Photo credit: Steve Dunsmoor

By Regan Bartel

Backing Kris Mallette, win or lose

Josh MacNevin feeling more comfortable as assistant coach

Sep 28, 2023 | 8:00 AM

Name the assistant coach for the Regina Pats. Who is it in Prince Albert? Red Deer? Vancouver? Victoria?

The likelihood of getting it right is very low. Typically, assistant coaches are an afterthought among WHL fans, yet head coaches know the true value of having a helping hand on the bench, in practices, and as a sounding board in the dressing room.

Enter Josh MacNevin, now in his third season as the right-hand man to Kelowna Rockets Head Coach Kris Mallette.

“He is a pretty strong-headed, strong-willed guy”, MacNevin describes Mallette to RocketFAN. “He [Mallette] knows what he wants, and I try to reinforce that.”

MacNevin was hired on July 20, 2021, after six seasons as an assistant coach with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

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“You get more comfortable with each other,” MacNevin added after two seasons riding the bus with Mallette. “You pick up certain cues on both sides. Familiarity is always a good thing, so it is a relationship that has evolved and gotten better.”

That should be music to the ears of Mallette, who wants an assistant to send the same message to the players, not deviate from the plan by causing more confusion.

“As an assistant, that is what you do,” MacNevin added. “You back the coach. We aren’t reinventing the wheel. We are doing what other teams are doing. There is no system that works better than others, it is about getting the players buying in with all five guys on the ice pulling in the same direction.”

In his first two seasons with Mallette, the two have felt a season of success and a season of inconsistency. A 42-win season was followed by anxious times as the team squeezed into post-season last year with only 27 victories.

“Mally [Mallette] has it dialed in,” MacNevin said without hesitation. “He knows what he wants and how he wants it. He can analyze video very quickly. He knows what is going on behind the bench. He can see it and relay that to the team between periods, which is something I have to get better at. He does a lot of things, really, really well.”

Being an assistant coach has its advantages. MacNevin isn’t in the spotlight. His neck isn’t on the line. He can be looser and more connected with the players, while still enjoying the ups and downs of the season.

“I try to have a good relationship with the players,” he said. “I think I am a good buffer when things isn’t going well. I try to phrase things, by keeping the message similar, but by saying it differently. Everyone digests information differently, so as the year goes on, you figure out the players, and that is my job as an assistant coach.”

MacNevin can also act as a sounding board for Mallette, in terms of lineup construction, strategy, and how the team wants to play in general.

“Generally I am a positive guy,” MacNevin said with a slight smirk on his face. “The season is long. There is a lot of work, a lot of games, and a lot of practice, so there are times when you definitely need to help the other guy out by finding positives. It goes both ways.”

MacNevin could be considered a specialist. The 46-year-old runs the d-core, is in charge of the penalty kill, and is the team’s travel coordinator. You’ve got that right, he manages the hotels and meals on the road.

Whether players will admit it or not, it is oftentimes easier to talk to the assistant coach about how they can get back in the good graces of the head coach to get more ice time.

“I still think the assistant can be the good cop and the head coach can be the bad cop,” MacNevin continued. “I don’t think Mally is the bad cop, but he has more hammer. The buck stops with him. When he says something, you better listen, right?

“I try to soften the blow a bit because it can’t just be the hammer, hammer, hammer from all sides. The players need encouragement, not that Mally doesn’t do that, but sometimes they [players] need a different approach.”

It is a sports cliché, but teams that have buy-in typically succeed.

“You need 100% buy-in by 100% of the players,” MacNevin said without hesitation. “It is momentum. Once you get the leadership group buying in, it just snowballs and is pretty special.”

If a player wants to win over MacNevin, RocketFAN asked how that can be accomplished?

“Hard work,” MacNevin concluded. “If you are working hard and are playing for the team, I will take 20 of those guys.

“If you want to impress any coach, period, go out there and be the hardest working guy on the ice.”