Andy Murray's response
I got a call this afternoon from Andy Murray, who was none too pleased with the way he was portrayed in today's article. He took particular issue with the idea, as written, that he was ``often controlling, overbearing and stubborn'' and argued the characterization of particular events that took place under his tenure.
We had a productive and lengthy discussion (it clocked in at 64 minutes) and ultimately we agreed to disagree on several issues. The point of the article was to examine the idea that Murray ``lost the room'' as a coach in Los Angeles, and as part of that, several criticisms of Andy were raised. He took them, and the story in general, as a personal assault, and I attempted to assure him that he shouldn't. As a side, my editor on the story, who happened to cover the Kings during the first six of Andy's seven seasons, thought the story to be a balanced look at a complicated situation.
Any reaction from the Kings fans?
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About Rich Hammond
Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Hey Rich,
I think your take on Andy was correct. That season I started to see him treat the Kings a little too much like a high school team instead of professionals, and what he got was the typical high school response of no-response from the team.
With that said, I still like Andy Murray and I wish him the best.
Rich...I don't cover the Kings at the depth that you and the other beat writers do, so I don't get to hear most of the stuff that the players might say about the coaches, etc., nor do I have the sources that you do, I'm sure, so I didn't see a lot of the stuff you reported. Not saying it wasn't true...just that I never saw it.
It was easy to see that some of the players, namely Avery, Roenick and Robitaille didn't like Murray. Of course, Avery is Avery, and you have to take everything he says with about a pound of salt.
Murray did have his quirks, as you mentioned in your story. The slogans in the dressing room, the penalty laps at practice and more...I can see how those would grate on the players.
Whatever the case, I hopy Andy does well with the Blues. No matter what people might think of what he did with the Kings, he was a class act and he was not a bad coach. Not at all.