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A pair of head coaching vacancies with local ties were filled in the past two days.
First off, the Wheeling Nailers named 43-year-old Greg Puhalski as their 10th bench boss in team history during a Wednesday afternoon press conference at the team offices in downtown Wheeling.
The former Toledo Storm head coach takes over for Glenn Patrick, who was reassigned within the organization as a scout after two-plus seasons.
For this writer, it was a treat to talk with Glenn about hockey because of his immense knowledge of the sport he grew up playing, and eventually coaching.
However, hockey is not only a professional sport, but it's also a business. With business comes success, and with success -- when you're talking hockey -- comes winning.
That's something that Patrick's team did in his first season as it compiled a 45-21-6 mark, good enough to finish second in the North Division and advance to the divisional finals.
However, the team dropped to 32-34-6 last season and missed out on the post-season for the seventh time in the last nine seasons. And, after what appeared to be a bright future for this year's squad has all but went down the drain with callups, injuries and so forth, something had to give with the season skyrocketing out of control in the midst of an 8-game losing streak.
That turned out to be Patrick's job as head coach, but the Nailers' co-owners -- Jim and Rob Brooks -- thought enough of the man to keep him involved in the organization and named him a scout.
"Obviously we were faced with a tough decision in relieving Glenn of his coaching duties," Jim Brooks said. "He has played a vital role with our organization for three years, and we are glad to still have him as part of the organization."
Rob Brooks noted that Patrick's new role as a scout will only be for the Nailers, and not any other team affiliate.
"As far as I know, we will be the only ECHL team to have a scout," he said.
Will the change in leadership be for the better?
As they say, only time will tell.
One thing is for sure, Puhalski doesn't have much time to sort through what has went wrong on the ice, as the Nailers open a two-game weekend set at WesBanco Arena against Johnstown tonight at 7:35. The same two teams meet again Saturday, with the face-off being switched from 7:05 p.m. to 4:05 p.m. in order not to conflict with the Steelers' playoff game with Jacksonville.
Puhalski, who has won 508 games in his 12 years of coaching and twice been named UHL Coach of the Year, will have his hands full with a team that started the season strong, but failed to win a single game in the month of December.
The natives inside WesBanco Arena have become increasingly agitated with the Nailers' play, with some even donning brown bags on their heads at recent home games.
Puhalski, who also played 13 seasons and scored 70 career goals as a member of the Storm in three years, is well aware of his challenge and welcomes it with wide-open arms.
"I've never been in this situation," he said. "I think if you want to get better in your job, in whatever line of work you're in, the only way you get better is you're thrown into the fire and you're establishing greater challenges for yourself."
SECONDLY, I think West Virginia made a very wise decision in its selection of Bill Stewart as its next head football coach.
The New Martinsville native had the interim label removed from his title by school officials early Thursday morning in Phoenix, probably way before many Mountaineer fans were out of bed after watching, and celebrating, Wednesday night's 20-point rout of favored Oklahoma in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Az.
With the distraction of losing to arch-rival Pitt in its regular-season finale, and the highly-publicized, cat-quick getaway by head coach Rich Rodriguez to Michigan, staring the Mountaineers in the face on a daily basis, Stewart, who got his coaching start at Salem College as documented in a recent column by yours truly, took the team under his wing and led them to the promised land.
Well, maybe not quite the promised land, but many a Mountaineer fan were in "Almost Heaven" after Wednesday night's triumph.
Congratulations coach Stewart, not only for beating Oklahoma in a BCS Bowl, but for earning the respect of your players, fellow coaches and school officials. That is what landed you the job.
North can be reached at knorth@timesleaderonline.com