Falcons President and General Manager Bruce Landon told Garry Brown from MassLive:
“After a lot of discussions with Columbus management about coaching candidates, the talk kept coming back to Brad. We were all very impressed with him during his time as an assistant. He commands a lot of respect, he’s passionate and knowledgeable about the game, and he had good rapport with our players.”
The sentiment was echoed by Jackets assistant GM, Chris MacFarland:
“We are very pleased to announce Brad Larsen as the head coach of the Springfield Falcons and are excited to have him working with our prospects in the American Hockey League. He has a tremendous amount of passion for coaching and the game of hockey and will bring great energy to the rink every day.”
A big plus for Larsen will be having had the past two seasons to learn the coaching ranks from Riley. Brad finished up his own 13 year playing career in 2010 with the Portland Pirates. Just a short time later, he was named as an assistant to Riley. It will be to his advantage to have a familiarity with the Jackets internal workings as well as to have had the ability to work with some of the players for as much as two full seasons.
The players that I have had a chance to speak to throughout the second half of the season unanimously spoke highly of Larsen and his work ethic. To this observer, Brad Larsen was unquestionably the best choice for the job.