Men's Teams Coaching Shuffle Commences
As is common heading into any year without an Olympic Winter Games or World Ski Championship, the spring of 2019 has revealed a number of coaching departures and replacements, particularly within the men's teams of the World Cup tour. In addition to the changes already announced in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and the U.S. have all appointed new coaches in a variety of men's team positions.
Former U.S. Ski Team coach Randy Pelkey returns to lead the men's speed team following the departure of John "Johno" McBride who announced his resignation back in March so he can spend more time at home in Colorado with his family. In addition to his past positions in the U.S., Pelkey worked as head men's speed coach for the Korean Association heading into the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games.
Mathias Berthold also announced his retirement as head men's coach in Germany prior to the end of the 2018/19 season. After a long tenure managing the German team, he hopes to focus in the future on individual athlete preparation in an independent role. Head men's speed coach Christian Schwaiger was promoted into Berthold's position and will serve as head men's coach moving forward. His previous role, meanwhile, will be filled by Andreas "Andy" Evers who was most recently leading up the men's speed program in Switzerland.
To fill the void in Switzerland, Reto Nyddeger will return to his home nation as head men's speed coach. He was working in Norway since 2013, most recently as head men's speed coach. His predecessor in Norway is yet to be announced; but head men's coach Christian Mitter, who recently announced his departure for a new role in Austria, will be replaced by former national team coach and Norwegian native Steve Skavik. Skavik has most recently been working as sports manager of the junior club Heming/Persbråten in Oslo.
More teams are likely to announce additional changes in the coming days and weeks as they solidify their coaching staffs before preparation for the new season begins.
