ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 20, 1996 TAG: 9612200024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ST. LOUIS
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE CONTROVERSIAL St.Louis coach, who onced played in the Roanoke Valley, is fired after 2 1/2 disappointing seasons.
Once again, Mike Keenan is out of a job, another abrupt departure on his resume.
After 2 1/2 seasons, dozens of player moves - most of which fizzled - and a highly publicized spat with star player Brett Hull, the coach and general manager of the St.Louis Blues is moving on.
``A new era for the St. Louis Blues begins today,'' chairman Jerry Ritter said at a news conference Thursday to announce the management shakeup in which Keenan was dismissed along with team president Jack Quinn.
Ritter said Keenan, who could not be reached for comment, took the news well.
``Mike was very professional, he understood, he was sorry,'' Ritter said. ``He behaved himself quite well. You'll have to ask Mike if he was surprised.''
The Blues, hurting at the gate and with a 15-17-1 record heading into Thursday's 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh, appointed assistant Jimmy Roberts interim head coach and Ron Caron interim general manager. Caron had been the GM from 1983-94 before becoming executive vice president when Keenan arrived.
Mark Sauer, who previously was CEO of baseball's St.Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates, was hired as team president. Sauer was with the Pirates from 1991 to August, when he resigned, but has no hockey background.
Quinn, president since 1986, was offered a consultant's position with the team and said he will decide by early next week whether to take the job.
Several broadcast reports said Jacques Demers, who coached the Blues from 1983-86, would return as coach, but Ritter said the search had not yet begun. Caron said he hoped to name a coach by the end of next week.
``Jacques is a candidate,'' Caron said. ``He's been successful. We just have to kick it around.''
Judging from the Keenan experience, Ritter said it was likely the team would now hire two men to fill the GM and coach jobs.
This is the fourth time Keenan, who played for the Roanoke Valley Rebels Eastern Hockey League championshup squad in 1973-74, has left an NHL team on less than amicable terms. He bolted the New York Rangers for the Blues a month after guiding the Rangers to a Stanley Cup title in 1994 over a dispute regarding bonus pay, was fired after four seasons with Chicago in 1992 and dismissed after four seasons with Philadelphia in 1988.
Last season was something of a spectacular failure for Keenan, who traded three prospects and a first-round draft pick in February to get Wayne Gretzky. The NHL's all-time leading scorer lasted only a few months with the team, signing with the Rangers this summer.
The Blues have been floundering in the third season of Keenan's regime, a season marked by clashes with Hull. The coach and the star right wing haven't seen eye-to-eye almost since Keenan came to town in July 1994, and the dispute clearly has hurt the club.
But Ritter, who met with Hull after giving the news to Keenan, said the Keenan-Hull spat was less a factor than the Blues' slump at home coupled with plummeting attendance.
``Yes, the continuous feuding had become a distraction,'' Ritter said. ``We told Brett there was no winner in his quarrel with Mike Keenan. We also told Brett we expected more leadership.''
Entering Thursday night's game against Pittsburgh, the Blues had lost five in a row at Kiel Center. They were 15-17-1 overall, third in the Central Division.
The Blues reportedly owe Keenan $7 million for the last four years on his contract. Ritter said any settlement would not affect the ability to make moves made by the new management team.
Keenan did not immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press.
Sauer, 50, said he hoped to quickly win back the fans who have grown disillusioned with Keenan and his numerous trades. Keenan dealt Brendan Shanahan and Curtis Joseph, and only Hull and defenseman Al MacInnis remain from the team he inherited.
``Certainly, the best thing we can do for our fans is to win,'' Sauer said. ``We'll do everything we can to be more fan friendly. We all want to make Blues hockey fun again.''
Keenan got off to a fast start in St. Louis, guiding the Blues to a tie for the third-best record in the NHL in the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. Last year the Blues were 32-34-16 and fourth in the Central before taking the Detroit Red Wings to double-overtime in Game 7 of their second round series.
``We looked as if we were about to make our move,'' Ritter said. ``Instead, we've had constant unrest. The trust built over 30 years is being strained and that's absolutely unacceptable.''
Roberts, who was added to the coaching staff this season, had been general manager and coach of the Blues' American Hockey League affiliate in Worcester, Mass., the previous two seasons. He played 15 seasons in the NHL, including a stint on the first Blues team in 1967, and has limited experience as an NHL head coach with Buffalo in 1981-82 and Hartford in 1991-92.
``Certainly, it's been a surprising, shocking morning,'' Roberts said. ``It's my honor to step behind the bench and help those people try to turn the corner.''
Quinn, who had been with the Blues since 1983 and lasted through four ownerships, said he had no complaints about the move. He also thanked fans who have stuck with the team.
``It's been a great ride,'' he said. ``There is absolutely not an ounce of bitterness. I hope one day when the Stanley Cup is paraded through the city I get a chance to look at it.''
Quinn said he spoke briefly by telephone with Keenan after the news.
``He has a lot of hockey left in him,'' Quinn said. ``I wish him luck.''
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Sagging attendance may have gotten coach Mike Keenanby CNBfired by the St. Louis Blues, and on ongoing feud with star Brett
Hull didn't help, either.