Atlanta Gladiators names hockey veteran Derek Nesbitt as head coach

June 6th, 2023

Gladiators legend Derek Nesbitt will be the sixth head coach in the team’s 21-season history. Nesbitt holds the franchise records in games played (512), goals (166), and points (424). Nesbitt retired from playing after the 2021-22 season but stayed with the team last season, serving as Assistant Coach. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

This season means new things for Atlanta’s minor league hockey team, the Gladiators.

Derek Nesbitt, the beloved 5-year captain of the team, will now lead as head coach. The Gladiators will also join into new affiliate partnerships with the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals and the National Hockey League’s Nashville Predators, meaning players from the minor league team can funnel into those major league teams.

Alex Campbell, Atlanta Gladiators head coach Derek Nesbitt, Nashville Predators’ assistant general manager Brian Poile and the Gladiators’ director of hockey operations, Jeff Pyle hold up the jersey of the three partnered hockey teams during a photo opp at a press conference on June 6, 2023. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Gladiators veteran Derek Nesbitt will be the sixth head coach in the team’s 21-season history. Nesbitt holds the franchise records in games played (512), goals (166), and points (424). Nesbitt retired from playing after the 2021-22 season but stayed with the team last season, serving as assistant coach.

“I do not take for granted that my first time as a head coach is at a place that I’m so familiar with—that I call home… that I don’t have to pack a bag and go anywhere,” Nesbitt said. “I understand that this is not what a lot of first-time coaches in pro hockey get to do, so I will make the most of that.”

Nesbitt will replace Jeff Pyle, who coached the team for 12 years, starting when the team was called the Gwinnett Gladiators and later returning when the team was renamed for Atlanta.

“I think it’s going to be amazing,” Pyle said. “He’s a fun guy, liked by everybody. He deserves it. He’s earned it, and I don’t mind—I don’t look at it as stepping down. I just look like I’m moving out of the way.”

Jeff Pyle moves from head coach to director of hockey operations and naming Gladiators legend Derek Nesbitt as the sixth head coach in the team’s 21-season history. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Along with announcing the new affiliations, Gladiators majority owner Alex Campbell also announced Pyle would be promoted from head coach to director of hockey operations.

The team will start its 72-game season at home, Gas South Arena in Duluth, Ga., on Saturday, October 21 at 7 p.m. against the interstate rival Savannah Ghost Pirates.