Lever, Wilson dumped by phone
TheSpec.com
Garry McKay
The Hamilton Bulldogs will have a new coaching staff this season.
Don Lever, who is the franchise’s longest-serving head coach, and his assistant Ron Wilson, who has been here even longer, have been told by the parent Montreal Canadiens that their services are no longer required.
Although both were long-time employees of the Canadiens, the Habs told them by phone that their contracts would not be renewed. they weren’t given a reason.
Both were, in effect, fired by Montreal general manager Bob Gainey who phoned them last week and said simply that ‘the organization is going in a different direction.”
Lever said he would like to have at least been given a reason for his dismissal.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Lever. “Somewhere along the line I must have done something wrong, but they didn’t tell me what it was.
“I just don’t understand how I can be called up and then discarded.”
When Gainey fired Habs head coach Guy Carbonneau late in the season he summoned Lever to Montreal to help them in their drive to the playoffss.
Wilson was appointed interim Bulldogs head coach on March 9. They went 10-3-2-0 in the final 15 games and overtook Grand Rapids to finish second in the North Division but lost to the Griffins in a six-game divisional semi-final series.
That apparently wasn’t good enough for the Habs, nor was the fact that many of the players currently in Montreal were developed in Hamilton under Lever and Wilson.