute for experience.

It's one thing to be an insightful commentator, which Olczyk was, it's quite another to be implementing strategies rather than discussing them. He's going to need help on the bench -- and not just from Randy Hillier and Joe Mullen, assistants who were retained -- but from an as yet unnamed third assistant, who should have NHL head coaching experience in his resume.

It's imperative Patrick bring in such a man. Baseball has gone to what is known as a bench coach, a man whose duties call for him to assist and advise the manager on strategy. That's what Olczyk needs. Not someone to run the game for him, but someone to assist him in running the game.

This latest hire was quite a gamble on the part of Patrick, particularly because if Olczyk fails, ownership might, at long last, point the finger of blame at him. It was also a move motivated in part by finances. Olczyk was in no position to demand a high salary, a trait Patrick loves in his coaches.

But this could prove to be a gamble worth taking. Olczyk looks to be one of those types who had a gift for coaching. He needs experience and he'll be learning on the job, which is never a good idea. But with the right "bench coach," he could prove to be a good fit for the young Penguins for a long time.