The San Antonio Rampage officially announced today that Tom Rowe will return as head coach. Rowe took over 4 weeks into the 2013/14 season as head coach of the Rampage when Peter Horachek was promoted to the parent Panthers club. In his 65 games with the Rampage, Rowe led the team to a 26-31-3-5 record and finished 14th in the Western Conference.

It would be unfair, however, if I didn’t point out that the team finished the final 20 games of the season, after the NHL trade deadline, with a 5-15 record. That trade deadline saw vital contributors such as Jacob Markstrom, Vincent Trocheck, and Drew Shore head off to greener pastures.

Rowe will be joined by a new, old face behind the Rampage bench. Longtime AHL and NHL assistant and former Rampage coach Scott Allen will take over for Chuck Weber, who is now in Croatia coaching in the KHL. Allen, most recently an assistant with the Chicago Wolves, spent consecutive seasons as both an assistant and head coach with the Rampage from 2002-2004.

OPINION: The longer the organization stayed silent about the head coaching position, the more obvious is was Rowe was coming back. I think it’s the right move considering the Rampage look to have about 15-16 players returning from last year’s roster. Fans severely underrate continuity within an organization, especially at the developmental stages, and having the coach already familiar with the players (and vice versa) could do wonders for the growth of this team.