The 100 Mile House Wranglers are on the hunt for a new head coach and general manager.
With the regular season wrapped up, the Wranglers announced on their Facebook page on Wednesday, Feb. 15 they are accepting applications for both positions now. Wranglers’ president Greg Aiken said they have already received several applicants from across Canada.
“We’re looking for someone to run our hockey program. We’re not sure what combination we’re going to do but we’re going to interview as many people as we can and take our time to make sure we get the right person for the job,” Aiken said.
Aiken said the main requirement the Wranglers have for their new coach is they must be willing to become part of the 100 Mile House community. He doesn’t want to hire a coach who commutes to town for games, but instead one who commits to the team and the town.
Earlier this year the Wranglers parted ways with longtime head coach and team manager Dale ‘Duner’ Hladun. This past season marked the Wranglers’ tenth in 100 Mile House and has seen the team battle for a fourth-place playoff spot against the Chase Heat, losing far more games than they’ve won.
Aiken said he and the board want to move forward and get the program back on track and winning again. With the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League now a Tier A league, Aiken ideally would like to bring on a coach good at recruiting with connections across the hockey world.
“We are just tired of battling for fourth place with Chase every year. We need to get better,” Aiken said. “That comes down to recruiting. Our expectations were a little higher this year will all the returning players we had. We thought we were going to be a middle-of-the-pack or higher kind of team and it hasn’t worked that way. It’s the way hockey goes sometimes.”
The Wranglers will announce their decision in the coming months, Aiken said, once all applicants have been interviewed.