PITTSBURGH – Mike Milbury hosted “a long lunch” at his home with Islanders president David Seldin, co-owners Steven Gluckstern and Ed Milstein Wednesday afternoon to discuss his future as head coach. When it ended, Milbury agreed, somewhat cautiously and reluctantly, to try to carry on.
Later that night, after watching his team quit on him in a 5-2 disgrace to Florida, Milbury decided that was impossible. Showing the backbone that he should’ve shown last summer, Milbury called Gluckstern and Seldin yesterday morning, recommending that he step down as head coach and continue as GM only.
So yesterday afternoon in a Pittsburgh hotel lobby, Milbury fired himself and promoted assistant Bill Stewart to head coach. Stewart immediatlely gabbed his first win, 5-2.
Milbury steps down at the end of an 0-10-1 stretch, his team 15 games under .500 and well out of a playoff spot with the second-lowest point total in the league.
“I thought the message received from our players last night was a pretty strong one and not a good one,” Milbury said. “There didn’t seem to be passion, discipline. I was really surprised about that under our circumstances. So Mr. Gluckstern, David Seldin and Ed Milstein, collectively, decided this was the way to go.
“You can’t get into a streak like this,” said Milbury, whose team has won three times since Nov. 26. “It happened to Rick (Bowness) last year. He couldn’t turn them on and I can’t turn them on. When a team quits on a coach, it’s an awfully tough thing to get them back.”
Stewart, 41, was the AHL Coach of the Year last season with the St. John Flames.
Milbury said he’ll allow Stewart to reshape the coaching staff as he sees fit. Stewart indicated he would take the All-Star break to decide whether to make changes.
‘We hired Bill over the summer, knowing he was successful at a couple different levels of coaching and someday he might get the opportunity here,” Milbury said. “Certainly, I didn’t believe it would come as quickly.”
Milbury met with the players who had essentially stopped listening to him three weeks ago in a hotel conference room at about 4:15 p.m.
‘I didn’t get applause for it, but they might do that later,” Milbury said. “Believe me, we’re in a tough situation, but I haven’t played a game yet. There’s some guys in there that have to look at themselves.”
Said captain Trevor Linden, “As a team, we feel bad for Mike. I don’t think it’s a good thing. We as players cost someone his job. Obviously, his message wasn’t getting to us and that’s why the change was made.”
It is believed that at the Wednesday lunch, Milbury recommended a coaching change be made then, but was asked to try to keep up the fight.
All Milbury would say about the gathering was, “They wanted to know what my opinion was. They had certain opinions. We decided we would probably go forward with it, but when the team makes a loud and clear statement like that, it’s pretty tough to get them back. So you make this move to energize the club. It should be a shock factor to them.”
Gluckstern did not return phone calls.
Milbury said his new duties have not been discussed. Certainly, Milbury will now be more involved in contract negotiations and do more amateur scouting. After all, the Isles are in the running for the top overall pick in the 1999 draft.
‘There is room to be more involved in other areas,” Milbury said.
