Sometimes the class needs a new professor

Good quote in the San Jose paper this week from Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson (pictured here), who was fired six months ago as coach of the San Jose Sharks, the Leafs' opponent recently.

According to Coach Wilson, "getting fired is just part of the coaching business and you can't take it personally."

"I've been through it before with Anaheim and Washington," Wilson said. "When San Jose fired me, I was on a red-eye flight and on the golf course the next morning. And I was on my boat that evening. I moved on. It's as simple as that."

A friend once told me that people don't get fired because they're not good people. They get fired because they're in the wrong job. The key is finding the right fit.

Paul Maurice, who was hired today as coach of the Carolina Hurricanes after being fired by the team five years ago, has also said he tries not to take getting fired personally.

"It's always a very difficult thing because it's a competition every day and when you lose that competition it's difficult."

Back in July, Tree Rollins was fired as coach of the WNBA's Washington franchise. At the time, Coach Rollins said, "I know me. I know I do my work. If management decides to change coaches, that's what they do. I don't take that personally because I know I do my work. I prepare my team whether it's AAU ball or professional ball and I think management knows that I do put in the time and I do my work and so does the rest of the coaching staff."

SJ Sharks GM Doug Wilson may have said it best when he said:

"Sometimes the class needs a new professor and sometimes the professor needs a new class."