Not a big surprise, but good news for US Womens hockey, and bad news for the Badgers.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=2511371
Johnson to take over women's national hockey team
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JJhockeySS
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ghshockeyfan
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Re: Johnson to take over women's national hockey team
Great choice.JJhockeySS wrote:Not a big surprise, but good news for US Womens hockey, and bad news for the Badgers.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=2511371
http://www.uwbadgers.com/sport_news/whk ... 03_17_whky
Agreed! Johnson is an excellent choice, had very good success coaching the Badgers and, in my opinion, will do a great job with the Women's National Team. Like the NHL I think youth will begin to trickle into the Women's program. There are some very talented girl's that should be given the opportunity and I think Johnson will go with a blend of veterans and quality college players next spring.
National / Olympic Teams
Johnson is a great pick as national team head coach and the guy I was hoping to see get the job as soon as Smith stepped down. From what I understand this responsibility won't interfere with his position as UW's women's hockey head coach. However, I also think he'd be the right guy for head coach of the 2010 Olympic team. That would undoubtedly interfere with his position with UW. I suspect USA Hockey honchos will insist on 100% / exclusive commitment from any candidates for that job...likely for two years at least. The Olympic year and the preceding prep. / training year. I know he just got the new contract from UW...can't remember how many years that was for. I still hold out hope he'll be behind the bench for Team USA in 2010.
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ghshockeyfan
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Re: National / Olympic Teams
This is true. I can't see this meaning that he would leave UW until the 08-09 season at the earliest, AND, he may be able to work out what the Team Canada coach did @ Cornell with an interim coach during the time away - although two full years is a long time to be removed from a program...brookyone wrote:Johnson is a great pick as national team head coach and the guy I was hoping to see get the job as soon as Smith stepped down. From what I understand this responsibility won't interfere with his position as UW's women's hockey head coach. However, I also think he'd be the right guy for head coach of the 2010 Olympic team. That would undoubtedly interfere with his position with UW. I suspect USA Hockey honchos will insist on 100% / exclusive commitment from any candidates for that job...likely for two years at least. The Olympic year and the preceding prep. / training year. I know he just got the new contract from UW...can't remember how many years that was for. I still hold out hope he'll be behind the bench for Team USA in 2010.
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ghshockeyfan
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Tom Powers Pioneer Press Johnson gives U.S. hockey 'new face
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincitie ... 991315.htm
Tom Powers
Posted on Sun, Jul. 09, 2006
Johnson gives U.S. hockey 'new face'
The biggest disappointment at the Turin Olympics was the U.S. women's hockey team's failure to launch. Despite great expectations, the squad fizzled. The forwards seemed constrained within coach Ben Smith's system, and the defensemen were running all over the place. Worst of all, the same mistakes were being repeated over and over again.
What a mess.
In the end, there was no great rematch with archrival Canada. Instead, there was just a nothing game against Finland for a bronze medal. And there were rumblings from several key players that it was time for some new ideas to come from behind the bench.
Last week, USA Hockey selected Wisconsin's Mark Johnson as coach of the 2007 U.S. women's national team. It was a wonderful choice that came too late to save Team USA from considerable embarrassment in Italy.
"It's like anything," Johnson said. "Sometimes a new face can be a good thing. I'm not knocking anything that went on before. Sometimes when someone is in a position for a long time, and the players hear the same stories, the same things, maybe it becomes redundant. They get tired of hearing it."
Well, it was easy to get tired of the previous regime. There hadn't been any new wrinkles added to the power play, for example, since before the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. Everything had grown remarkably stale.
"My philosophy, my style is to make it enjoyable," Johnson said. "Do the kids want to come to the rink? I try to put myself in the players' position."
Johnson has a one-year commitment from USA Hockey. He will lead the team that competes in next April's World Championships in Winnipeg. In reality, this clearly amounts to a tryout for the Olympic head coaching job.
"Depending on how things go," Johnson said. "I think that over the next three or four years, there are going to be some definite changes in the women's program. As coaches, we certainly have goals and aspirations of things we'd like to do, challenges we'd like to take on.
"It's a no-brainer for me."
Johnson led the Badgers women's team to the national title last year. The son of coaching legend "Badger Bob" Johnson, he has built an impressive coaching résumé over the years. As a player, he won a national title at Wisconsin and a gold medal in the 1980 Olympics. Johnson then played 11 years in the NHL.
"I'm pretty pumped about it," said Natalie Darwitz, a high-scoring forward out of Eagan.
Darwitz is taking time off from hockey this summer. She came back from Turin dispirited about the downward turn of events.
"It was, basically, I didn't even want to talk about it," she said. "I'd tell people I had a great time over there, except for the hockey. Everything was great except for the hockey. It makes me happy to know that Mark Johnson is going to be the coach next year. That he's on board."
USA Hockey is refraining from hiring a permanent coach. For whatever reason, it's moving very slowly on this. So it's entirely possible it could name a different coach for the 2008 national team.
"I don't know for sure what they're going to do," Darwitz said. "I heard maybe one coach per year and then name an Olympic coach."
The important thing is there will be a different face behind the bench in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. Smith was the right man to get the U.S. women's program up and running. But clearly a change has been long overdue.
Team USA's loss to Sweden in the semifinals was an embarrassment. Canada easily handled the Swedes in the final. And even as the team was failing in Turin, there was a buzz about a potential coaching replacement.
Johnson's name was always among the first mentioned. The others were Laura Halldorson of the University of Minnesota and Katie King of Boston College.
"It was really disappointing," Johnson said of the outcome in Turin. "I don't think anyone in USA Hockey will tell you different. We have an opportunity in the next three years to get geared up."
The World Championships are big events in their own right. But for Americans, it's all about the Olympics. Everything between now and 2010 is geared toward getting the program back on top to where it was in 1998, when it won the gold in Nagano, Japan.
Johnson will try to kick-start the process.
Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.
Tom Powers
Posted on Sun, Jul. 09, 2006
Johnson gives U.S. hockey 'new face'
The biggest disappointment at the Turin Olympics was the U.S. women's hockey team's failure to launch. Despite great expectations, the squad fizzled. The forwards seemed constrained within coach Ben Smith's system, and the defensemen were running all over the place. Worst of all, the same mistakes were being repeated over and over again.
What a mess.
In the end, there was no great rematch with archrival Canada. Instead, there was just a nothing game against Finland for a bronze medal. And there were rumblings from several key players that it was time for some new ideas to come from behind the bench.
Last week, USA Hockey selected Wisconsin's Mark Johnson as coach of the 2007 U.S. women's national team. It was a wonderful choice that came too late to save Team USA from considerable embarrassment in Italy.
"It's like anything," Johnson said. "Sometimes a new face can be a good thing. I'm not knocking anything that went on before. Sometimes when someone is in a position for a long time, and the players hear the same stories, the same things, maybe it becomes redundant. They get tired of hearing it."
Well, it was easy to get tired of the previous regime. There hadn't been any new wrinkles added to the power play, for example, since before the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. Everything had grown remarkably stale.
"My philosophy, my style is to make it enjoyable," Johnson said. "Do the kids want to come to the rink? I try to put myself in the players' position."
Johnson has a one-year commitment from USA Hockey. He will lead the team that competes in next April's World Championships in Winnipeg. In reality, this clearly amounts to a tryout for the Olympic head coaching job.
"Depending on how things go," Johnson said. "I think that over the next three or four years, there are going to be some definite changes in the women's program. As coaches, we certainly have goals and aspirations of things we'd like to do, challenges we'd like to take on.
"It's a no-brainer for me."
Johnson led the Badgers women's team to the national title last year. The son of coaching legend "Badger Bob" Johnson, he has built an impressive coaching résumé over the years. As a player, he won a national title at Wisconsin and a gold medal in the 1980 Olympics. Johnson then played 11 years in the NHL.
"I'm pretty pumped about it," said Natalie Darwitz, a high-scoring forward out of Eagan.
Darwitz is taking time off from hockey this summer. She came back from Turin dispirited about the downward turn of events.
"It was, basically, I didn't even want to talk about it," she said. "I'd tell people I had a great time over there, except for the hockey. Everything was great except for the hockey. It makes me happy to know that Mark Johnson is going to be the coach next year. That he's on board."
USA Hockey is refraining from hiring a permanent coach. For whatever reason, it's moving very slowly on this. So it's entirely possible it could name a different coach for the 2008 national team.
"I don't know for sure what they're going to do," Darwitz said. "I heard maybe one coach per year and then name an Olympic coach."
The important thing is there will be a different face behind the bench in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. Smith was the right man to get the U.S. women's program up and running. But clearly a change has been long overdue.
Team USA's loss to Sweden in the semifinals was an embarrassment. Canada easily handled the Swedes in the final. And even as the team was failing in Turin, there was a buzz about a potential coaching replacement.
Johnson's name was always among the first mentioned. The others were Laura Halldorson of the University of Minnesota and Katie King of Boston College.
"It was really disappointing," Johnson said of the outcome in Turin. "I don't think anyone in USA Hockey will tell you different. We have an opportunity in the next three years to get geared up."
The World Championships are big events in their own right. But for Americans, it's all about the Olympics. Everything between now and 2010 is geared toward getting the program back on top to where it was in 1998, when it won the gold in Nagano, Japan.
Johnson will try to kick-start the process.
Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.