There’s nothing better than a good coach tantrum video, there right up they're with funny babies, skateboarding accidents and animals talking on my YouTube search history.
We can thank Kevin Colley, manager of the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL, and Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo.com, with the latest coaching meltdown video gem for our viewing pleasure.
Over the weekend, Colley lost his cool in the Grizzlies’ second game against the Stockton Thunder in consecutive days.
Colley was given a bench minor and a game misconduct for his actions and suspended one game by the ECHL.
As Wyshynski points out on his PuckDaddy blog, this wasn’t just a typical blowup, as he dug even deeper to bring up some interesting tidbits to go along with the video.
Apparently, Colley’s volatile anger toward referee Rick Looker had been building after Looker officiated back-to-back games for the Grizzlies, both against the Stockton Thunder. The two games yielded 225 penalty minutes – with a good chunk assigned to Utah. Naturally, the two teams face off again Monday night.
It doesn’t end there, either. As the PuckDaddy blog also points out, Looker has had the dubious distinction of having been flipped out on before. While working the IIHF world championship game, Looker was the object of coins raining down from the stands from displeased Latvian fans.
Colley is no stranger to being disciplined by referees. In 2005-06, Colley racked up 52 penalty minutes in just 16 games with the Islanders. Despite that, the Islanders obviously thought highly of him – they awarded him the Bob Nystrom Award, which is, as Wyshynski reveals, given to the Islander “who best exemplifies leadership, hustle and dedication.”
Minor league hockey meltdowns aren’t terribly uncommon, especially of late. Of course, last year there was Jim Playfair, who had a huge blowup, setting the standard for coaches like Colley to follow.
Of course, when it comes to meltdowns at any level at any sport, my all-time favorite clip is courtesy of baseball’s Wally Backman, who was actually a finalist for the Mets managerial position this offseason. Go ahead and check out his tantrum, although you’ll definitely have to turn the volume off if there’s children around.
