A guy born and raised in Ontario who suddenly finds himself in South Florida has to break an old habit or two.

''My body is trained that you don't walk out the front door in October without a coat on,'' says new Panthers coach Peter DeBoer with a smile. ``Here it's already 80 degrees in the morning.''

There is something else DeBoer is adjusting to that he likes even more than leaving his coat in the closet, and that is the ability to be a coach, just a coach and nothing but a coach. It is a luxury he has not known until now -- not ever in all of the years of coaching that led him to our far end of the peninsula.

It is a long way from the Ontario Hockey League's Kitchener Rangers to the NHL's Florida Panthers in more than just miles.

''This is the elite league in the world, and the first thing you notice is the treatment you get, how a support staff handles all the daily duties,'' DeBoer says, still new enough to it to marvel a bit. ``With Kitchener, I would be setting up the bus schedules, booking the hotel rooms, everything. The last 13 years, probably 30 percent of my job as actually coaching, and the other 70 percent was those administrative things like calling to make sure curfews were met. The ability to concentrate 100 percent on coaching is not something I've been able to do until now.''

It is what gives DeBoer an avid appreciation for where he is. The charter flights he'll get used to sure beat the bus trips to places like Oshawa, Peterborough and Guelph. But simply being a fulltime coach is the luxury that strikes him.

A LONG ROAD

DeBoer spent his career in the OHL, a top junior league where his troops were ages 16 to 20, a breeding ground for almost a quarter of today's NHL players. The past seven years with Kitchener included a league championship in 2003.

''It was a long road, but when you pay your dues to get here like I have, you appreciate it more,'' he said. ``It has helped me feel fully prepared. When players you have coached have had success and tell you they aren't doing anything different on this level, it makes you feel you have done something right. I'm excited. I'm ready.''

DeBoer, married with kids ages 9, 8 and 6, joins a neophyte professional coaching community down here, one in which Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez is the established dean after just having finished his second season.

The new guys, the ''rookies,'' DeBoer, Dolphins coach Tony Sparano and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, all inherit situations at once gloomy but enviable. You take over a mess and there is nothing to get but better, right?

Sparano's Dolphins are 2-2 and it's enough to have him bobbing on the shoulders of South Florida after last season's embarrassing 1-15 record.

Spoelstra takes over a Heat team that sank to a franchise nadir 15-67 last season.

DeBoer accepts the reins of a club that last played a playoff game in the spring of 2000 -- an NHL eternity ago. The halcyon days of Florida's 1996 skate to the Stanley Cup Finals, when rubber rats slapped the ice, seems a lifetime ago.

NEEDED STABILITY

A franchise beginning its 15th season and already on its 10th head coach begs for stability as much as it starves for the playoffs.

We can't know today if DeBoer will bring that stability and success, only that the fresh air feels good -- that the Panthers needed change almost as much as the politicians tell us America does.

Veteran Jacques Martin, nudged aside as coach but still on as general manager, was older, sort of dour, at times seeming a bad fit for a young team. DeBoer, who signed his Panthers contract on his 40th birthday in June, is youthful, energetic, more engaging, and hungry to make the most of his big break.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@