Disney Tries to Right Itself
For the first time since stumbling across our sports landscape five years ago, Disney has uttered a memorable two-word phrase other than “Raise prices” or “Cut payroll” or “So what?”
On Monday afternoon, Disney said, “My bad.”
To which the rest of us replied, “Duh,” but what the heck. When it comes to the saga of Ron Wilson, we’ll take contrition however we can get it.
Even if Disney falls to its knees on someone’s neck, which is what happened when Pierre Page was fired Monday only one year after he replaced Wilson as coach of the Mighty Ducks.
This was more than just getting rid of the unremarkable boss of a bad team. (Admit it, one year later, you still haven’t learned to pronounce the guy’s last name.)
This was a company throwing up its hands and telling everyone, “You were right, we were wrong.”
And spending $1 million--the cost of the two remaining years of Page’s contract--for the privilege.
Although Disney never specifically said it, it didn’t have to.
Firing Page after only one season was an admission that he never should have been hired. Which is as close as we will get to an admission that Ron Wilson never should have been fired in the first place.
“Last year was a year of turmoil for us . . . and one could argue that we caused that turmoil ourselves,” said Tony Tavares, Disney sports president. “Certainly, that was a factor.”
It was a nice piece of hand-wringing from an outfit known for being more slippery than stalwart.
“We’re not this demonic organization that walks around with scales on our back . . . that slithers around . . . like we are portrayed,” Tavares said.
Page might disagree and will probably do so in a news conference today. After all, only 2 1/2 weeks ago, after assistants Don Hay and Walt Kyle were fired from their positions, his job was assumed safe.
But considering Page helped can them, he should understand all about being a sacrificial lamb.
And the cold truth is this: From the moment Page arrived here last summer, he was the wrong man at the wrong end of a wrong decision.
He was a quick fix in the wake of the Wilson travesty. He was hired not because of what he knew, but whom he knew. He was a longtime close friend of General Manager Jack Ferreira.
When Page’s injury-racked Ducks skated to a disappointing 26-43-13 record, it was surprising for them, but not for him. It was the sixth time in seven full seasons as an NHL head coach that he hasn’t had a winning record.
For this, he has just received a two-year vacation at a salary of $500,000 per year.
Did Disney give Page a fair chance, considering Paul Kariya played only 22 of 82 games and the team was in post-Wilson depression? No.
But isn’t it worth sending him away a rich man for the chance to see Disney finally admit it blew it, admit that coaches can’t just be picked off the rack, admit that it will be more careful next time?
When asked whether he thought Page had been given enough time, Taveres said, “No. But do I agree with the decision? Yes.”
You wonder, of course, why did they do it now? Although they said a recent difference of philosophy led to the move, why didn’t they fire him when they fired the assistants? What could Ferreira have learned about him in that short time that could have changed what he knew from previous 15 years?
Surely the Ducks were not waiting for Wilson to lose some of that spell he has held over the hockey world as coach of the Washington Capitals, to fall behind three-games-to-none in a Stanley Cup finals, before jumping in and admitting their mistake?
Surely they weren’t timing this to the success of that team “across the freeway,” as the Angels are known around the Ducks’ offices. You know, one of Disney’s teams is showing heart, time for the other one to join in?
Who knows? But, for once, who cares?
It would have been so easy, so Disney, to do nothing. Let Page finish his contract. Blame losses on injuries. Keep making a bundle.
Attendance at the Pond last season under Page was actually higher than in the previous year under Wilson. There are still kids wearing Duck caps from Paris to Toronto.
This has been a bottom-line company, and nothing about Page was going to affect the bottom line.
“But we’re just not good enough,” Tavares said. “End of story.”
Funny, but that wasn’t the case last year with Wilson. Remember, Ferreira said if they won the Stanley Cup, Wilson still would have been fired.
Maybe the organization is changing. Maybe it is starting to believe this bit about sports franchises fulfilling their end of a public trust.
Then again, maybe it simply has good ears. Maybe it has heard the noise from downtown Los Angeles, from the construction of a new Staples Center that could act as a leech on the wallet of the Orange County hockey fan.
Who knows. But, again, who cares?
For once, Disney did the right thing. Now we’ll see if it has the backbone to extend its consecutive right-thing streak to two, a franchise record.
Don’t hire a buddy. Don’t hire a buffoon. You’ve copped to your mulligan. Make this one count.
Marc Crawford, formerly of the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, is available.
Ted Nolan, former coach of the year with the Buffalo Sabres, is available.
Maybe even Ron Wilson would be . . . nah. Anybody else still hear that hissing?
