Abbott and top U.S. pair join coaching-change carousel

The U.S. figure skating's coaching-change carousel is getting pretty crowded.

And the World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo., a little emptier.

The newest riders on the merry-go-round are two reigning national champions who trained at the World Arena and are now relocating a substantial distance from Colorado.

They follow 2008 U.S. champion Mirai Nagasu, who will simply move across Los Angeles after announcing Wednesday she was leaving Charlene Wong for Frank Carroll.

I had confirmed Friday that 2009 national men's champion Jeremy Abbott was about to announce he is leaving Tom Zakrajsek, who also coaches the top women's finisher at the 2009 worlds, Rachael Flatt, as well as the No. 2 U.S. man, Brandon Mroz. (Note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to Mroz as the top men's finisher.) I didn't know at that point who Abbott's new coach would be. Now I do: One minute after I posted the news of Abbott's departure in this blog, U.S. Figure Skating sent out a release announcing that Abbott was moving to Detroit to train with 1994 world champion Yuka Sato of Japan.

Ironically, Zakrajsek, who coached Abbott for a decade, is in Florida this week to accept the coach of the year award from the Professional Skaters Assn.

Meanwhile, U.S. Figure Skating announced Friday that Keauna McLaughlin of Los Angeles and Rockne Brubaker of Algonquin, Ill., the 2008 and 2009 pairs champions, are ending a three-year association with Dalilah Sappenfield to join the dean of U.S. pairs coaches, John Nicks, in Aliso Viejo. He coached 1979 world champions Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, two-time world bronze medalists Jenni Meno and Todd Sand and three-time U.S. champions JoJo Starbuck and Ken Shelley.

Nicks, 80, has been out of coaching since working with Sasha Cohen at the 2006 Olympics.

Despite winning their second straight U.S. title, McLaughlin and Brubaker had a disappointing 2009 season after a dazzling debut at the national championships a year earlier.

They were 11th at the world championships, where their skating in both phases of the competition was unimpressive. The rookie U.S. pair, Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett, finished two spots higher.

I spoke with Brubaker late Friday, and he was quick to thank Sappenfield for the way she supported their decision to try something new. She called Nicks on their behalf after the skaters told her they intended to meet with him.

"Dalilah is a great coach,'' Brubaker said, "and I give her a lot of credit for what Keauna and I accomplished. There are just times when a team and a skater need a change.

Last season was definitely challenging. Although we struggled at times, there were still a lot of good things, with our choreography and the difficulty of our programs, and it will make us more prepared for next season.''

In the USFS statement, Sappenfield said: "Of course it's hard to see your students move on. However, we all made this decision with a great amount of deliberation and forethought. I wish them nothing but the best in their quest for Olympic gold, and I will continue to support them however they need me.''

Brubaker said he and McLaughlin expect to start training with Nicks in a couple weeks. He still is recovering from April 3 surgery to repair sports hernias.

"This is the first week I have started to feel better,'' he said.

After winning the Grand Prix Final and the national title, Abbott's season ended on a downer. He followed a brilliant short program at nationals with a lackluster free skate, then slogged to fifth at the Four Continents Championship before being hopelessly outclassed at worlds.

Via telephone from Orlando, Zakrajsek told me he was "a little surprised'' that Abbott chose to end their 10-year working relationship after the skater had the breakthrough season in a career previously noted more for great potential than great performance. It may be even more surprising that he chose Sato, who never has been the primary coach of a highly ranked skater.

"We had lengthy discussions, and Jeremy treated me with the utmost respect,'' Zakrajsek said. "Sure, I'm a little disappointed, but ultimately it is the skater's choice after each season whether he or she wants me to continue coaching them.''

Oh, and I figure now is as good a time as any to reveal a coaching change involving another former national champion pairs team, Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, who announced a week ago that they were leaving Phillip Mills to train with Meno and Sand.

Inoue and Baldwin won U.S. titles in 2004 and 2006 but were not a factor in this year's nationals.

Some of these moves smack of last-ditch efforts. Others are probably overdue. But it is rare to have so many involving skaters with such decorated resumes at the same time.

"It's an Olympic year,'' Brubaker said. "There is a lot at stake.''

-- Philip Hersh

Photos, from top: Jeremy Abbott gives the appropriate reaction to his poor free skate at the 2009 world championships; Keauna McLaughlin feels similar emotions after she and partner Rockne Brubaker also fared poorly in the worlds free skate. Credits: David J. Phillip / Associated Press

Comments

[A.R. (i already posted this, but maybe it didn't go through, so I'll try again)]

This is strange, but also sometimes typical of an Olympic season in any sport... Top athletes think they have to start switching things up because it's the Olympics. Truth of the matter is, the athletes who treat the Olympics like any other competition and don't stress themselves out over it are the ones who will be most relaxed and will do their best. Not that there aren't legit reasons for leaving coaches, but sometimes last minute coaching changes remind me of NBA teams who make unnecessary trades right before the trade deadline because they go into panic mode and think they have to switch things up just for the sake of switching things up.

I remember when Michelle Kwan tried to calculate every single little move leading up to the 2002 Olympics, including getting rid of her coach who had helped her to achieve so much. She ended up going into the Olympics all stressed. The skater who treated it like any other competition, Sarah Hughes, skated the most freely and ended up winning the gold.

Abbott's coaching change is strange. Yeah, his Worlds finish was disappointing for him, but that was just one competition. The rest of his season was pretty superb considering where he had been the rest of his career. Maybe it just got too crowded in the Tom Z camp.

McLaughlin and Brubaker's coach took them from nothing to a top level competitor on the world stage. They've gotten better and better every year. If this wasn't an Olympic year or if they had finished a few spots higher at Worlds, would they be making a switch? Who knows. Hopefully they have good reasons for leaving, and I suppose you can't go wrong with John Nicks, although he has never worked under the new judging system with a pairs team of this caliber. From a distance, I thought all they needed was to work with a jump specialist rather than switching to a brand new coaching situation, but what do I know.

[rls]

A.R. Sarah Hughes only skated freely in the free skate at the last Olympics and was a surprise winner. If you remember she did not skate so well in the short (due to immense pressure) and thought she was out of it leaving her free to skate without pressure and causing her to win. She did not treat it like any other competition. Your memory is faulty.

[A.R.]

I already replied, but my message didn't go through again...

In response to RLS, Hughes skated a pretty clean short program as well. Yeah, her flutz was terrible, but overall, she skated clean that entire Olympics. She flew under the radar while just about everyone figured Sasha Cohen was a lock for the podium. There was really no pressure on Hughes to medal, and it showed in her skating. Meanwhile, Michelle Kwan skated incredibly tight and Sasha tried too hard.