Let's Go Blues

cprice12 wrote:My wife woke me up with this news this morning. FINALLY!! What a nice way to start the day!
Before I went online, I flipped the tv on channel 5 at 8:50am and they said they were going to have "details on the Murray firing at 9am".
So when 9am rolls around, their "breaking news" information consisted of..."Blues coach Andy Murray has been fired...he's being replaced by interim coach Davis Payne."
And that was it. No interviews...not even a sports anchor in the studio to give his two cents. They literally spent about 15 seconds talking about it.
What the hell.
And of course, they go on to mention in detail the weather every 10 minutes during the broadcast.
If the Cardinals or Rams had fired their head coach, channel 5 would have told the sports anchor to get his ass in the studio and talk about it for at least a few minutes.

Leedog wrote:I think Payne is the WRONG guy for the job if you expect a change in philosophy right away. Teams usually have their top minor league coach cut from the same cloth as the NHL coach so the players are groomed for the style of the NHL team. I'm afraid you will find, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Leedog wrote:I think Payne is the WRONG guy for the job if you expect a change in philosophy right away. Teams usually have their top minor league coach cut from the same cloth as the NHL coach so the players are groomed for the style of the NHL team. I'm afraid you will find, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

ViPeRx007 wrote:

Aliases: Carl Payne, Davis Payne, David Payne, Payne Davis, Carl Davis, C.D. Payne, Carl the Great, Mr. Clean, Atomic Dog, White Fang, Psycho, J.J. Kincaid

Remarks: He wears contact lenses and is currently on prescription allergy medication. He is an avid reader, lover of dogs, and devotee of pornography. He favors western-style suits and is an alleged abuser of alcohol. Payne is known to have a violent temper and refer to himself in the third person.

CAUTION: Payne has a lengthy record of arrests for burglary, credit card fraud, armed robbery and animal cruelty. While in prison, Payne was suspected of murdering another inmate. He is currently a suspect in an armored car robbery and murder in Texas.

Now THAT'S my style of coach!

If you think Mike Babcock has had so much success just because of Datsyuk and Zetterberg, you’re nuts (don’t forget he had, ahem, Chris Osgood in net). Plenty of coaches have stars to work with. “The wings dig up amazing talent” isn’t an infrequent comment. My contention is that maybe they do, but also, maybe they just put them in the best situations to be successful, they way Bill Belichick makes good players great in New England. No, no, it was that Matt Cassel has a rocket arm. Was it?

With only 40 points in 40 games, and sitting nine points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, the St. Louis Blues have made a coaching change.

The club announced on Saturday that they have fired Andy Murray, and have named Davis Payne as the interim head coach.

"We feel he's our coach and he might be our coach long term," Blues president John Davidson said during a news conference. "It's a whirlwind for him, but we feel confident about him."

The 39-year old Payne was named the head coach of the Blues AHL affiliate the Peoria Rivermen in July of 2008. The club has a combined 62-44-3-6 record in one and a half seasons with Payne behind the bench.

The 2006-07 ECHL Coach of the Year, Payne led the Aces to the 2006 ECHL Kelly Cup Championship and also guided the club to three consecutive trips to the Conference Finals.

Payne spoke the his new team on Saturday.

"I don't know where the emphasis has been, but I asked these guys to work hard for each other, I asked them to trust each other, and I asked them to play with passion," said the new coach. "That's our starting point for tonight."

"It's tough to swallow," Barret Jackman told The Canadian Press about the coaching change. "We're the problem and I think management decided to make a change to wake up the players."

At least one of the Blues felt Murray had issues when it came to communicating with his players.

"I don't think he was on the same page with everybody," Can Janssen told CP. "I think guys didn't know where they stood with him, and I think that's not a good thing to have in the locker-room.

"I had no idea where I was with him and I couldn't understand what he was trying to tell me. It was a bizarre situation."

The 58-year-old Murray was hired by the Blues in December of 2006, replacing Mike Kitchen. He was a Jack Adams runner-up as Coach of the Year last season after guiding St. Louis, which took up residence in the cellar of the Western Conference at the All-Star break, to a 41-31-10 record and the club's first playoff berth since 2004. The Blues were swept by Vancouver in the opening round.

"Andy's a class guy and he handled it well," Davidson said. "My intuition tells me he knew something was coming because of our home record. Nobody wants to do this, but you have to at times change to continue the evolution of the organization."

The Blues are 6-13-3 in their home rink including a recent loss to the Vancouver Canucks, where St. Louis fell 4-3 in overtime after leading 3-0.

"It's kind of maybe the way we lost more than anything else," Davidson said. "It's such a mental game at times and this league is so close. Every night it is such a fine line, and you need to be there with your mindset and we just simply haven't been, consistently anyway."

Murray finished his tenure in the Gateway City with a mark of 118-102-38.

philco_3 wrote:Pre TSN

With only 40 points in 40 games, and sitting nine points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, the St. Louis Blues have made a coaching change.

The club announced on Saturday that they have fired Andy Murray, and have named Davis Payne as the interim head coach.

"We feel he's our coach and he might be our coach long term," Blues president John Davidson said during a news conference. "It's a whirlwind for him, but we feel confident about him."

The 39-year old Payne was named the head coach of the Blues AHL affiliate the Peoria Rivermen in July of 2008. The club has a combined 62-44-3-6 record in one and a half seasons with Payne behind the bench.

The 2006-07 ECHL Coach of the Year, Payne led the Aces to the 2006 ECHL Kelly Cup Championship and also guided the club to three consecutive trips to the Conference Finals.

Payne spoke the his new team on Saturday.

"I don't know where the emphasis has been, but I asked these guys to work hard for each other, I asked them to trust each other, and I asked them to play with passion," said the new coach. "That's our starting point for tonight."

"It's tough to swallow," Barret Jackman told The Canadian Press about the coaching change. "We're the problem and I think management decided to make a change to wake up the players."

At least one of the Blues felt Murray had issues when it came to communicating with his players.

"I don't think he was on the same page with everybody," Can Janssen told CP. "I think guys didn't know where they stood with him, and I think that's not a good thing to have in the locker-room.

"I had no idea where I was with him and I couldn't understand what he was trying to tell me. It was a bizarre situation."

The 58-year-old Murray was hired by the Blues in December of 2006, replacing Mike Kitchen. He was a Jack Adams runner-up as Coach of the Year last season after guiding St. Louis, which took up residence in the cellar of the Western Conference at the All-Star break, to a 41-31-10 record and the club's first playoff berth since 2004. The Blues were swept by Vancouver in the opening round.

"Andy's a class guy and he handled it well," Davidson said. "My intuition tells me he knew something was coming because of our home record. Nobody wants to do this, but you have to at times change to continue the evolution of the organization."

The Blues are 6-13-3 in their home rink including a recent loss to the Vancouver Canucks, where St. Louis fell 4-3 in overtime after leading 3-0.

"It's kind of maybe the way we lost more than anything else," Davidson said. "It's such a mental game at times and this league is so close. Every night it is such a fine line, and you need to be there with your mindset and we just simply haven't been, consistently anyway."

Murray finished his tenure in the Gateway City with a mark of 118-102-38.

philco_3 wrote:

Leedog wrote:I think Payne is the WRONG guy for the job if you expect a change in philosophy right away. Teams usually have their top minor league coach cut from the same cloth as the NHL coach so the players are groomed for the style of the NHL team. I'm afraid you will find, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Nope. They wanted him to play the same sort of style in Peoria, but he wouldnt do it.

Leedog wrote:

philco_3 wrote:

Leedog wrote:I think Payne is the WRONG guy for the job if you expect a change in philosophy right away. Teams usually have their top minor league coach cut from the same cloth as the NHL coach so the players are groomed for the style of the NHL team. I'm afraid you will find, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Nope. They wanted him to play the same sort of style in Peoria, but he wouldnt do it.

No, I have never been to a Rivermen game. I live in STL and have Blues season tix. Why should I? But, if what you say is true, I'm very disappointed in management for promoting the guy instead of firing him. He put his wishes above his bosses plans for the franchise. Ever think it is his fault the young guys that got promoted didn't play well up here? It is like sending them to school to be an electrician and hiring them as plumbers.

Johnstone wrote:Hey everyone, I just registered here after reading about Payne. I watched Payne coach the ECHL Alaska Aces and some of Peoria's games. Here is an article from a former player who played for Payne, Justin Bourne, now a hockey writer. He has some high regards about Payne.
http://www.jtbourne.com/coach/

Leedog wrote:

philco_3 wrote:

Leedog wrote:I think Payne is the WRONG guy for the job if you expect a change in philosophy right away. Teams usually have their top minor league coach cut from the same cloth as the NHL coach so the players are groomed for the style of the NHL team. I'm afraid you will find, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Nope. They wanted him to play the same sort of style in Peoria, but he wouldnt do it.

No, I have never been to a Rivermen game. I live in STL and have Blues season tix. Why should I? But, if what you say is true, I'm very disappointed in management for promoting the guy instead of firing him. He put his wishes above his bosses plans for the franchise. Ever think it is his fault the young guys that got promoted didn't play well up here? It is like sending them to school to be an electrician and hiring them as plumbers.

abc789987 wrote:

Leedog wrote:

philco_3 wrote:

Leedog wrote:I think Payne is the WRONG guy for the job if you expect a change in philosophy right away. Teams usually have their top minor league coach cut from the same cloth as the NHL coach so the players are groomed for the style of the NHL team. I'm afraid you will find, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Nope. They wanted him to play the same sort of style in Peoria, but he wouldnt do it.

No, I have never been to a Rivermen game. I live in STL and have Blues season tix. Why should I? But, if what you say is true, I'm very disappointed in management for promoting the guy instead of firing him. He put his wishes above his bosses plans for the franchise. Ever think it is his fault the young guys that got promoted didn't play well up here? It is like sending them to school to be an electrician and hiring them as plumbers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought philco was saying they wanted Murray to play the way they were playing in Peoria. Or is it the other way around?