Carriere: Better Late Than Never to the Coach-Shuffling Party?

You know what we should have done right after Worlds? We should have made a big scorecard of skaters (especially U.S. ones), charting where they’d finished in ’08 Nationals (or Worlds in some cases) vs. ’09 of the same, and placed our bets then and there about which skaters would be “feeling the need for a change in the coming Olympic season” and, consequently, changing coaches. Seems like the farther you fell this year, for whatever the reason, the more likely a “change” was in order.

Well, except for JeremEEE, who had the unique situation of capping a brilliant breakthrough year with a disappointing Worlds… but then again, there you go. One major falter, and a re-evaluation was in order immediately.

Speaking of American men in the sport—the one in the coaches’ shuffle spotlight this time is Stephen Carriere. He won bronze at Nationals in 2008, silver at Cup of China last season… and then finished way down in ninth at 2009 Nationals. Aye, there’s the rub.

Carriere trained in Boston with Peter Johansson and Mark Mitchell since age 11, but according to the Associate Press and IceNetwork.com, his new digs will be a bit further south: he’s headed to Delaware to train with Priscilla Hill and Karl Kurtz. Hill, of course, spent many years working with Johnny Weir and is currently coaching Ashley Wagner.

Carriere says he “needed a change that would give him an edge…” Will Hill be sharp enough for him? (Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

For the Clip of the Day I’m going back to 2007 Nationals with Carriere’s jazzy FS that was, for many of us, our first real introduction to him and his work.