The Curious Case of Dave Tippett

Coaches are born to coach.

I get that.

It's the reason we all knew that when Ken Hitchcock was fired by Dallas in 2002 that it wouldn't be long before we'd see him behind some other team's bench. And when Philly came a calling for the man that Bryan Marchment once told to eat some Ho-Ho's we weren't surprised.

OK, gimme just a second here to wash my fingers after typing that bastard's name.

And by bastard, I'm certainly not referring to our former coach that brought this franchise it's only Stanley Cup and Dallas' only two Finals appearances.

Moving on, Hitch took the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals in his second season but was let go on October 24, 2006, after a 9-1 loss to Buffalo. Less than a month later, Hitch got the call in Columbus and again, we weren't surprised to see him behind another bench so quickly.

Continuing with that theme, I think we all knew it would be just a matter of time before Dave Tippett would find himself behind the bench of another team.

But this quickly? And for this mess of an outfit?

Follow the jump because I told you to...

After all, this is a man who could have gone the next two years without coaching in the NHL and he still would have drawn a paycheck for his former club, the Dallas Stars. This put him in a very enviable position to pick and choose which situations he wanted to jump into.

To be sure, taking over a struggling club that hasn't made the playoffs since the 2001-02 season can make for an advantageous position. Especially if you're able to turn the club around in two short seasons and get back to the post-season.

And make no mistake, the Coyotes could still make the playoffs with Tipp behind the bench no matter where they're playing in the 2010-11 season.

But therein lies the rub. Nobody knows where this club is going to play after this season. Nobody even knows who will own the club. That, alone, makes this decision by Tippett a head scratcher.

Throw in the conventional wisdom that states at least one club is going to dump it's coach early on once the season gets underway with a handful more dismissals to come as the season progresses. It'd be hard to imagine that Tippett wouldn't have been at the top or near the top of the list of candidates for these jobs once they opened up.

We'll never know, now. So we'll wish Tipp luck behind the bench in the desert this season save for six meetings against his old club.