More on Jay Varady and what the Tips do from here
Published 1:48 pm Thursday, April 14, 2011
As reported earlier, Everett associate head coach Jay Varady is leaving the Tips after eight years to take the head coaching position with the Ducs d’Angers in Ligue Magnus, France’s top professional division. Here’s some more info:
– The team is based in the city of Angers, which is located in northwest France, between Nantes and Tours. Ducs d’Angers translates as Angers Eagle-owls.
– Varady said he was not actively pursuing a head coaching job, and that the team approached him just after Everett’s playoff series against Portland ended.
– Tips general manager Doug Soetaert said he’d been anticipating Varady leaving for a head-coaching job for the past couple years.
– Varady, who doesn’t speak any French, will be doing the language crash course before he heads to France in August. However, Varady knows the team’s goaltender, Peter Aubry. He also said he’s been told English is the language of the locker room as the team’s players are from all over Europe and North America.
– Soetaert said he didn’t know when — or if — the Tips would be hiring a new assistant coach. He said he and head coach Craig Hartsburg would talk and that any search wouldn’t happen until after all the pro and junior seasons were over.
