Dean Clark sees his firing as head coach of the Prince George Cougars in practical terms.
He was halfway through his fourth season as bench boss of the Western Hockey League club when Cougars general manager Dallas Thompson let Clark know Tuesday he was being let go.
"Dallas just came down at 11:30 [Tuesday] morning and let me go," said Clark. "You're never expecting that news but at the same time that's part of the game. It's a results-based business and when you look at my record there's not a lot of results there. That's just the way it goes."
During his tenure as Cougars head coach Clark had an 83-163-5-11 record, earning a playoff berth only in 2011 when the team was swept out of the post-season in four games by the Kelowna Rockets.
"I was grateful for the opportunity to get back into the league," said Clark. "I don't think I would change anything that I've done. I've got a lot of pride with the work that I put in here. I worked very hard at this."
Clark had previous Western Hockey League coaching jobs with the Brandon Wheat Kings, Calgary Hitmen and Kamloops Blazers. He was fired by the Blazers in 2007 and was out of the league until the Cougars signed him to a five-year contract in April 2009.
With about 15 months remaining on his deal with the Cougars, Clark said there was no rush to figure out his next move.
"I just got cleaned up and I'm heading back to Kelowna, my permanent residence," said Clark. "I've got some time to probably go through the last three and a half years and figure things out and take some time to spend with my family and go from there."
