Winter Hawk owners say Williamson not forced out

By jason vondersmith

The Portland Tribune, Jul 20, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (4 Reader comments)

Denise farwell / Portland Tribune FILE PHOTO

Mike Williamson’s future is up in the air after failing to come to terms with the Winter Hawks. He could be a candidate for another hockey job but has said he wants to stay in Portland.

Despite saddling him with a dismantled roster for the 2006-07 season, and after failed contract talks and the parting of ways Wednesday, the Portland Winter Hawks’ owners say they were not trying to force out coach Mike Williamson.

“Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” team President Jack Donovan says. “We were so close to getting it done, and then it fell apart, within a blink of an eye.”

Now the Hawks are looking for a new coach – as well as a director of scouting after the previous resignation of Gord Loiselle.

The team pulled two recent agreements with Williamson off the table. The first came after Donovan announced to the staff that Williamson had agreed to and signed the contract (he hadn’t). The second deal was pulled last week, sources say.

Both times, Donovan says, Williamson and his agent decided they wanted some modifications, and principal owner Jim Goldsmith, also the director of hockey operations, balked at them. Sources say the offers continued some performance-based stipulations that made Williamson uncomfortable.

Goldsmith did not return phone calls from the Portland Tribune.

Donovan, referring to the second removed agreement, says “some issues came up as far as team and direction and philosophy … it was a different set of opinions, and we reached a point that we felt we weren’t doing the right thing.”

A source close to the situation says the owners “were kicking (Williamson) in the teeth,” and that he had become disenchanted with the new regime.

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