Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
The Hershey Bears announced today that Head Coach Troy Mann and Assistant Coaches Bryan Helmer and Ryan Murphy were re-signed to multi-year contracts. The full length of these contracts was not revealed to the public, but whatever the duration of the contracts are, these three gentlemen are quite deserving. Head Coach Troy Mann helped rejuvenate the Hershey Bears this past season. In 2014-15, Mann lead the Hershey Bears to a 46-22-5-3 record, 100 point season, and the first East Division Title since 2009-10. Pretty nice work for a man in his first season as an AHL head coach.
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Of course, Troy Mann is no stranger to Chocolatetown. Mann was assistant coach with Mark French for many years, and helped the Bears win their 11th Calder Cup. When Mann was originally given the job, I remember him being very excited, and he even got a little emotional at the podium. He cares about this team and wants to do a great job.
Manner told Tim Leone of PennLive:
"“It was a thrill to become the head coach here. I love being a head coach. This is my 10th year in coaching, only my fourth year as a head guy. I don’t think I’ll go anywhere anytime soon as long as the organization wants me back as the head coach.”"
Assistant Coach Bryan Helmer started his first season behind the bench after suiting up for the Bears for their back-to-back Calder Cup championships in 2009 and 2010. Helmer was in control of the penalty kill for the Hershey Bears which was ranked first in the AHL at 87.5%.
Here’s what Bryan Helmer thought on returning (via PennLive):
"“Very, very excited to sign a multi-year deal and to know I’m going to be in one spot for more than one year,” Helmer said. “It’s very nice. I’m looking forward to building on the season that we just went through."
Ryan Murphy earned a promotion from video coach to assistant coach for his new deal with the Hershey Bears. Murphy came to Hershey with Mann after serving as assistant coach with him in Bakersfield. You can tell at practice that the players really enjoyed working with him, and he really pushed them to try harder. It’s reassuring to see that the assistant coaches can be just as influential as the head coach.
Ryan Murphy’s comments on returning to Hershey (via PennLive):
"“It’s been a tremendous learning experience. I know it’s a development league. But it’s a development league for the coaches, as well. I think the fact of what Washington’s mindset is [is in line with that], as far as to keep developing their young coaches that they have in the system and, hopefully, one day being part of your NHL team.”"
I’m sure Mann, Helmer, and Murphy will continue their great work for the as many years as the Hershey Bears will have them. It’s clear that they are ready to get back to work for this upcoming season.
"“The biggest thing is build on what we did this year in success and work that much harder and prepare the players a little better, make ourselves better and make the players better for the upcoming season so that we can reach our ultimate goal. That’s bringing a Calder Cup back to Hershey.” –Assistant Coach Bryan Helmer (via PennLive)“There’s certain things I think we can do better as a staff next year, but overall I really liked what we did. I thought we had a good structure in place. My three things I try to do, I try to establish structure, accountability and treat everybody fairly. I think overall we accomplished those three things. I think we’ve got enough young core players that will be back in Hershey that we can hopefully build on with what we put into place this year. We’ve had a lot of compliments in terms of structure and setting the standard here.” – Head Coach Troy Mann (via PennLive)“We see a lot of guys that have the potential to make that jump and be solid NHL players. They rely on us to help them get to that next step and build their confidence, as well. I see it as a building year for the whole organization. It could be something that you could see four or five guys contribute significantly to Washington’s success this year.” – Assistant Coach Ryan Murphy (via PennLive)"
For more information on the coaching staffs’ contracts check out the full release from the Hershey Bears.