Is Sulivan now our 2nd best coach of all time?

[ColePens]

Badger doesn't get enough credit. Yeah, short tenure. But huge impact.

100% - honestly still impacting today. 30 years later. He really solidified this organization from a coaching perspective. Mario IS the organization, but Badger was a very important part from a coaching history perspective.

 

[Peat]

Slight tangent, but I'd love to read an article about the changes that's happened to our player development staff and to WBS since Rutherford came here. Maybe someone will correct me, but it feels like we went from a team with a patchy prospect pipeline, to one that's basically hit on almost every single guy who's gone to WBS, particularly with the forwards and goaltenders. Seriously, I think the best forward who spent proper time down there (i.e. not counting Sprong) who hasn't hit their ceiling would be JS Dea. And even he might have hit it now. And all of Murray/Jarry/DeSmith have hit their ceilings, or close. There's a story there - one that's at least partially to do with Sully, hence me thinking about it - and I'd love to know it, particularly given how important it's been to our recent success.

 

[madinsomniac]

I mean Scotty Bowman might be the best coach in NHL history, but here he won once with Badger Bob’s team and then got promptly mutinied against by the team... I don’t know if his body of work here is worth the top rating... BB taught a loser team how to win, but unfortunately never got to prove sustainable success...

Sully won back to backs. If he is able to win again with this team he automatically gets it... and hockey coaches typically don’t have success after five years with a team. He should be tuned out by now. Anything he does past this point is exceptional

 

[StaalForOne]

If you only consider the Penguins tenure it's Sullivan.

If you consider the entire NHL resume it's Bowman.

HM: to Herb Brooks the most iconic to coach the team.

 

[Gurglesons]

As everyone said, Sullivan is #1 for the penguins. Bowman is still #1 over sullivan for the NHL.

The answer here.

 

[ronduguayshair]

He's the best as far as what he's established as a Pens coach.

 

[Tom Hanks]

Sully is the #1 Pens coach. What he has brought to the club and the culture/mantra he has instilled led to the B2B’s and hopefully more along the way.

He has a good pulse on the way the game should be played. Glad JR made the moves he did in the off season or we might have lost Sully.

 

[Kiith Nabaal]

Bowman's NHL record is unassailable, but granting him the #1 spot based on 2 seasons as head coach--1 a championship and 1 a complete faceplant--strikes me as completely unfair to someone like Sullivan, who has been responsible for 2 championships and a lot of sustained excellence, even in sometimes difficult circumstances. Sullivan should be #1, here.

Fun little tidbit I came across, though. I was recently reading an interview with Oleg Tverdovski someone translated on the History of Hockey forum. It was from 2009 or so. He expressed incredulity that Dan Bylsma was capable of being an NHL coach, let alone winning a championship. Said that he didn't know anything about hockey and that all he was capable of was "banging on garbage cans with his stick"

Finally, I will renew my objection to any of you who are responsible for the fact that search engines suggest that "sports figure name" should autocomplete to "sports figure name wife." If that means you, please stop searching that. Give these people some privacy .

Every time this guy posts, I imagine the guy in his avatar being the one typing everything out.

It's sad to think that a day will come where we're crowing for Sullivan to be fired.

Umm.... funny story about that lol

(granted, the entire board wasn't clamoring for it but)

 

[madinsomniac]

Every time this guy posts, I imagine the guy in his avatar being the one typing everything out.



Umm.... funny story about that lol

(granted, the entire board wasn't clamoring for it but)

Head Coaches have a shelf life. Sully might survive until sid and geno hang them up but I doubt it... he most definitely will be replaced for the post sid era rebuilding phase

 

[TNT87]

Where's Pierre Creamer? The guy who literally didn't know the Pens had to win their last games to have a shot to get into the playoffs.

I will say though that he was part of one of the best signs I've ever seen. When the Penguins traded for Paul Coffey and there was a sign in the crowd that read something like "We have Coffey and Creamer. Now we want the Cup".

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Our coaching history is such a shit show.

 

[wgknestrick]

I should be higher

Post of the thread

 

[Peat]

Head Coaches have a shelf life. Sully might survive until sid and geno hang them up but I doubt it... he most definitely will be replaced for the post sid era rebuilding phase

The big thing about Sully's longevity here is how much Sid and Geno want him here (but mainly Sid). As long as they think he's their best chance of winning, and keep the locker room onside, his shelf life is going to be pretty long.

 

[Coastal Kev]

Still a meathead

 

[BenchBrawl]

Another way to look at it, is that Sidney Crosby is actually a better leader and more coachable than Mario Lemieux ever was, great as he was.

Lemieux had the talent but he was a "my way or the highway" type of guy, wasn't he? Crosby seems like a better team player to be honest.

Bowman knew he couldn't win a battle of will against Mario. He did with Yzerman, with the results we know.

 

[billybudd]

Every time this guy posts, I imagine the guy in his avatar being the one typing everything out.

I used to have a dog in a Navy uniform smoking a pipe. I could go back to that

 

[SouthGeorge]

Bowman is best coach all time doesn't make him the Pens. He coached here two years... It's Sully.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

Bowman is best coach all time doesn't make him the Pens. He coached here two years... It's Sully.

It's Badger Bob

The guy guided this franchise through some weird stuff and some underachieving. Likely wins Back to Back if not for his health.
If Sully wins another one though that moves him to #1

1. Johnson
2. Sullivan
3. Bowman

 

[FunkySeeFunkyDo]

Badger Bob was able to sublimate his ego to the players — compare that to Bowman, Keenan, Nielsen,...that’s what that team needed plus he was so damn positive.
Sullivan is tough, but not just to be tough and it’s what the current Pens need.
Sullivan
Johnson
Don’t care