Role of the team president

From: Brian

Comments: I have been a STH for about 13 years now, and enjoyed every bit of it.

Win or lose I am still at the games supporting our Condors. I know that when coach Matt O’Dette was let go that there were a lot of nasty tweets and messages on the boards stating that the team got rid of the wrong Matt meaning that team President Matthew Riley should have been gone instead. No disrespect to Mr Riley but I would love it it you could post what is the team Presidents job duties are. I was surprised when I saw that the team had hired a General Manager and what his job duties would to be. I cant help but wander and always assumed that some of the duties of the president would be the same as what the general manager was hired to do. Can you please clear the air for me So that I under stand the roles of both individuals? Thanks and let’s go get that Kelly Cup next year. We are way overdue.

Reply: Brian, I have been surprised at the confusion on this issue. We have received a couple mailbags about it, Facebook questions, Tweets, etc. But it’s an easy explanation

Matthew Riley is the team president. He handles the operations of the entire organization… manages the business, if you will. He has never been in charge of hockey operations, as far as managing the players is concerned. Though the coach answers to Riley, it is the coach that has fulfilled those duties in the past.

Riley doesn’t make recruiting calls to bring players in, he makes sales calls to bring in revenue. He doesn’t make player trades, he makes trades for goods and services. He doesn’t cut guys, he cuts checks to pay the bills.

The team president does everything in his power to make sure the business-side is healthy enough to put a team on the ice. I think many people are unaware of the business aspect having a successful minor league sports organization, so perhaps that’s the confusion.

This season, with the hiring of John Olver as general manager, the Condors will have a set up similar to other major league sports teams. Ned Colletti with the Dodgers, for example, doesn’t manage the season ticket sales team in L.A. He doesn’t sell corporate partnerships, or come up with the promotional schedule. The Dodgers team president does all that, similar to how the Condors are set up. And Colletti oversees the baseball team, signing free agents, making trades, etc., just as now Olver will do the same with the Condors. In the past these duties have solely rested upon the head coach. Now the head coach will have all the help he needs.

I hope that answers your question.

-The Mailbag Guy