The Tippett Point: How an attitude can change everything

The following is a piece written for Arizona Sports & Lifestyles Magazine. Reader other great features from the magazine AzSal.com.

In his best-selling book The Tipping Point, author Malcolm Gladwell attempts to explain the phenomenon of small changes having a major impact on society. Gladwell believes that when even a tiny group of people change their behavior or thought patterns, it can begin to spread until it reaches a critical mass or “tipping point”, changing the society around it.

After six seasons without a playoff appearance, only one winning season, and a 38-37 finish in the 2007-2008 campaign, it appears that a small change may have a major impact on the Phoenix Coyotes.

The off season in 2009 saw the Coyotes file for bankruptcy, be placed into court dictated auction, almost move out of their hometown and alienate their former coach (a minority owner and league icon). In the midst of such a tumultuous off season it’s hard to believe anything positive could happen. Regardless of how illogical it may seem, two weeks prior to the start of the regular season the Coyotes had something occur that changed the direction of the wayward franchise.

A “Tippett point” took place when the struggling team hoping to stay in its adopted home found a leader looking for a new one.

Dave Tippett was a leader without a following, a teacher without pupils, a coach without a team. He had been fired in June of this year, after six seasons at the helm of the Dallas Stars, by a new front office looking to make their mark on the franchise.

While most coaches are fired for subpar performances, team turmoil or an inherent inability to do their job, Tippett was different. During his tenure as head coach in Dallas he made the playoffs five out of six seasons, posted the second best winning percentage of any coach during those six seasons (.617), won the second most games as a coach in Dallas history (277) and averaged 101 points per season never earning fewer than 83 points. His biggest fault was never making the Stanley Cup Finals, a feat his predecessor Ken Hitchcock accomplished twice in seven seasons, and it cost him his job.

Although he was fired, Tippett left a lasting mark on the Stars’ franchise according to team play-by-play man Ralph Strangis.

“I think the Dave Tippett legacy on the Stars’ franchise is that he continued a tradition of putting a team on the ice that was hard to play against, tough to score on, and proud of the uniform they were wearing,” Strangis said. “His regular season record leaves no doubt that he will be among the most significant coaches this franchise has ever had – and will ever have. His teams did not have the kind of success in the post-season that I know he would have liked – and his teams would have wanted. But overall – his body of work here was very impressive.”

While many fans and media members lamented Tippett’s firing, the coach himself took a different approach.

“In this business, you have to focus on the job at hand and do it to the best of your ability,” Tippett told the Dallas Morning News in June following his firing. “Then, if you are moved on, you have to see that as an opportunity. When one door closes, another one opens.”

That door would open in Glendale, Arizona on September 24th, 2009.

With long time head coach and minority owner Wayne Gretzky officially resigning because of his connection to the team’s highly publicized bankruptcy case and ownership battle, the Coyotes were in need of a coach. General manager Don Maloney knew a Gretzky departure was likely as early as August. He announced Dave Tippett as his choice to coach the young Coyotes in the post Gretzky/Moyes era just mere hours after the Gretzky resignation.

“I have always been impressed with the playing style of the teams Dave has coached,” Maloney said of the hiring in a team press release. “He coaches his teams to play the game with intelligence, discipline, structure, a sense of urgency and a team-first approach. We feel we have assembled a first-class coaching staff that is comparable to any in the NHL and are looking forward to Dave leading us to success for many years to come.”

The choice seemed to make perfect sense for the franchise. In Dallas, Tippett was known as a players’ coach. A former NHL left winger, he understood his players and how to communicate with them because of his own time on the ice. Tippett wasn’t a flashy player in the league. He played for the Hartford Whalers, Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers in his 11 years and never recorded more than 41 points in a season. He finished his career with 262 points and was known more for his hard work than his flashy play or natural ability. Quite the contrast from Gretzky.

If his time as the Stars’ head coach was any indication, it could be assumed that the players he was about to coach on the Coyotes roster would respond well to his style.

“The Players in Dallas respected him because they knew he was like them,” Ralph Stringer said. “He was a guy who was in the trenches and who understood what they go through over the course of the season. They respected him and wanted to play for him.”

Although things made perfect sense for the Coyotes, the question on everyone’s mind was the same. Why would Tippett, a successful head coach in the NHL, want to insert himself into the drama occurring in the Phoenix desert? He put those questions to rest at his introductory press conference.

“The intrigue of building a good hockey team outweighed all the off-ice stuff,” Tippett told the Phoenix media the afternoon of September 24th. “What happens off the ice, we have no control over; what happens on the ice and in the locker room we have control over, and that is what we will focus on.”

Tippett is no stranger to building things. Along with helping to build a winning team in Dallas, he also builds motorcycles. It’s a hobby he picked up to pass the time during the lockout and it’s something that stuck. While in Dallas he built a street legal bike that he rides on a regular basis. Similar to the process of building a bike, Tippett saw the right pieces on the Phoenix roster to put together a winning team.

“We have some youth and enthusiasm,” Tippett told reporters when asked about his new team. “I think we’ll have strong goaltending. I believe they have to play a structured game. The big thing is that it doesn’t matter if you have superstars or players who are grinders, you have to play well as a group.”

It’s that concept of structure that many, including Ralph Stringer, feel has been missing from the Coyotes and why Tippett will succeed.

“As much as we all admire Wayne Gretzky, the team appeared on many nights to be missing structure, and from the outside, looked like a team that never really built an identity,” Stringer said. “Dave Tippett will bring structure to the group and will be wonderful at helping to create an identity within the group that will be visible on the ice.”

A structured system of hockey taught by a coach that players respect seems like a simple enough concept. That simple idea has started a change in Glendale. In his first month as coach, Tippett tied former Coyotes’ coach Bobby Francis for nine wins, the most wins in the month of October. Francis accomplished the feat during the 2000-2001 season, in which the Coyotes finished with ninety points and a playoff birth. While no one is ready to give Tippett’s team a playoff spot after one month, it is reason for optimism in the desert, something that the fan base had been lacking during the team’s rocky summer.

Things are a long way from being better for the Coyotes. They still need to find a new owner, a larger fan base and a lease that allows them to generate more revenue. Even with all those things seemingly against them, the change in the team’s behavior, strategy, approach and coaching staff is beginning to reach a “critical mass”. The Coyotes are at a Tippett point, and things are looking brighter on the ice than they have in years.

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