Will you ever be satisfied, Mike Keenan is asked.
”I don`t know,” says the Blackhawks` coach. ”That`s just the way I am. I don`t know why. I`m not obsessive.”
But everyone says you have a penchant for detail.
”That`s making sure everyone stays on top of being better every day. I`ll go around and make sure the (locker) room is spotless, and the trainers have hung everything properly. That`s just making sure we`re improving.”
And everyone says you consider losing a personal affront.
”It`s almost that way, and I guess the reason I feel that is I always feel you can give your very best all the time. That`s not true. It`s impossible. But I still feel that. I feel that`s the coach`s responsibility, to find and look at solutions every day and in every situation.”
But don`t you often look for solutions where players don`t even see problems?
”That`s exactly right.”
So when you make a move, you create confusion among the players.
”That`s right. To them, there`s not a problem. But that`s the growth they`re seeing now. What they saw as problems last year, they now see as solutions.”
– – –
It is early Monday afternoon, and Mike Keenan is settled on a couch in the Blackhawks` locker room. His team is now leading its Stanley Cup semifinal series with Edmonton, yet even here, in the midst of accomplishment, he remains a lightning rod, a singular figure wont to surprising (some would say mystifying) actions. He has yanked goaltenders quickly enough to earn the nickname Captain Hook, and alternated his starters at that position while proffering only the barest of explanations. He has (publicly, at least) a fragile relationship with star center Denis Savard, and been accused in print of having little more than a ricochet romance with his team as a whole.
”I`m a risk taker. I think you have to dare to do things that are important in terms of making things better,” he will say of those moves that often surprise.
”I think it`s solid. I think it`s respectful,” he will say of his relationship with Savard. ”I like Denis a great deal as an individual, and I appreciate him as an athlete. He`s a tremendous athlete. Just because I`ve dared from time to time to ask him to be better, I don`t think it`s affected our relationship.”
”I`m not trying to push them. I`m trying to teach them. Intrinsic value is the most important,” he will say of his relationship with his team. ”At the beginning, you are pushing them. You`re daring them. You`re striving for them to stretch themselves. But as the program continues, you`re trying to make the shift from you being the stimulus to them being the stimulus. It`s a balance that shifts. It`s probably 90-10 at the beginning. At the end, you want it 10-90.”
Where is it now?
”It`s getting closer to the other end as we continue to grow in these playoffs. They`re beginning to understand, `Yeah, I can give a lot more than I thought I could give. I can take a lot more of the pain and suffering.` ”
Mike Keenan will say that and much more on this Monday afternoon, and through it all his posture is hardly as rigid as that he presents in public. There, on the bench or behind a podium, he appears at attention, a general in command of all he surveys. Here, on a couch and with a vacuum cleaner humming in the background, his shoulders relax, and he readily addresses the cross section of questions and perceptions that now swirl about him.
Your methods are perceived as . . .
”Unorthodox,” he interjects.
More motivating through, his questioner goes on.
”Intimidation,” he interjects.
Intimidation and fear, his questioner concludes.
”Sometimes it`s perceived that way, but there`s a time line you`re working against. There are not any negative thoughts at all in terms of my intentions. I personally don`t have any personal negative thoughts about any aspect of our hockey club, or any individual on our hockey club. But you`re up against a time line, and on a continual basis you`re involved in a game that has to be done now, and many times there isn`t any opportunity to go into an explanation. All it really is, I`m an intuitive manager, person.
Unpredictable.”
Is part of that aimed at keeping people off balance?
”The reason you might feel that is you want to make sure there never is a comfort zone for any of us. The day we feel we made it is the day we stop growing. And the day we stop growing is the day we stop being better. And the day we don`t get better, we`re going to get worse. That`s all there is to that. It`s not trying to be an enigma, or something radical or different. I have no personal motives in doing these things with the exception of reaching a level of excellence.”
Have you changed since you arrived here from Philadelphia?
”I hope I have. You can learn a lot from your players too.”
What have you learned here?
”The balance between daring and caring. I`ve got a lot of daring, and they`ve got a lot of caring . . . I`ve really attempted to be more caring. I certainly care for these people a great deal and want to show them that from time to time, but I`m probably not very skilled at doing it.”
– – –
Distance runners are among the most reflective of athletes, and the best of them are on a singular quest. They are on the quest for the perfect race. That, analogously, is Mike Keenan`s goal as well, and that too is where this conversation wends to an end. ”I have an idea, a vision, I see something in the future. They see it also,” he finally says.
”But the path to get there is not always the same. I may not always have the correct path, but as long as I understand that, I`m going to learn from them. You have to find that balance. You have to find that middle ground that will get us both there, and be satisfactory to everyone involved. Right now, I really believe the players are enjoying that experience.”
Are you?
”Very much so.”
But you`re still striving?
”That`s exactly right, and that`s the fun for me.”
Even though you know you`ll never reach it?
”That`s a reality, but that`s not frustrating at all. I know you never catch the bus. The day you think you`ve caught the bus is the day you`re going backwards. You can never catch the bus.
”That`s the way I feel. That`s fun for me. Well”-and here he smiles-”
at least it`s interesting.”
