Give me the Ron Wilson I heard on TSN Radio this week

Those who know this site are familiar with my position on Ron Wilson:  he is an experienced, capable NHL coach, who has taken teams deep into the playoffs and has, importantly, been a winner at the international level.

With the Leafs, the success hasn’t been there so far, and there is no guarantee that it will be.  He has not by all accounts been given an extension on his contract, which means he now enters limbo—that lame-duck no-man’s land for NHL coaches, heading into 2011-’12.

But the problem I’ve had with Wilson is not his obvious ability as a coach.  Rather, it is that, in his three years behind the Leaf bench, his demeanor with—and attitude toward—the local Toronto media has been not good at all.  He is too often acerbic and caustic.  He too often becomes agitated at the simplest of questions.

It’s just not necessary, and someone in his position should be better at that part of his responsibility.  Much better.

It’s not enough to simply show up for the various aspects of your job (in this case, dealing with the media).  How you do it should be part of your job performance review.  Obviously, like all good coaches, Wilson is meticulous about all the other aspects of preparing to ice a competitive team.  So why give the back of his hand to this part of his job?

It’s not as important as being a good communicator with your players, or your teaching or motivational skills.  And it’s certainly not as important as your ability to mold a winning team-one with the right attitude and that can compete for a championship.

But this part of the job is still important.

Though I’ve followed the game very closely for more than fifty years, I’m not an astute enough hockey ‘analyst’ to be able to judge Wilson on all the above hockey-oriented elements of his job, other than to suggest his track record tells me the guy can coach.  But with regard to his interaction with the media, that very public responsibility, he still gets an “F” from me.

All that said, we’ve always heard that he was this very funny guy.  A prankster.  Now, I don’t much care if the guy has a personality, or is or isn’t Red Skelton.  It’s none of my business, I suppose.

I’d just like to be able to hear intelligent conversation from the coach after a game, without every other scrum ending with him leaving while looking as though someone had just offended him.

As annoying as the Toronto media is, for the most part, they are just, as people like to say, “doing their job”.  His job is to handle it a whole lot better than he usually does.

So, here I am, clicking on the car radio dial the other night, and I hear Ron on the air on TSN Radio.  It’s not that the questions are penetrating or particularly interesting, but as he sat in a lobby or something somewhere in Minnesota (where the draft was held this year), he is telling stories with the best of them.

What did listeners hear in the short time I was listening?  How he likes to see the Sharks lose since they fired him.  (He loved it when the Red Wings started coming back against San Jose early in the playoffs.)  He bought moonshine from some guy in the southern U.S. (a former NASCAR guy, evidently) for a buddy who was coming over to watch Game 6 of the playoffs at his summer place in the Carolinas.

Like many of us, he apparently turns down the TV when Pierre McGwire is on (at least he made a reference to doing that when some friends were over watching a game).  And last but not least, he recalled how he and a former North Star teammate in the early '80s ran into wrestling greats Andre the “Giant” and Randy “Macho Man” Savage in an airport like thirty years ago, and how he sat next to Savage on the plane and they talked about all kinds of things.

I could have listened to Wilson all night.  (We had a glimpse into the guy earlier this year, too, when Leafs TV did a piece about his dad Larry  and uncle John, both former NHL'ers as coaches and players.  In fact, I wrote a piece here about his dad and uncle some time back.)

Tellingly, when asked about the obvious difference in his “personality” on this day compared to his daily interactions with the Toronto press, he explained that he always has to be “guarded” with the local media here.

As best an outsider can, I think I understand.  You definitely need to be aware, of course, and anticipate the things the media will try to “trap” you on.  But the guy could—and should—use his experience and story telling skills to let his personality shine through a little bit.  Pat Quinn (the man who gave Wilson his first NHL coaching gig many years ago) become more and more relaxed in Toronto as the years went on.  He was tremendous at answering questions, breaking down a game, explaining certain decisions.  He could disarm tough questions with his great sense of timing and humor.   (We see that from Ron on occasion, but not nearly often enough.)

Here’s hoping Wilson learns to do the same on a more regular basis.  Perhaps he doesn’t care what the rest of us think, but he would be a much more likeable “persona” in the meantime—while we wait for the team to be truly competitive.