LAFAYETTE, LA – When Brent Sapergia took over as interim coach of the Louisiana IceGators following the team’s third game of the season, he stated that he was in search of a full-time replacement for former coach Ron Handy. It took Sapergia less than two weeks to find that man and even less time for him to take over. Sapergia officially announced Monday morning that former Huntsville Havoc coach John Gibson was hired to lead the team. The four paragraph notice on the team’s website ended a whirlwind two days of speculation that started last Thursday with a Gibson sighting in Lafayette and ended just as quickly Friday night when the new coach was pressed into duty to replace Sapergia when he was given a game misconduct late in the first period of a game in Pensacola. “He’s a great manager of people. He’s a quality individual and he wants to win. Those are all traits you look for in a coach,” Sapergia said about Gibson. “He’s a proven winner with two (championships) as a player and one as a coach. That’s experience you can’t find very often.” The relationship between Sapergia and Gibson goes back to 1995 when Gibson and Sapergia played together with the brand new Huntsville Channel Cats of the SHL. That season was a magical one as Huntsville won the SHL championship. Gibson would go on to win another title as a player in 1998-1999 with the CHL version of the Channel Cats. The ‘Cats were disbanded in 2000 but returned as a member of the four-team SEHL in 2003. With Gibson now behind the bench, Huntsville won the SEHL crown in the league’s lone year of existence before it was combined with the remnants of the WHA2 to form the SPHL. Gibson coached the Huntsville Havoc in the SPHL for the first four seasons but never found the success of a championship and found himself on the outside looking in when Huntsville let him go. Gibson had been following the SPHL and his former teammate Sapergia when the coaching carousel began turning following Handy’s resignation. Almost immediately, he contacted Sapergia about the job. “I saw that (Louisiana) had made a coaching change early and that Brent was going to be the interim coach. I sent him an email to see if he was planning on staying there or if he was actively looking for a replacement,” Gibson said. “He said he didn’t plan on staying there long so I told him I was interested in the job and he said he was interested (in me) as well.” That’s when the wheels started turning. Gibson headed to Lafayette to meet with Sapergia and owner Danny Smith. The interview actually took place during the IceGators’ game at the Blackham Coliseum Thursday night. Things went so well that Gibson was invited to tag along on the team bus to Pensacola for Friday night’s game to further discuss his new position.
As the day started, Smith and Gibson continued to talk in the stands. Then with less than a minute remaining in the first period, a referee’s decision set Sapergia off. Minutes later, Sapergia found himself banished from the game, leaving the IceGators without a coach. Since both Smith and Sapergia were just about ready to make an offer to Gibson, they asked SPHL commissioner Jim Combs if they could use Gibson to finish the game. Combs, knowing Gibson from his Huntsville days, said yes and moments later, the new coach was introduced to his team.
“Quite frankly, our decision was very close to being made at that point anyway,” Sapergia said about the decision to put Gibson behind the bench.
The move nearly paid off as Louisiana closed a 5-1 Pensacola lead to 5-4 before running out of time. It was enough to convince Smith and Sapergia that Gibson was their man.
“They (players) kind of found out when I walked into the locker room that I was going to be the new guy,” Gibson said. “I just asked them not to quit because crazier things have happened. What impressed me was that they went out and almost tied the game up.”
Gibson’s analysis of the IceGators was that the players needed some stability – Gibson will be the third coach in four weeks – and to be “on the same page.” He said that his first duties would be to install systems that his men could execute right away and all be working together in.
With the IceGators starting to play teams other than Pensacola and Mississippi, Gibson’s knowledge of the SPHL and the other four teams (Columbus, Fayetteville, Knoxville and Huntsville) could also give Louisiana a leg up on its expansion brothers.
“My experience coaching in this league and having familiarity with the teams and the coaches that are in place is definately an asset,” Gibson said. “I didn’t coach last year so obviously they are going to have personel changes but I know Tommy Stewart in Fayetteville and Jerome (Bechard) in Columbus. There’s definitely a benefit to knowing what their coaching style is and what kind of team they’re going to bring to the table and we can prepare for that accordingly.”
Gibson said that although he is keeping his options open as far as bringing in new players, he believes that the players who are already on the roster deserve a chance to come together and play as a team.
“I want to give these guys (who are here) a fair opportunity. There has already been a revolving door issue a little bit,” Gibson said. “I think the players that are here are totally capable of playing in this league. I don’t see any reason that the players who are here can’t play in this league.”
And now with Gibson on board, Smith and Sapergia hope that the IceGators can take a bigger bite out of the SPHL than they’ve gotten so far.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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