Last Friday I had a chance to sit down with Allen Americans coach and general manager Chad Costello to ask him about the just completed 2023-24 season and the plans for 2024-25. During the season when I head to the coaches office after practice I always have a "stat of the day" to quiz them about. Wanted to have a good one for this Q & A interview with Chad and it puts the last two seasons in perspective.
Q: How many ECHL coaches have made the playoffs in both of the last two seasons?
A: Chad is one of just 10 coaches/teams that made the playoffs in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Q: Of the 10 that made the playoffs the last two season how many won at least one playoff round?
A: Chad is one of just seven coaches/teams that made the playoffs the last two seasons and won at least one playoff round.
It was an eerie feeling entering the Allen Americans locker room just a few days after the season ended. It was dead quiet and a stark difference from the playoffs. The stalls and lockers were empty, gear was put away and players were already on the way home.
I met Chad in his office right next to the locker room and we both commented on the strange feeling and quiet from the hustle, bustle and loud music from just a few days earlier. As usual when interviewing Chad there were no question off limits and his honesty and openness comes through in his answers. Hope you enjoy what he had to say.
Q; What are your thoughts on the series loss to Idaho?
A: The first thing that comes to mind is game one of the series in Idaho. That was a heartbreaking loss. We had a two goal lead twice and a lead in the third period and then didn't make them earn the win in overtime. We said the loss wouldn't funnel into game two but I do think it leaked over a little bit. I think we learned we can play with Idaho, but at the same time there is a difference between playing with them and beating them four times. Every time we got to our game early we were in the game or won the game and every time we didn't play well early we lost by three or four goals. I like to use other sports analogies and I compare Idaho to tennis player Roger Federer. Idaho consistently plays at a high level all of the time. You will see an up and comer or low ranked player play with Roger for the first set and then he beats them 6-0 and 6-0. Idaho consistently plays at a high level and we could not. We could match their level but could not maintain it.
Q: Despite the ending you have to be pleased with the season overall considering the obstacles you faced?
A: No doubt, we had to rebuild the team a few times and that is never easy when all of the good players have jobs. You have to give up futures to get new players and be competitive. At one point we were in last place by seven points and as a group we said our small goal is to be a playoff team. Our goal at the beginning the season was to be first in the division. When we reset our goal first and second place were already taken and there was no way to catch Kansas City and Idaho. Our small goal was to beat the rest of the teams in the division and I am proud of the way the team came through with that 6-0-1-0 streak at the end of the season to finish in third place.
Q: What are you thoughts as you build your team for the 2024-25 season?
A: I think we need to make a lot of changes to be honest with you. With recruiting we are going to be more picky in who we recruit. We are going to try and find not just the best players for the team but the best player for a specific role on the team. We had a few players we asked to play a role outside of their normal role and they did a good job, but I need to do a better job of matching players to roles. Finding the right players for each role will help us get a better start next season. If we can fix our start and get rolling a little earlier it will be less demanding on the top guys both mentally and physically. I would say I need to do a better job in finding the right players and not just the best players.
We need to have high-end talent and we will. The teams where the high-end talent competes all over the ice is where our concentration is going to be. The old saying of we need players that want to win before they want to score is what we are looking for, but we also need players that want to win before they just want to defend. The question is what did you do to help us win? Well, one night it was two goals, one night it was zero goals and a +1, one night it was a blocked shot and great on the penalty kill. We think those are the type of teams that are still playing in the playoffs, especially in our division. Some of it will be different personnel and some of it will be hard conversations with returning players. I am more motivated and more excited about the recruitment process this season than I was last season. Last year we made the playoffs, won the first round and we thought we were right there. Now I see we have to improve. The other reality is the league has changed. All of these teams with a lot of AHL contracted players will change because many of these players will become free agents. I think we can do a better job than others in recruiting some of these free agents. Marty always used to say you win championships in the summer and that is what were are going to try and do for sure.
Q: This was the second season you had the fewest games played by players from your affiliate of all the teams in the league. How do you see Ottawa/Belleville fitting into your plans next season?
A: We signed a one year contract and it will be done at the end of their season. Our plan is to see what is available for affiliates, what they each have to offer and make the best decision for our team. Belleville didn't decide to not send us players. They had a lot of injuries and were also fighting to make the playoffs. They were concentrating on their team just like I was concentrating on our team. There is no doubt when Fizer and Meriläinen were here we were pretty hard to beat. Belleville had injuries, maybe not as many as us, but they had injuries. Also the border can be an issue, if you are going to send a player for a weekend you have to really think about it. If our affiliate was in the US it would be easier to send players for a short period of time. A few things got in the way this season. I would say as an organization we have to look at what is best for us.
Q: How important is it to you to have your affiliate identified early to help in your recruitment process?
A: The earlier we make a decision on an affiliate the better but the best decision is more important than a fast derision. It is hard to keep switching affiliates because they are based on relationships. I need to know what they are looking for and let them know what we are looking for. Getting to know everyone as people is critical. The longer we have to build that relationship before the puck drops the better.
Q: How many future consideration trades do you have to settle before the June 20 deadline?
A: We will have to provide a list of players to settle four future considerations trades. Each one is a little different and we don't know the exact order as we have some time to decide on that. We owe a player to Iowa, Rapid City, Norfolk and Florida. To be completely honest, without doing those trades we probably would have finished dead last. In this league I don't think future trades are that important, especially when we need to make changes.
Q: The use of veterans around the ECHL has diminished. Of the eight teams left in the playoffs, Kansas City has no veterans, four other teams have just one and only one team has four. How do you plan to use your four veteran spots next season?
A: Veterans are very important to our team just because of the affiliation setup. If you look back at the championships we won in Allen our veterans were our best players. That will be a goal for our team next season whether we have four veterans or not. The league has gotten younger so I think the veterans need to be a little younger. When you think about it, 260 games to be classified as a veteran is not a lot of games. Rather than call them veterans I call them experienced players. These experienced players will be a big part of our team because of the number of players we get from our affiliate. Teams like Kansas City don't need veterans when they have 10-12 AHL contracted players. We will need veterans for leadership and team talent level. What we need is for those veteran players to be our top-top players and push the ship if we don't have a lot of AHL guys.
Q: I know you do exit interviews with the players. Can you share what you cover in those interviews and some of the feedback you received?
A: The first few questions are about the logistics of when they are leaving Allen, are they flying or driving, what are their summer plans, where are they going to be located. Then I ask if they have a good setup for ice time during the summer and what kind of training they are going to do. It is more important than ever to come into the season fit. Almost the entire league starts with a lot of players at NHL/AHL training camps. I have seen this in the past when the number of Allen players at AHL camps is lower than other teams in our division and it makes the first three weeks of the season very tough. The other teams have been on the ice more and they are more game ready when the season starts. Next season we will take it a lot more serious and expect players to be more fit and ready when they enter the locker room. That will dictate where they are in the lineup to begin the season.
We asked the players what they liked about the season, what they didn't like about the season and if they are interested in coming back. We explained our organizational plans, what we are trying to build, thanked them for their effort and wished them the best.
The feedback we received is they like it in Allen and most of them want to come back. What we heard most often is they enjoyed the way we coached and the way we treat them as players. They appreciate how professionally we run things and care about them as individuals. That is something Gens and I really try to walk the line of we care about you and love you and will treat you right, but it is also a profession and business and we will do what is best for the team.
There were a few guys that shared they like it better when the coach was on them all of the time. As a player I did not like that, maybe because I felt I was self motivated and very rarely did Marty or whoever I played for have to give me motivation. Some of the younger players want more feedback on where their game is at and where it needs to be and let's wake up a bit. It was good to hear that because I can absolutely adapt to that. It was good for us to learn and remind ourselves every player needs something a little different.
The players liked where they stayed but did share the furniture needed to be upgraded. Ownership is already addressing that for next season.
Q: Myles Jack has a unique background for an owner. Becoming an owner at 27 years of age after playing NFL football. In the few conversation I have had with him he seems dedicated to giving the team what it needs to be successful on the ice. Your thoughts?
A: It will be great to have the new ownership group for the entire off season and running into the start of next season. The timing of the new ownership taking over last September was hard on everybody. By the time everyone got to know each other the season was rolling and then we don't have much time. I will say when Myles walks into the locker room, with his presence, the room is better. His character and knowing how successful he was as an athlete has an impact. I can also tell you he wants to win but also understands what it is like when you go out there and things don't go right and you lose. He understands the process of improving, the obstacles that can get in the way and what the players are going through. The #1 thing I can say about Myles is when he walks into our locker room his character and his smile makes our room better. The guys love to see him. I also love it when he comes into the coaches office and talks to us. You know that he cares and the players sense that. The more he is down here the better. We really enjoy talking to him about the game, the team, the players and what we are going through. The cool thing about his first season is he saw us lose and he saw us compete and he saw us win. He saw what it is like with AHL players and without AHL players. It was painful for me, but as an owner he gathered a lot of data and information in his first season.
Q: Are there any lessons learned over the last two seasons in dealing with the referees and league office?
A: It is a hard line for me to walk because I always want to stand up for our players. A bad call is a bad call and it is what it is. It is fast, it is hard and it is not an easy job. What I struggle with is when the referee sees a penalty, I see them see a penalty, it is right in front of them and they decide for some reason to not make a call or to make a call. When it hurts our players chance to win the game it makes me go crazy. I just want to know why they didn't call what was clearly a penalty or why they did call what was clearly not a penalty. I just want to give these players every single opportunity to win every single game.
What I have learned is some players will follow my lead and when I start barking at the referee they will follow. We have talked about it and talked about it and I tell the players I am not in the battle so I am calm and my comments have thought behind them. I might be thinking about the next call or I might be thinking about the next game. My message has been let me do the yelling at the referee but we have a really hard time doing that. Every single game we got mad and let our emotions go toward the referee rather than the other team the game never went our way. We typically would get off our game, took more penalties and it cost us the game. Every time we kept our eye on the prize and didn't give the referees a hard time, we won the game. The other thing to keep in mind is we have a long season, it is a marathon not a sprint. If you continue to fight over every decision the league makes or the referees make you are wasting time improving your players and game plan. If a could say this issue in one sentence it would be pick your battles, continue to stand up for your players but at the same time move on from things you can't change.
We had very few suspensions this year after leading the league my first season and that is something I took seriously. It is one thing to try and hit a guy clean an accidentally get suspended. The stuff we were getting suspended for last season was ridiculous. I wanted to clean that up and we did. We barely had anyone suspended this season. Because suspended players have to be carried on the active roster I always say don't let one loss lead into another.
Q: You run practices but also participate in many of the drills and even bag skate with the players sometimes. It seems like you are always going 100%. What messages are you trying to send to the players the way you run your practices.
A: I would be lying if I didn't say I do it for myself too. It makes me feel more a part of the practice. Some practices I don't like the way it is going so I will purposefully make three hard passes right on the tape and do it perfectly. Some of the best leaders I have had in my career have barely spoke, they just did it. I will never forget one of my coaches, who is now the coach of the Colorado Eagles. I remember we had four games in five days with a bunch of travel and practice should have been an optional day but it wasn't. Everyone was sore and tired. I was still pretty young. He called me to the front of the practice line and said go first and if you are going first set the bar high and go fast. I have always felt showing them is sometimes better than telling them. If I am yelling all of the time, stop down here, explode out of the drill, make good passes, it isn't as effective as showing them. That will change as I get older for sure, but right now it is easier to show them. I would say a healthy minded coach is best for everybody and when I do the practices and skate with them they get a healthy minded coach, so I am going to continue doing it.
As for the bag skating at first we thought it would be good for me to do the drills but not the bag skating just to show authority. I never really bought into that and thought if I ask them to skate down and back I can too. Also, when I do the skating and get tired I can make sure we don't overdo the skate. It is also a way for me to see how fast they are so I will skate along with a player. Some of them are not as fast as you think.
Our practices are very organized and in my opinion we go from one drill to the next drill to the next drill faster than anybody. We do that on purpose because of 90 minutes of going over to the white board to describe the drill is not what we do. We do it before practice so we don't spend much time talking on the ice.
One concept I will fix next season is how we start training camp. In the past, probably because of my concern about injuries, we spent the first couple of days of training camp trying to get the player's legs under them. Those days are over. It will be more of a boot camp feel for the first five days of training camp this year. Whatever we have done the past two years to start the season hasn't worked. Whatever it takes to get off to a better start we will do. If we have to run our camp like an AHL camp that is what we will do. I think I am going to push the guys a little more at training camp. Usually the first two or three days are fun, you meet the guys and get used to your gloves. We are still going to do that but we are going to work a lot harder.
Q: What are you most looking forward to this summer away from hockey?
A: One thing is my fitness level. When you coach it is not a easy as you think. I actually look up to Marty a lot because he was always in the gym and taking care of himself. For his age he was very fit and looked great. Getting used to the schedule as a coach is not easy, especially on game day when it is hard to get a workout in. I want to get my fitness and health back. I had those massive knee injuries in Europe where I basically went from surgery to playing and then right into coaching. Taking some time off to heal and improve my fitness level is the plan for the off season. I am a way happier person and way better hockey coach when I am exercising so getting the regular schedule back is exciting to me.
I have never been more motivated to recruit. My first year I fell in love with our team and the players. I remember thinking if we get healthy and get a little AHL help we will be fine. I don't want to take that chance again.This summer I am super motivated to find the best player for every single role on the team and take every single roster spot as seriously as possible. Starting with the veterans we will build from the backend out and the goalies to the defensemen. We have learned the importance of the sixth and seventh defensemen with all of the goals we allowed the last two seasons.
Outside of hockey it is all about family. So many times during the season I am on FaceTime watching the kid's sports so it will be nice to be around and hang out with Ashley. Our usual summer schedule is we go back to Iowa for a week or two after school is out, we take a vacation with family, a vacation with friends, and then go back to Iowa for a week before school starts. Our life has changed a lot as the kids have gotten older as their schedules are so busy. I am usually hands off with the hockey stuff, but I am going to be helping out with some of the kid's hockey this summer and that should be fun.
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Costello Family: Chad, Ashley, Cayne (back), Camden, Avery, Adelyn (front)
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