Former Oilers Coach Fired During Skype Conversation

A pro coach fired through Skype? Yes, this really happened. Former Edmonton Oilers coach Ralph Krueger was fired after one season with the team through a Skype conversation with general manager Craig MacTavish.

The odd firing occurred on Saturday in a short discussion which led to Krueger’s dismissal. TSN spoke with Krueger who revealed the interesting way the Oilers went about moving on without the German-Canadian coach.

“This past Thursday [MacTavish] had requested that I accept him on Skype so that he could Skype me,” Krueger told TSN about the firing. “When the conversation began it went to business very quickly and he was quite clear with the message that he felt it was necessary for him to hire a new head coach.”

He also went on to explain that he understood the team had made the decision and that there was no reason to take it any further.

“The conversation was short. I didn’t really dig deep cause…I could feel the decision was final so it wasn’t really necessary for me to understand it,” he added. “I would say it was maximum five minutes and it was done.”

A coach being fired via Skype is the latest, and pretty embarrassing, installment of social networking literally affecting a career. Most people are fired because of their actions on a social network such as Facebook, Twitter, or Skype, but a man being let go through the network itself seems ridiculous to say the least.

We’re talking about the Edmonton Oilers, who have as much talent in prospects coming up through their system as any other team. They also have a huge fan base, so it’s tough to understand why an in-person meeting or at least a phone call wasn’t made.

According to CBSSports.com, Krueger was in Switzerland at the time of the “skype firing” while MacTavish was in North America, but that only covers an in-person meeting and what would a few dollars towards a long-distance phone call hurt?

Have you ever seen a coach get fired via Skype or any other social network before Ralph Krueger?

[Image via Steve Potter]