A few minutes with...Chris Brooks

The Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees coach sounds off on his challenges as a first time head coach

Chris Brooks, 36, became the third head coach in Killer Bee history when he joined the team in July. Brooks had served as associate head coach of the Western Michigan University Broncos since August 2006. During his nine seasons at WMU, the team had an overall record of 133-178-31 with two winning seasons. Last season, the Broncos had an 8-27-3 record yet made it into the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament, only to lose in the first round.

Brooks played center for four seasons with the Broncos (1992-96) where he recorded 184 points (57 G, 127 A) and finished as the eighth-leading scorer in team history. He played four years as a professional in the Western Professional (WPHL), East Coast (ECHL), United (UHL) and American (AHL) leagues.

He began his coaching career in the WPHL, serving as a player/coach for the Amarillo Rattlers during the 1998-99 season. That same year he was named team MVP and appeared in his second WPHL All-Star Game as the league's scoring champion after he tallied 110 points (45 G, 65 A).

Brooks was tasked with improving the Killer Bees' performance after a dismal 16-41-7 record last season, the worst in the league. The team suffered from a lack of effective defense and were plagued by numerous players who seemed apathetic and unwilling to display any sense of toughness as they were pushed around by almost every team they met.

Forward Rob Voltera commented on the teams' play earlier in the year during a chat on the Central Hockey League website.

“We need to improve on everything. We're one of the worst teams in the league,” Voltera said. “We need to get players that know how to play their role and once they play that role they need to not think that they are better then they are. Put the team's need first.”

Voltera became only the 2nd player on the team to be waived this season on December 15th.

I spoke with Chris Brooks about the challenges he has faced as a first year head coach in the CHL. Here is our conversation.

Q: At this point into your first season as head coach of the Killer Bees, how would you describe your experience thus far? Has the Killer Bee organization given you every thing you've needed to build your team?

A: Yeah, no question. It's a great organization, a great ownership group, great fan base, great staff. You know, when I first got offered the job, there were certain things that I needed to have in place to have success at this level. The toughest part for me was I got hired a month-and-a-half, two months before the start of the season. A lot of the kids I had contacts with had signed in other leagues. I probably hand-delivered seven or eight kids to other teams within this league. So that's been one of the biggest challenges. About half of the team that I have here, I recruited and half the team I have here, the other coach recruited. A lot of the guys that I brought in knew exactly how I am and we're still learning as a team, our identity.

Q: You mentioned the fans. I think one of the great things about the Killer Bee organization is their fans and the number of people not only from the local area but also who come from across the border. How do you feel about the fans?

A: It's kind of neat because you see a lot of Hispanic people in the crowd. It's sort of a middle-upper class crowd at the same time. The organization has done a great job getting out in the community and the community support is fantastic. From corporate sponsors to businesses that sponsor the team to having the players involved with various things within the schools or different things within the community where we can get our organization out there, that's one of the big things with minor pro hockey and being a player at this level.

Q: One of the pluses I've recognized since the beginning of the season has been the play of some of your rookies. Dumoulin, Bicek and some of the others have done really well...

A: A lot of the young kids are energetic, they're passionate. They show up at the rink every day, happy to be here. They buy into everything I'm talking about. They've been rewarded with their play, they've been rewarded with different things that they bring to the team. I don't look at our team as a veterans vs. rookies team. We're a team and everybody has a role on the team. We're still learning. A lot of the veteran guys are learning about my expectations. Some of the younger kids are still learning the ins and outs of pro hockey. It's a process. It's going to be a long year and there's going to be ups and downs. The biggest thing is you have to learn positives and negatives through the process.

Q: With the Brahmas move into the Southern Conference and into the Southeastern Division, they are a new rival for the Killer Bees. Did you know much about Dan Wildfong and the team prior to your first meeting?

A: I know Dan pretty well. We were actually born about twenty minutes away from each other. We lived a couple of cities away from each other where we grew up. I knew Dan when I was at Western Michigan and he was at Colgate and then when I played in this league back in the mid-90's, I knew Dan. I've spent a lot of time on the phone talking to Dan over the past nine years that I was at Western Michigan. Even when he was a player/assistant in Shreveport, I spent a lot of time with him and Scott Muscutt. Dan's done a good job. The biggest thing Dan has to sell is this area. There's a lot of people that have wives and girlfriends that relocate into this area and there's not too many wives or girlfriends that want to relocate to McAllen, Texas (laughing). So, he's done a good job. It's kind of funny because they joined our division but I looked at the schedule; they only play 17 games within our conference and eight of those are with Laredo. It's sort of unique.

Q: How is everything going for yourself?

A: I just take things day-by-day. I'm learning a lot of things daily about myself, about people around me, about players. I'm learning a lot about things I didn't expect to learn. There's a lot of things that I overlooked when I first took this job that consume you. I look forward to the remaining 35+ games that we have and I look forward to the upcoming years that are ahead.

Q: The Killer Bees had a rough season last season with only 16 wins, the worst in the league. You had a great start to this season, and then a rough stretch. This team has a lot of promise. What do you think are the biggest areas that need improvement?

A: I look at our team and through the first stretch of seven games or so, we did a lot of little things really, really well and we played together as a team. Over the least stretch, I think we've had some guys get off course a little bit. We've had some good individual performances but we just haven't played well as a team. Like I told the players, I have a certain expectation myself, I have a certain expectation of my players and I'm not going to change. So, they either change or I'll bring in players that want to do what I'm going to do...I've been very patient...I've been trying to change behaviour, which is consuming. At the same time, it's very, very difficult to make improvement in this league. Guys get hurt and you spend a lot of time trying to improve your team. At times it feels like you're spinning your wheels and wasting your time. You have to try and change behaviour. If you can change behaviour in one guy, you're doing a good job. Hopefully there's enough leadership in that room, old and young, that can get 18 guys back on the same path. They play really well in spurts. Over the past six or seven games, we probably played 30 minutes as good as any team in the league. But it's the other 30 minutes that kill us. It just takes a commitment to doing those little things that we constantly talk about. It's my job to make sure that I get guys on my team that are on board to do that.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith