‘It’s been tough’: Jody Hull
Departing head coach thanks Petes fans for all their support
Jody Hull gave 15 years of his life to the Peterborough Petes as a player and a coach and having it taken away has been difficult.
He worked seven seasons as an assistant coach before being promoted to head coach in December 2012. He was relieved of those duties on Friday.
Only three men in the Petes’ 62-year history have coached the team longer than Hull’s five years and two of them were his mentors in junior and pro hockey. Dick Todd, who coached him in junior and brought him in as an assistant coach, coached the Petes for 14 seasons and Roger Neilson, who coached Hull in multiple NHL stops, manned the Petes bench for 10 years. Rick Allain was Petes coach just shy of six seasons.
“I’m not going to sugar-coat it. It’s been tough,” Hull said. “It’s been a tough couple of days. I feel for my wife and my two kids who I know bled the same maroon and white I did and have the same passion and care for the organization. I think that’s the difficult part. When you’ve been around it for so long and it ends that’s difficult to swallow.”
Hull compiled a regular season record of 167-147-7-23.
Last season he led the Petes to first place in the OHL’s Eastern Conference and to the Eastern Conference final for the first time in 11 years. Expectations were high again this season but at the time of his dismissal the Petes sat sixth in the conference four games below .500 after having lost nine of 10 games.
When asked if he saw his firing coming Hull replied: “I was surprised a bit but at the same time not surprised just based on, probably, how the last eight months have been,” Hull said.
When asked to elaborate on what he meant Hull had no further comment. Those close to Hull say he was upset he wasn’t rewarded with a contract extension like GM Mike Oke following last year’s success. Hull was in the final year of his contract.
“Those decisions are made by other people,” Hull said.
He said not getting an extension had no affect on his approach to his job.
“We work in a tough business and you’re hired to be fired. I went to work and gave more than 100 per cent every day I was at work whether it was practice, games or sometimes on days off. I’m proud of that and for what I’ve accomplished in that area,” he said.
“I woke up (Saturday) morning and we had some things to do and my wife asked me if I wanted to go to the grocery store. I said ‘Yes, what do I have to be ashamed of.’ I’m proud of what I’ve done. I think I’ve accomplished a lot with this organization. I have no reason to hang my head.”
Hull has some theories on why the club has struggled this season he said he’d prefer to keep to himself but he did say: “When you go through good seasons a lot of things have to fall in place. You have to get lucky in different areas whether it’s a bounce here or there. Whether it’s injuries. Things like that which maybe help your hockey club. We went through a stretch where we didn’t get any of that and it hurt our hockey club. To me, that’s the frustrating part because I thought we had some pieces in place that the team could have been more successful than what it was.”
Hull wants to continue to coach.
“I know the type of coach I am and what I can bring to a hockey club. That’s years of experience both from playing and winning championships as a coach whether it’s at the international level and or in an assistant’s role. I know what my abilities are and opportunities will come,” he said.
Hull had two parting messages he wished to convey. “I want to personally thank (former Petes president) Jim Devlin for giving me the opportunity five years ago to be the head coach of this team and help turn the program around,” Hull said.
“And to the fans. I know the fans are a very integral part of an organization. We’ve had some trying times and we also had some great times. I just want to thank them for their support.”