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An 0-2 start led to Bob McMahon's exit in Colorado

It’s just two weeks into the 2010 campaign and the Colorado Mammoth have become the first team in the NLL to make a coaching change, firing third-year head coach Bob McMahon on Monday.

The team was informed via teleconference on Monday evening that the move had been made and that Steve Govett, president and general manager of the Denver-based team, will concurrently assume bench duties during his eighth season with the organization. The rest of McMahon’s coaching staff will also be retained to assist Govett in his newly added role.

“It’s weird,” said Mammoth assistant captain Nick Carlson. “We need a couple changes, but I never thought about this being one of them until it popped up. We played like [crap] the last couple weeks, and that wasn’t necessarily Bob’s fault, and we feel guilty for it, but someone has to take the blame, and, fortunately or unfortunately, it was him.”

In the midst of a rebuild, which most notably saw captain and franchise all-time leading scorer Gavin Prout traded away in the deal that brought in highly touted rookie forward Ilija Gajic, McMahon was presumably already facing an uphill battle. Then, on the heels of a tough 14-13 home-opening loss to the Edmonton Rush on Saturday that gave the Mammoth their first 0-2 start since moving to Denver from Washington, the loss appears to have cost him his job.

“The league is so short, and decisions have to come much faster,” said Carlson, who is in his seventh year with the Mammoth, and eighth in the NLL. “You can’t give it a couple more weeks because after next week, 25% of the season will be over and you could find yourself out of contention. There’s just no leeway.”

Having already made so many moves in the offseason, the team felt that this was the next logical decision, according to the source.

In his first season with the organization (’08), McMahon led the Mammoth to a 9-7 regular season, before an upset first-round playoff loss to the Calgary Roughnecks, 15-13. In his second season (’09), the team squeaked out the No. 4-seed in the West with a 7-9 record, and ended the year again with a disappointing first-round playoff loss, once again to Calgary, who went on to win the championship. The loss marked the third consecutive season that the Mammoth bowed out in the first-round of the playoffs, winning their only championship in 2006.

Before taking the job as the lead man in Colorado, McMahon was an assistant with the now-defunct Arizona Sting for 4 years. He was credited with being instrumental in leading the Sting to two NLL Champion’s Cup Finals during that time.

Having already made so many changes in the offseason, and because he believes the right players and game plans are currently in place, Carlson said management must have felt that this was the only logical decision still available to make, short of even more player moves.

“This gives us another new look, and there is really nothing else to change,” he said. “The last thing you can dump is us, the players, and Steve already told us that he’s not here to change everything else up.

“He’s never coached, but Steve has been around this team from the start, and he knows what this team is about, what it has been about in the past and what it needs to be. He doesn’t have the one play no one has ever thought of, and there won’t be different Xs and Os, but he is very passionate about this organization, and his emotion should be beneficial in giving us the kick in the [butt] he felt we need.”

Govett will make his coaching debut with the winless Mammoth when they head to Minnesota this weekend for a game against the 1-1 Swarm on Friday, before stopping off the following night in Philadelphia for a game against the 1-1 Wings.

Stay tuned to NLLInsider.com for more details as they become available.

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