Jeff Pyle
By Randy Beard of the Courier and Press
Jeff Pyle, who led the Evansville IceMen to their only winning season in the ECHL during the 2013-14 season, is returning to coach the city’s new Southern Professional Hockey League team.
But the fact that Pyle has won more than 500 games in 14 seasons as a head coach isn’t the main reason he was owner Mike Hall’s first choice to help launch the yet-to-be named SPHL Evansville club.
The two became friends during Pyle’s first stint in Evansville and Hall said he turned to Pyle when he decided to pursue becoming a team owner because they share a “blue collar” work ethic.
“I needed someone with his skills that can do it from top to bottom,” said Hall. “I know how to run a business but I don’t know how to run a hockey team. His skill set and what I needed are a perfect match for how I want to do things.”
Hall said that he intends to build a small, versatile front-office staff where everyone is capable of doing a little bit of everything — from selling tickets and corporate sponsorships to pitching in with game-day promotions and operations.
Pyle, 57, said the lean front-office structure was attractive to him because it will allow him to learn another side of the business.
“We mainly play on weekends so I’ve got five days to do nothing other than practice, so I want to be involved in other ways,” he said.
As Pyle becomes more involved in the front office, Hall intends to learn as much about the hockey side as possible.
“I’m not opposed to driving the bus,” joked Hall, who was a business owner and engineering consultant before he decided to invest in an SPHL franchise. “I’ve had a (commercial driver’s license) in my past. If that’s what it takes, I’ll do it. I wanted to buy this because I wanted to work at it.”
