Chicago Team, Shockingly, Makes Controversial Coaching Decision

The Blackhawks thought the Bears were hogging all the "bad-coaching moves" attention.

The Blackhawks announced today that they have extended the contract of head coach Jeremy Colliton for two more years, through the 2022-23 season.

I am at BEST a passive hockey fan and even I know this is a strange time to make this deal. The Blackhawks are predicted by anyone who knows anything to be pretty bad this year. The core is getting OLD and Jonathan Toews is out indefinitely for reasons no one knows.

Jeremy Colliton is a young couch on the last year of his deal. There doesn't seem to be any other teams clamoring for his service, why don't you let the year play out and make a decision after the season. The Blackhawks now have tied themselves to the unproven Colliton for three more years.

I'm not saying that Colliton isn't a great coach. He might turn out to be one of the best of all-time but the deal just simply didn't need to be made.

This just falls in line with other curious coaching moves among the professional sports teams in Chicago. Let's take a look at the current coaching situations:

Blackhawks - As we just discussed, the team is in disarray and this is just a weird move at a weird time.
White Sox - The White Sox are having a phenomenal offseason, with the exception of their coaching hire. Tony LaRussa seemed to be White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf making up for a mistake he thought he made decades ago. There was, and is, major concern if he can relate to the young enthusiastic White Sox team. Time will tell.
Cubs - Jury is still out on David Ross, but it was less than 2 years ago that the Cubs fired the first manager to lead the Cubs to a World Series in over 100 years. Even if that was the "right" decision, it didn't seem to be handled well by the organization.
Bears - The entire city is waiting for the news that the Bears have fired Matt Nagy, which means the club will probably do the exact opposite when they finally make an announcement.
Bulls - It looks like they FINALLY have the right guy in Billy Donovan but before him, the Bulls were looking for a competent head coach for more than 2 decades.

In the end, the Colliton deal made today probably won't make much difference and that's only because it looks like it's going to be a while before the Blackhawks are decent again.

No one ever said it was fun rooting for Chicago teams, but it's definitely interesting.