Coach Speak

The Minnesota sports teams have had an array of coaches over the years. Some of them were pitiful, some excellent. I think that the current lot of coaches is as good as there has ever been in this area.

Bruce Boudreau
Mike Zimmer
Tom Thibodeau
Cheryl Reeve

I'm not a hockey fan so I'm going to give my take on Boudreau first. Much to my chagrin the NHL season still hasn't even wrapped so making any postulations about a new coach is premature and foolish but reflecting on his past work may point toward future results. He's been the head coach for
the Washington Capitals and the Anaheim Ducks. Every year he's been in charge have resulted in his team's having a winning record. That's an impressive statistic on it's own but within that is one that is most impressive. In 2011 he was fired by the Capitals 21 games into the season. He had a 12 and nine record but there must have been extenuating circumstances which resulted in his release. It seems that it was only a problem with Caps and not with him because in-season the Ducks hired him as their head man. With no off season or training camp he was able to guide the Ducks to a 27 - 23 record. Not the most impressive win loss ever but when adding in those details its a good showing of who he has been and hopefully who he will continue to be for the hockey lovers out there.

But on to the other three now
2013 was one of the worst seasons in Vikings history. I like Leslie Frasier, to this day I do. For the man he is, I respect him but having the job with the Vikings just didn't work out. In came Zim. The first season showed progress and got the team to a 7 - 9 record. Last season had ups and downs but finished at 11 - 6. With the talent that's been added, both players and coaches, and that's a mark that should be a regular thing for the Vikings going forward.

Now comes the second new coach in Minnesota. Many of the unknowns on Boudreau apply to Thibs as well but even greater because he's also in charge of personnel. I've heard it repeatedly that Basketball is all this guy does and he's done it at a high level going back to his days on the bench for the champion Celtics. He has a young, high level of talent with which to work and money to spend to bring in some more talent. Similar to BB he had a winning record every year of history coaching tenure in Chicago yet was fired a year ago. His teams twice lost in the first round of playoffs but injuries cannot be overlooked when saying that. Every team has them, but having them often to the best players is a difficult thing to overcome, yet for the most part he did just that.

Last but not least is Cheryl Reeve. I'm not going to pretend like I'm rote on many things about the Minnesota Lynx but they have been without equal as far as success goes over the last six plus years in this region. They've made it to the playoffs every year, with three championships and they're undefeated so far this season. Unrelated to Basketball but I heard she was a even Rhode Scholar nominee, so she's legitimately brilliant. My thought process about all this started when consider the Lynx and why she hasn't hooked onto an NBA coaching staff yet.
It's possible she doesn't want to. Maybe she coaches abroad when the WNBA isn't rolling. Perhaps she just enjoys doing other things besides coaching. The research I did, did not give me an answer to that. She seems absolutely qualifies though. I haven't heard any news about Thibs' assistant coaches in a few weeks and there would be overlap between the league seasons but get her on the bench! She's made the Lynx the Spurs of the WNBA so why not get madame Popovich into the mix of the Timberwolves organization?

Before I conclude I must note that no team is made by their coach. It's an effort by the coach staffing, GM, scouts, etc. For each team to improve, the team off the court has to be on point and from the head coach on though, it seems as those all four organizations are dynamite right now.

But what do you think? Which coach/organization is the best right now? Should the Timberwolves attempt to bring Cheryl Reeve on to the coaching staff, in whatever capacity they could with her current obligations? What other changes should each team make to continue the upward trend?

Hit me up in the comments!