Barracuda Hire John Gruden

The San Jose Barracuda's previous head coach Benoit Groulx has signed with Traktor in the KHL and will not be returning to coach the AHL team. The Sharks organization wish him all the best in his new endeavour and thank him for his time with the team. With the new vacancy open the Barracuda went in search for a new bench boss, holding interviews with a list of candidates.

"We think this new hire is an important part of the rebuild." Quipped GM Mitchell. "The young talent we've been collecting are starting to turn pro and having a talented coach at the helm will go a long way in player development."

Today the announcement was made that the team chose John Gruden as the new coach of the Barracuda. Some background on Gruden, he started his coaching career after his playing days by taking on a US high school job. After 6 years of teaching this age group he moved onto the US National Development Program as an assistant, coaching the likes of Seth Jones, Thatcher Demko, Dylan Larkin, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Adam Fox...etc. It's a big list of talented players that goes on and on. After this 4 year period he took on a challenging role coaching a new team, the Flint Firebirds in the OHL. That first year saw him fired twice, the first time the players walked out until he was reinstated. Getting away from a poor owner, he moved onto the Hamilton Bulldogs of the OHL, ultimately winning the OHL championship there.

"I'm excited to get to work with this young group." Said John Gruden. "This job was attractive because the farm team is starting to get a good injection of youth to mold and over the next few years should only be getting stronger."