Dismissed Coach Harbors No Ill Will Toward Penguins

For the better part of three weeks Gene Ubriaco was pushed and pulled, tugged and shoved, before finally being dropped by the Pittsburgh Penguins a week ago.

But he said recently that he harbors no ill feelings about the situation, nor does he regret any of the decisions he made in Pittsburgh.

“I wouldn’t do anything differently,” Ubriaco said from his Cockeysville, Md., home. “Tony (Esposito, former Penguins general manager) and I came into a situation that was very negative. We thought we could win and we did win. Last year was one of the best seasons they’ve ever had in Pittsburgh.

“Because of that good season, 14 guys got new contracts,” Ubriaco said. “There was a power struggle off the ice and I believe it was there before we even got there. It spilled onto the ice, and we lost some games.”

Sure, the Penguins were 10-14-2 when the ax fell last Tuesday, but the team had won five of nine before that.

“I was told even after I left that had I stayed we would have won our share of games,” said Ubriaco, who last year led Pittsburgh (40-33-7) to the Patrick Division finals for the first time. “They just said, ‘We want to go in another direction.’ ”

Ubriaco said that he felt the move was coming several weeks ago, but that when the team began winning again he felt a false sense of security.

“I thought they were going to let us handle it,” Ubriaco said. “I was told the inmates weren’t going to run the asylum.”

Ubriaco said he believed Esposito, who was hired as vice president and general manager April 14, 1988, was never in jeopardy. Eventually they both went as owner Edward DeBartolo Sr. cleaned house.

“I thought the organization was building toward something that meant something,” said Ubriaco, who was made coach of the Penguins on June 28, 1988. “But it’s like a banana republic. Some teams just operate that way. Somewhere along the line you have to support the people who work for you. But we lost that support like a lot of others had.”

A change in management is nothing new in Pittsburgh. It’s more like a way of life.

In the Mario Lemieux era of higher hockey in Steel Town, Bob Berry, Pierre Creamer and Ubriaco have come and gone as coaches and Ed Johnston and Esposito have disappeared from the general manager’s seat. Craig Patrick, who used to run the New York Rangers, temporarily took over both roles last Tuesday.

“The media never accepted me there because of my relationship with Tony,” said Ubriaco, a childhood friend of Esposito’s. “They would never let me live that down. But I know I got the job on the strength of my credentials. He wanted someone he knew but who was also qualified.”

Ubriaco said he felt badly for Esposito.

“The team made money for the first time last year,” Ubriaco said. “In fact, it made a lot of money. Tony was a good leader and a strong hockey man.”

When people first started calling for Ubriaco’s ouster, Esposito gave him a vote of confidence.

“I told him if it was going to mean his job that I’d go,” Ubriaco said. “But I’ll never forget Tony telling me, ‘I’m going to do what is right,’ and he said that firing me wasn’t right. We stood firm and gained respect.”

But they now have their self-respect while standing in the unemployment line.

Ubriaco said that much of the trouble stemmed from the players and their backlash to the media and management.

Ubriaco said many players were more interested in personal achievement than team goals.

“All those guys wanted was ice time,” Ubriaco said. “That’s what they loved the most because that’s what brought the stats. Most of these guys never got rewards for team stats because there was never a team. They worried about individual stats because that’s what they got paid for. They couldn’t get it from the playoffs because they had never made the playoffs.

“Trying to get them to think of team goals was like trying to teach a shark table manners.”

Ubriaco refused to blatantly attack Lemieux or teammate Paul Coffey as instigators in the battles waged. He would only say that the differences between Lemieux and Gretzky are much more than their point totals might indicate.

“That’s the beauty of this game that the true personality shows through,” Ubriaco said. “When you go out on that ice, your character shows through loud and clear.

“When you get on that ice you want to win and you want to get the (Stanley) Cup,” Ubriaco said. “That should supersede everybody’s personal interests. In some cases, it just doesn’t.”