Josh Dixon was relieved of his coaching duties with the Saint John Sea Dogs on Dec. 2, 2019. (Photo: Submitted/Saint John Sea Dogs)
The struggling Saint John Sea Dogs have fired head coach Josh Dixon.
Associate coach Jeff Cowan has been named the interim head coach.
Trevor Georgie, president and general manager, said they “collectively decided” it was time for a change.
Georgie said after almost 30 games this season, they are not where they need to be as a team.
“At this point, we would expect, in terms of the pure standings perspective, that we’d be somewhere between 10th and 14th, maybe that 12 range,” said Georgie. “On a number of fronts, we thought we’d be ahead of where we were in terms of progress.”
The Sea Dogs are in 15th place among the 18 teams, having won just 12 of their 29 games played so far this season.
Dixon was named the Sea Dogs’ seventh head coach in September 2017. During his tenure, the team posted a record of 39-108-12-6 in 165 regular-season games and failed to make the playoffs.
Georgie said it was a “tough day” having to let Dixon go because he is well-liked and works tirelessly.
“Josh is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” he said. “He put in early mornings and late nights, he cared a lot about the team. His work ethic was unparalleled.”
The Saint John Sea Dogs announced today that Head Coach Josh Dixon has been relieved of his coaching duties. Associate Coach Jeff Cowan has been named the Club’s interim Head Coach.
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— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) December 2, 2019
Cowan, the new interim head coach, joined the Sea Dogs as assistant coach in 2013-14 and was promoted to associate coach in 2017-18. Georgie said he believes Cowan will be a good fit for the job.
“He’s lived the ups and downs of coaching so far in the last seven seasons,” said Georgie. “He’s seen a lot of different styles and a lot of different looking teams.”
As for what happens next, Georgie said they will be “taking their time” on deciding their coaching staff.
“We’re going to be evaluating Jeff and the group that we have right now and we’re going to take our time deciding on our complete coaching staff,” he said.
“This move gives us an opportunity to see what Jeff can do with the team and we’ll be doing our homework and our due diligence to make sure they’re the right group that can take us to the next step.”
“We will be rigorous in our due diligence to ensure that we have the right group in place to take the next step in our evolution — winning, and leading this team to our next Memorial Cup.”
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