'Let Them Lead' Shows How Through Coach's Eyes During Huron Hockey's Rise

By John Johnson
MHSAA Communications Director emeritus

September 17, 2021

Over 30 years of riding shotgun with Jack Roberts, I quickly learned to respond whenever I was asked about the lifetime values of high school sports, with a laundry list with these two items at the top:

Let Them LeadHard Work - Team Work

In reviewing the newly-released book by Ann Arbor’s own John U. Bacon – “Let Them Lead, Unexpected Lessons in Leadership From America’s Worst High School Hockey Team” – everything flows from those two values all of us in prep sports hold near and dear.

I met John in 1997 when he was a sportswriter at The Detroit News, where he was covering his high school alma mater – Ann Arbor Huron – in the Class AA Football Final at the Pontiac Silverdome. Just a few years later, the story that holds the detailed leadership lessons together in this book would begin when he was named the head hockey coach at Huron, inheriting a team that finished the previous season 0-22-3.

Building everything he put into that team with the premises that no one would outwork the River Rats, and as a team they supported each other, Bacon’s charges rose from not even being listed in the national team winning percentage listings - about 1,000 schools - prior to his arrival, to a top-five spot in the state’s rankings in his fourth year.

Along the way, the buy-in to the leadership themes made Huron Hockey cool again at the school and earned the River Rats the respect of their opponents. The values being taught gave value to the program. In making it hard to be a part of the team, more kids wanted to join it. They valued the experience. They led and supported themselves on and off the ice.

With the book being written nearly 20 years after the events it is based on, Bacon solicited input from a variety of players to verify the accuracy of events, and they flooded him with additional stories of their own from their playing days and adult lives which illustrated the leadership skills they learned in the locker room, training sessions, practices and games.

Let Them LeadLike any book on leadership, you forge through those details about applying certain things in the workplace, but what keeps you engaged is the team. You’ve gotten hooked by the River Rats, and you just have to see how this thing turns out.

This feel-good tome resonates whether you’re a coach or a corporate type. It’s an easy read, and you'll take a lot from it.

John U. Bacon did play ice hockey for the River Rats, owning the distinction for playing the most games at the time he graduated – but also never scoring a goal. His writing, teaching and speaking career have produced seven books which have been national best sellers; he’s an established historian on a variety of topics – including the football program at University of Michigan, where he currently teaches; and he’s in demand as a public speaker.

Let Them Lead is published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and available through a variety of bookstores.

PHOTOS (Top) Huron's hockey team runs the Michigan Stadium stairs in 2002. (Middle) "Let Them Lead" tells the story of the program's transformation. (Below) The River Rats celebrate their Turkey Tournament championship in 2001. (Photos courtesy of John U Bacon.)

State Champs! Sports Network: 2023-24 Hockey Time Episode 3

December 14, 2023

Join Jonathon Kidd and Sean Baligian for the another edition of State Champs! Hockey Time.

KLAA-MIHL Showcase Recap

1:54 - Carlson vs. Canton
2:26 - Port Huron Northern vs. Plymouth
3:13 - Livonia Red Stallions vs. Grosse Pointe South
4:23 - U of D Jesuit vs. Salem
5:29 - De La Salle vs. Northville
5:57 - Orchard Lake Saint Mary's vs. Howell
6:32 - Trenton vs. Livonia Stevenson
7:37 - Hartland vs. Brother Rice
8:39 - Detroit Catholic Central vs. Brighton

10:13 - Division 3 Showcase Recap
Bay City Wolves, Grand Rapids Catholic Central and Flint Powers

11:47 - Traverse City West vs. Traverse City Recap
12:07 - Grosse Pointe North's first victory
12:22 - STATE CHAMPS! Warrior Hockey Player of the Year Update
13:22 - STATE CHAMPS! Flow Competition Update
16:53 - Coaches' Corner with Sean Baligian and David Mitchell
26:40 - STATE CHAMPS! Warrior Hockey "Wall Award" Update

Previews:
28:12 - Trenton at Riverview Gabriel Richard
28:55 - Orchard Lake Saint Mary's at Hartland
29:11 - Brighton at Hartland
29:26 - Salem at Plymouth
29:45 - Clarkston at De La Salle
30:00 - Byron Center vs. Grand Rapids Catholic Central
30:24 - Forest Hills Central vs. Bay City Wolves
30:46 - Trenton vs. U of D Jesuit