Jason Glasser and Blake Campbell: Longevity Kings

[Victor 10,828]

Season 66 will see at least one record broken in the VHL as Seattle Bears GM Blake Campbell embarks on his eighteenth season in charge, overtaking Jason Glasser's 17 seasons managing Calgary, which had stood as the longest single tenure in charge of one team since Glasser stepped down in Season 41. Campbell is unlikely to claim the overall record in this run as although there is currently a three-way tie between Greg Harbinson, Mike Szatkowski and Chris Miller at 22 seasons of GMing each, the latter of this trio is about to add to his tally with the newly-founded Malmo Nighthawks. A realistic record which Campbell could set his sights on however is Mitch Higgins' 19 overall seasons in charge of Helsinki, split across two runs as GM in the 30s and then the 50s.

 

Full GM statistics can be found in the spreadsheet in this thread: https://vhlforum.com/topic/1060-vhl-all-time-gms/

 

Longevity is impressive but can be a deceiving statistic, especially if a GM overstays his welcome. The currently most successful GM, reigning back-to-back champion Ryan Power has never stayed with a team for longer than five seasons but has 13 playoff appearances in 15 seasons of GMing and now a record six Continental Cups. However, neither Glasser or Campbell can be accused of lving off past glories. At the 17-season mark they have identical records, with 10 playoff appearances, two trips to the finals and one cup each. Going into this off-season, Campbell made 54 trades, slightly above Glasser's 49. Overall, respectable results over about a quarter of VHL's history, which is no mean feat.

 

Beyond the statistics, similarities are harder to find. The pair GMed in completely different eras, with an 8-season gap between Glasser stepping down (which was before Campbell was even drafted) and Campbell taking over in Seattle. Glasser took over Calgary in the tail-end of the original eight-team era and then navigated through the changing world of post-expansion VHL. The first part of Campbell's tenure was in the somewhat dystopian late stage of 10-team VHL, with conference imbalances and a general lack of parity, before going through Project Player Two, contraction, and now a fresh expansion. There are also few similarities in their personal styles and approaches to the job.

 

Was either GM better than the other? It's hard to say. One cup in 17 seasons means both Campbell and Glasser had their fair share of misfortune. Calgary won a well deserved cup in S30 but that core could have done more, but couldn't convert a dominant regular season in S31 to tangible playoff success, before losing a finals Game 7 in S34. Chasing that second championship ultimately hamstrung Glasser's second rebuild and he stepped down nearly a decade after his peak, although there was enough left over for the Wranglers to win a cup in S44. Ultimately, the competition in the North American Conference was consistently sky high, with crossover briefly introduced before expansion in large part because all of New York, Seattle, Calgary, and Toronto had championship aspirations just before S30 and Quebec replaced Seattle in the mix for most of the next decade.

 

Seattle when Campbell took over also had to compete with three stacked teams in Toronto, New York, and Quebec, therefore opted to trade their assets to the weaker European Conference, restocked and won back-to-back Victory Cups in S52 and S53. However, much like more recently in S64 and S65, the Bears' playoff performances have no correlation with the regular season – they have not made the finals after any of their dominant regular seasons, but did win the cup in S59 despite going into the postseason as underdogs. Three strong contending cycles is ultimately a good reflection on Campbell as a GM, but doesn't mean there won't be lingering regrets.

 

Is there a moral to this story? There doesn't necessarily have to be as after all these are two GMs from different times with different stories who just happened to be in competition for one VHL record. Perhaps the curse of longevity is that you will always have peaks and troughs, but you can't make mistakes without trying and you certainly can't win without taking risks.

 

@diamond_ace @Banackock

[Nykonax 1,563]

banana is better but i still love ace

Edited May 5, 2019 by Nykonax

[hedgehog337 3,480]

don't forget to mention me after four seasons or so

 

ok thanks

[Banackock 7,974]

Awesome read and has always been a fun storyline with J. My playoff history has not been kind, but I’ve enjoyed every step along this journey.. Funny how we have this and now are the mighty dictators together for the VHLM. Wonder if we can put up similar longevity there?