News

Mark Grady has pulled the plug.

The former head coach of the Smiths Falls Jr. A Bears resigned as the team’s bench boss Friday night after their 4-1 loss to Nepean in a regular CCHL league game at home.

That loss, and their 4-0 loss to the Carleton Place Canadians has dropped the Bears to a ninth place tie with Cumberland. And now there is a fear of the team not making the playoffs this season.

“I have mixed emotions. I’m excited for the opportunity and what the rest of the season will bring. We just have to be prepared for what comes next.” Walt Dubas, Smiths Falls Bears new head coach

“I resigned Friday night at 10:15 p.m. following the game,” he said in a phone call on Monday, Jan. 23. “I decided I wasn’t seeing any improvement and I had to do something drastic. I can’t change 22 guys. I had to do something that’s going to get their attention.”

Grady has been with the organization as head coach since 2011. Associate coach, Walt Dubas will assume head coach duties until the end of the season. Grady will remain behind the scenes as the team’s manager.

“I can’t comment on what will happen next season,” Grady said. “I just know that Walt can carry the team now through and hopefully they’ll make the playoffs. We have 20 games left and I did this at a strategic time. There will be a full week of practise this week.”

Grady said the team’s owner, Chris Cassell, didn’t want him to leave the bench duties.

“I told him it wasn’t up to him… this was a decision I had to make. There is a certain level I expect from them, and I expect from myself and I wasn’t getting it.”

Associate steps up

Dubas, who said this isn’t the first time he’s been the head coach of the Bears, said he’s both excited for the opportunity and empathetic for what his friend is going through. He had the helm during the 1986/87 season, and has also stepped up during Grady’s absence when Grady coached Team Canada during Canada Cup tournament play in recent years.

He also has the help of assistant coach Tom McLaren.

“Mark and I are friends… have been friends for six years, and that’s not going to change. I feel badly for him and what he’s going through,” Dubas said Monday afternoon. “I have mixed emotions. I’m excited for the opportunity and what the rest of the season will bring. We just have to be prepared for what comes next.”

Dubas said that he would still have Grady’s ear as the team’s manager, “now we just have to hit the reset button and just try to be better.”

Leading up to resignation

Prior to the Jan. 10 trade deadline, Grady spoke with the Record News about the way the season was unfolding. He said at that time that he wasn’t getting the commitment he needed from his players, and he wasn’t able to give the team that same 100 per cent commitment. And he was taking the team’s losing skid to heart.

“I have 100 per cent responsibility for what goes on here,” he said earlier this month. “We have a young team this year, and you can tell by the roster we only had five returning players.”

There have been some trials and tribulations this season, not just on the ice, but behind the scenes that have seen some players cut for personal reasons, and others leaving the fold for school commitments.

Grady said his Christmas break was ruined because of the situation the team is in at present.

“You know what… I didn’t change as a coach; from being first overall in the league and having a winning record to where we are now, I didn’t change… but something changed.”

Grady said he, himself, is the first guy he looks at when it comes to laying the blame.

“Thinking about it ruined my Christmas vacation.”

It bothered him a lot, he said.

“I take my computer everywhere and I watch it… it’s the same mistakes by the same guys. Young guys, I can handle them making mistakes once in a while, but the same thing all the time, not playing with the structure they know.”

Grady said he knew his strong suit as a coach is teaching structure early in the season.

“It is what it is,” he said, “and it used to be fun.”