Interview with Bob Ferguson

Bob Ferguson: Probably the biggest adjustment was dealing with professional athletes verses amateur athletes. With your amateur athlete 99.9% of their goal is to play college hockey, but with the professional hockey player it's a job to them. It's adjusting to the fact that your dealing with an older player, so a big adjustment there is your mental approach. The other adjustment was, at the professional level you play more games, a lot less emphasis is put on practice. You don't get as much practice time to work with the players because of longer schedules, plus there's more travel. There's a lot of difference in the way things are structured. In junior hockey you have a more structured schedule, your practice is more structured, practice Monday through Thursday, you play Friday, Saturday, sometimes Sunday. In professional hockey it's tougher to get things structured like that.

Sarah: What are a couple of differences between junior hockey and professional hockey?

Bob Ferguson: The biggest thing, obviously, is the talent level. But a lot of that has to do with the experience. It's not that the junior players don't have talent, but that for the most case, the professional hockey players have more experience. So the pace of the game is played quicker, the skill level is better. In junior hockey the players play with more enthusiasm and more emotion than the pro players do. That makes for a different type of game.

Sarah: Do you keep in contact with some of the past players you've coached?

Bob Ferguson: Oh yeah, definitely. Every year, especially in junior hockey, it seems that there are certain players you get closer too, that you stay in touch with on a regular basis. Some players the day they left Des Moines was the last time you ever heard from them. That kind of had to do with the personality of the player too. More and more, players and I stay in pretty good touch, even now that I'm in the professional level. Players that have been through the junior program and are graduating from college I'm now running into through the professional level, trying to find opportunities and some are already in good situations.

Sarah: As fans we can have favorite players, as a coach can you afford to have favorite players?

Bob Ferguson: At the junior level I did. A lot of the players are away from home, 17 to 18 years old, I kind of became a father to them. A best friend type deal, you get to know about them, besides hockey. Their interests, their school, their family life. At the professional level you don't do that, you just don't get the opportunity to get close to them. It's kind of an unwritten rule in professional hockey, to them it's just a job. In amateur hockey they're looking up to the coach for some guidance. It's real tough in the professional level to get as close to the players as you could at the junior level, they've already had their guidance.

Sarah: Was that last training camp for the Bucs a hard one for you, knowing that you were leaving?

Bob Ferguson: I'll be quite honest, that whole week to ten days leading up to that was probably the toughest week to ten days of my life. I knew this decision was pending. The position with the job had been offered to me to coach the farm team, I was still undecided whether to take it, whether not to. We were still trying to get the camp setup, I was proceeding as if I were still going to be in Des Moines. The offer they made me came right smack in the middle of camp. A lot of people don't know, but I actually took a trip up to Chicago and back right in the middle of the camp, with everything going on. The timing was probably the hardest part, trying to make the decision, trying to prepare for the camp, and the fact that their offer had to happen right in the middle of the camp. I really had become attached to Des Moines and off the season we had I was really looking forward to the next year and trying to top it. The opportunity had been presented to me before, I just didn't think the timing was right. After the season we had the opportunity came up again, opportunity doesn't always knock twice, so I had to take it. It was tough. I actually stayed pretty focused during the camp. Because if the opportunity didn't come (I was expecting the offer, but it hadn't been officially offered) I would have to proceed with the following year. Because it happened right in the middle of the camp I thought it was important to let the returning players know at that time. Because they have decisions to make with their career, their future, whether they would come back. Fortunately they all decided to come back and that was a good move for them. It was tough.

Sarah: Do you and your family like where you are living now?

Bob Ferguson: Yes, we do, it was a tough adjustment. We really liked Des Moines, even putting aside hockey. We made a lot of really good friends here, it was a great city, our children really liked it here. When we first moved to Indianapolis, it was about two days before school started, so we got there, got our furniture in the house, and got the kids started in school. Hockey started about a week later. The first few months was rough. When you first move like that you don't really know a lot of people, but now that we've been there, we've found that it's just a bigger Des Moines. It's the same type of city, everything is almost identical, but it's bigger. We've adjusted to it and we enjoy it. We live in a nice neighborhood, our kids have been able to meet lots of friends really quick, my son has gotten involved in hockey over there and we've got a lot of friends through that. We've enjoyed it.

Sarah: What are your fondest memories of junior hockey?

Bob Ferguson: There's a lot of them, believe me. Even going back to my days in Sioux City. I was fortunate in my first year in the USHL to win a league championship my very first year. Than you think well "Geez, it's going to be easy." Well, than it wasn't quite that easy for a few years. My first national championship in Sioux City was a big memory. My young brother was on our team that year, he scored the winning goal in double over-time to win us to the national's that year, so that's a good memory. I think probably the best memory that I have was the year we won the national's for the first time here in Des Moines. Part of the best memory of that was just the players that were on that team, that was probably the most fun. I had a lot of fun years, but that was probably the best, the kids we had, that was most fun and all those kids have gone on to have successful college careers. The best individual thing that stands out goes back to my last season here, when we were over in Omaha and we were losing 5-2 in the fourth game of the play-offs. They brought the Clark cup out behind the bench of Omaha, getting ready to present it to them for being the champions. Then in front of 6,000 people we came from behind, five minutes to go and we were down three goals, with five minutes to go we came from behind to win in Omaha, with the Clark cup sitting right there to present to them. That was the most satisfying, because you have 6,000 people that are going crazy because here comes the Clark cup to be presented to their team. If there was anything that ever motivated our players, it was to see that, and they came from behind that night to win. Then they won game five here at home to win the championship. The most satisfying win of my entire junior career was that night.

Sarah: What are the differences between fans of the USHL and IHL?

Bob Ferguson: The biggest difference in the IHL is the crowds are a lot bigger. Junior hockey fans are more enthusiastic, they're more loyal to their team, there's more home team loyalty in the USHL. You go into some of these arenas in the IHL and there'll be 12,000 - 13,000 people, but it wouldn't be nearly as loud as in Des Moines with 3,000, or even Omaha - 6,000. We go into some cities in the IHL, yeah they're good hockey cities, but a lot of people there are just trying out hockey. Go to a game in Houston Texas, yes there's a lot of good loyal hockey fans, but a lot of them are just going for entertainment. Where as in the USHL they're just good likey fans who would rather cheer for there own team and they expect results.

Sarah: What would you like the fans to know?

Bob Ferguson: The biggest thing is I miss Des Moines, I really do, I'm not just saying that, I really miss it. Coming back here this week's been tough, because I think "maybe I didn't make the right decision." The first six weeks of this season I really seconded guessed whether I made the right decision. But now that everything's really falling in place and I've got my feet wet, I'm really enjoying it. Probably the biggest thing I miss is the enthusiasm of the fans, just playing games in the ice arena. Every night the crowd was in it, you don't have that in the IHL. I really do miss playing here and coaching here in Des Moines. There's a lot I miss in Des Moines, obviously, the hockey is the biggest thing, the support, the loyalty. I know it's still here, but I miss it, because I'm not a part of it anymore.

Interview conducted by Sarah Bendy, 1996