What motivates you to return to Gap?
“There are several. The timing already, which is not bad for the family. We loved spending two years in Italy and three in Hungary, but we also knew that we would want to come back, sooner or later. I also really liked the content of the discussions with Gap. Initially, they contacted me to find out if I had any interest in coming to coach and I gave them the same answer as in Briançon last spring: I will not come back to coach in the 05, I have done for almost 20 years in Briançon and Gap while also wearing the hat of sports director and this is no longer possible. Gap came back for the position of general manager and when they also talked to me about responsibilities on the administrative side I said no because that's not my job. In the end, they made me understand that they wanted me to come back and asked me how I saw my role. I said that we needed someone in administration and that I wanted to take care of the athlete but not just the first team. »
What is your goal in this case?
“In the immediate future, it’s about putting out the fire with the first team because I think they are capable of being more competitive. But I want to go further! My role will depend on the Gap club, Mayor Roger Didier, that of Briançon Arnaud Murgia and the Briançon club. What I see is that in three or four years Nice will have its new ice rink, Chamonix too, the difference in budget with Grenoble is likely to widen further. What will then be the place of Gap? It will depend on the training. If a training center has been set up in Gap, it is now necessary to build a real academy including the U18s, with a common coach, a physical trainer, a goalkeeper coach, etc. »
“I’m going to talk to the different players in hockey in the Hautes-Alpes”
The rapprochement between Briançon and Gap, even in minor hockey, has played the Arlesian role for a very long time. Do you really think the lines can move today?
“I think that, in 4 or 5 years, it will no longer be possible for Briançon and Gap to have a team at this level. In Briançon, there is nothing below the first team, no U20, nor U18 or U15. In Gap, it's not much better, the best players in 05 are forced to leave at 14 or 15 years old. If a kid leaves for Switzerland, Sweden or Canada then great, the job has been done in the small categories, but when he leaves for the hopeful center in Rouen or elsewhere, what is it to do? The youth team does not play in a higher championship, they have the same number of matches in the same championship so it is simply that the management there is better. I am convinced that Hautes-Alpes is a healthy department, from which children have no reason to leave if we are able to supervise and develop them. »
Have you obtained pledges from the different parties to hope to move forward in this direction?
“I intend to use my credit with the mayor of Gap who pushed for me to come back, with Arnaud Murgia who is a friend, with Luc Rougny, another friend who is with the Red Devils, with whom we have been talking for years of this training center, so that things move forward. If I see that there is no intention, that we are putting it off until tomorrow, if my job only consists of putting together a team to secure a play-off place then that is not what will make me want to get up in the morning to go to work. I will explain my vision, talk to the different actors of 05 but if I see that there is no will to move forward, I will do a year or two and that's it. »
“I am an educator, a teacher”
This is a very different challenge from those you have faced here in the past…
“Basically, I am an educator, a teacher. Here, I am known as a coach at the head of the professional team but we must not forget that I have 20 years of experience in the minors. I spent my first 12 years in Montreal as a minor coach and my first five years in Italy too, I have a master's degree in physical education and sports psychology and for the last three seasons, in Budapest, I had a double hat U18 coach and technical director of the academy. »
Why initiate this work from Gap rather than from Briançon?
“I said no to Briançon when they offered me a coaching position and things stopped there. I'm going to Gap because it's not the same role that's being offered to me and it should allow me to use all the experience and skills acquired during my professional life. Let's be clear: It's Gap that brings me here, but it's the department that needs to move forward. I think I can work in the interest of both clubs. If the only priority is the derby, then there's no point in me coming back. In Briançon, I think they can hear and understand this speech because today, unlike Gap, they maximize all the euros, they do a great job with a good coach, good recruitment and yet this is not the case. 'is not enough to leave last place. »
“The team is not rich enough in the different registers”
You were talking about putting out the fire at Gap, what is your diagnosis?
“Everyone talks about marking errors in the defensive zone and goaltending problems but the reality is that if you don't forecheck and you don't press high, then you suffer and you end up defending far too much, as in the face of Rouen et Bordeaux. Individually, 95% of players can evolve into Magnus but if you start with a squad of French people like this, then you also bring in athletic foreigners, with size, in order to balance things out. A good team is not about taking the twenty best players and putting them on the ice. It is not rich enough in the different registers. »
What needs to change?
“I don’t have a magic wand. I have always adhered to the philosophy that if you want to have a quiet winter in hockey, it is in the summer that you must do your job well because building your squad is 70% of your success. I have a contract with Budapest until June 30, so the one with Gap will officially start on July 1. Until then, I will act as a consultant to Jérôme Escallier who will make all the decisions, and I will also be a sort of mentor for the coach by preparing the matches with him. I will try to advise the coach and the president to save what can be saved in the short term. In six months of activity, Sébastien Rohat is the 4th coach (Blais, Oprandi, Vas, Rohat) and if ever a firefighter were to arrive behind the bench for the end of the season, that would make five. The problem is not just a coach who does not make the right choices, it is much deeper and it will take time to remedy it. »
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