New Bulldogs coach fired, hired and fired in middle of Flint water crisis

The Hamilton Bulldogs have announced JohnGrudenas the team's new head coach.

The announcement was made at a news conference onFriday morning atFirstOntarioCentre.

Gruden, a native of Virginia, Minnesota, spent lastseason as the coach of theOHL'sFlintFirebirds, but was fired in Februaryalong with two assistant coaches.

He replaces long-time Bulldogs coach and general manager GeorgeBurnett, who was fired in April. In a bit of aswitcharoo,Burnetthas since been picked up by the FlintFirebirdsto become their new general manager.

Fired, rehired and fired again

In November last year,Grudenwas fired from theFirebirdsand then rehired the next day after a bizarre situationthat saw owner RolfNilsenadmit he made an "irresponsible mistake."

AlthoughGrudendeniesit in following media reports, there wasspeculation thatNilsenoriginally firedGrudenover the amount of playing time given to his son,HakonNilson.Following that firing, each player, including the owner's son,handed in his jersey and quit the team in response.Grudenwas hired back the following day.

During the conference on Friday,Grudensaid he was excited to be part of the Bulldogs' organization where he hopes he can help the young men develop not only as hockey players, but as productive members of the community.

Grudensaid his first act as head coach will be getting to know the players, who they are and what they're about as individuals. He said getting to know each of the players as young menwillhelp him bring them together to play as a team.

Coaching in Flint, a city in crisis

The drama that unfolded withGruden'sfiring and rehiring was small in comparison to thelarger water crisisthat was playingout in the City of Flint at around the same time.

In a bid to save around $5 million over two years, the industrial town of Flint cut ties with the Detroit Water and Sewerage system and instead hooked up its municipal water system to the Flint River in April 2014. The water from the Flint River ismore corrosive than the Lake Huron supply, and left untreated, the water ate away at the municipal pipes, resulting in lead that eventually leached into the tap water.

We knew there was a water issue before it became a national story,Grudensaid.

"We had bottled water always available. Wenever used the water there," he said. "When they put our new locker room in, they put a filtrationin, for that locker room and it was never an issue."

Young children andbabies living in Flint aremost affected by the lead in the tap water, he said.

Most of his players lived in a suburb outside of Flint and didn't have to deal with the city'swater issues, he said. When they came in to the arena, all the necessary steps were taken by the facilityto ensure the water was safe to drink.

Changing the culture of the team

Bulldogs president and general manager SteveStaiossaid the search for a new head coach was"long and arduous,"with close to80 applicants throwing their hatsinto the ring for leadership roles on the team.

"There was an onslaught of very, very qualified candidates," he said during the conference, but in the end,Grudenwas chosen as head coachbased on his values,hiscompetitiveness and his character.

Staiossaid looking back at previous years, it was clear to him a great deal of improvement needed to be made around the team's culture and the environment.

"I was looking for a candidate who could come in and change that right away," he said.

The new coach needed to be able to hold the players accountable, creating a "culture of discipline" while at the same time encouraging their development.

"The person I was looking to bring in had to have a presence but also had to have an understanding of how to communicate, how to relate to these young players nowadays," he said. "The environment has changed with our young players now and coaching's become more complicated."

Staiossaid Troy Smith, the associate coach and assistant general manager with the team, also hit all the right targets in terms of what anew head coach should look like. In the end, however,Staiossaid Smith was best suitedto remain in his current but expanded role, working with the team's defense and adding in what he can as the assistant GM.