Lynx name sixth coach

Five months away from a hockey bench was long enough for Bob Ferguson.

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For the first time in 24 years he wasn't coaching, and Ferguson figured out that he wasn't finished with the profession.

"Right now, the passion is still there to coach," he said.

That passion sent Ferguson in search of a head coaching job, and the former ECHL and IHL coach found one here.

On Monday, Augusta Lynx general manager Paul Gamsby named Ferguson the sixth coach in team history. Ferguson replaces Stan Drulia, whose contract was not renewed by the team after two losing seasons.

"We were looking for a coach who has a proven track record in winning and I think we've found that in Bob," Gamsby said.

Ferguson, 50, has a career record of 780-461-90 and a professional record of 263-159-36. He has earned seven coach of the year awards since his career began in 1981 with the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League - a Tier I junior league. Five of those were USHL awards and two were ECHL awards.

His ECHL tenure began during the 1998-99 season with the expansion Florida Everblades. He won the first of back-to-back coaching awards after leading the inaugural team to a 45-20-5 record. The next season, he became the first coach in league history to win the award twice after his team won the Brabham Cup.

Florida's 108 points, .771 winning percentage and 53 wins still rank second all-time in league history. Florida made the playoffs all three years Ferguson coached there.

"He's a good tactician, he's one of these guys who can watch his team and the other team at the same time and make adjustments," said Florida president and general manager Craig Brush, whose team recently beat the Charlotte Checkers to earn a spot in the Kelly Cup finals.

From Florida, Ferguson returned in 2001 to the USHL and the Des Moines Buccaneers, where he coached for five years before starting his professional coaching career in 1995 with the IHL. He went back to the Midwest so that his son Brett could play high school hockey. Brett, 18, soon will graduate high school.

With his son's high school career over, Ferguson thought the time was right to look again for a coaching job at the professional level. When he saw the Lynx had an opening, Ferguson contacted Gamsby, who he knew from his days in Florida and who he has kept in touch with over the past four seasons.

Ferguson said he remembers Augusta being a tough place to play when he came here with the Everblades and wanted the chance to be on the home bench.

"I think it's a franchise that has the potential to be one of the best franchises in the ECHL," Ferguson said from his home in West Des Moines, Iowa. He couldn't be here for the announcement because of his son's impending graduation and a recital for 13-year-old daughter Kaylee.

Ferguson, who also will be director of hockey operations and will not have an assistant coach, expects to be in Augusta from Monday through Thursday of next week to meet the staff and any players who are in town. He's already started a list of potential players that includes some he's previously coached and free agents from Louisiana, Pee Dee and Peoria - franchises without an ECHL team next year.

He said he's looking to create a team that leaves opponents with a sense of dread.

"They're not going to look forward to that game," Ferguson said. "We're going to be aggressive. ... We're looking for players who want to play with emotion and passion on a nightly basis."

When Gamsby went looking for a coach, he said he was looking for someone who could take the Lynx to the playoffs for the first time since the 2000-01 season. He also wanted someone with strong contacts at the juniors and college level.

It looks like he found that person in Ferguson, who coached at the junior level for 17 full seasons. In that time, he sent more than 250 players to play Division I college hockey.

"We're very fortunate to get somebody of his quality," Gamsby said.

Reach Kristy Shonka at (706) 823-3216 or kristy.shonka@augustachronicle.com.