Claude Noel Named Winnipeg Jets Head Coach
Added on Jun 25, 2011 by J Merrill in
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Claude Noel got the call while shopping with his wife and son at a local grocery store, and with in minutes he excepted the job as the Winnipeg Jets new head coach. Noel said Friday, “I leaned over on a can of tomatoes and thought and took about a minute. I was both nervous and when I got the news I was extremely excited. There was a lot of emotion. I’ve gone through this process a few times. I can’t wait to get started. I can’t tell you how happy I am. In my world there’s a high level of joy.”
True North Sports and Entertainment, the new owners of the former Atlanta Thrashers and now Jets, made the announcement before a full house at their headquarters while preparing for the first round of the 2011 draft. True North knew all about Noel as he guided the AHL’s Manitoba Moose to the 2nd round of the Calder Cup Playoffs and a 43-30-1-6 for the season. Noel also worked for the Columbus Blue Jackets organization for three seasons as an assistant coach, and steered them through the end of 2009-10 season as head coach when Ken Hitchcock was let go. Noel put together a 10-8-4-2 record as the interim head coach.
Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said the process was a thorough one, and they didn’t rush anything. Cheveldayoff said “It is very exciting for me to be standing here knowing how strongly we feel that we have found that guy, and that the group of young players that we have moving forward. The young players that we’re going to be drafting here today are going to be coached by a guy that is a tremendous leader, a person who spends a lot of time getting to know each and every individual player.”
Cheveldayoff said that Noel is known for being a relaxed coach, but every player that they talked to that had played for him said he always made sure they worked hard. He also said that that was part of the criteria when selecting him, “A coach that over the course of our due diligence that we talked to many, many players who have played for him, was coached by him, that said the dressing room was a fun place to be. It was a place where we enjoyed coming to the rink, that on the bench we enjoyed playing for him, and that he was a fair, and kept everybody accountable.”
Noel said he knew there was a lot of work ahead of him as he basically had a whole team moving into a different country that would be faced with a lot of other changes as well. Noel said his confidence is his best friend right now and he has to rely on his past experiences. He concluded “It’s all good. It’s all great. For me, I’m a confident guy, and if I was a young coach, at 38, 40 years old, maybe it’s a little different task. I’m a little older, more seasoned, I’ve gone through some ups and downs, which I think are really healthy and really good. So I feel good about my abilities and what I’m able to do. And I really feel confident that I’m able to lead this group in the direction that we want to go. I’m a tremendously passionate coach.”
