Rick Bowness' post-game rant ripping Columbus Blue Jackets goes viral

Apr 2, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness walks off the ice after the bfirst period against the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images

Bowness replaced Dean Evason as coach on Jan. 12 and almost guided the Blue Jackets from last in the Eastern Conference to the playoffs. They went 18-2-4 in Bowness' first 24 games before a late-season collapse, including the last game of the season. And what did the fans get that night? A bunch of seemingly entitled players going through the motions while quitting on those fans.  Collectively, they gave the puck away an astounding 23 times while only delivering three hits on the opposing team.

Prior to that embarrassing performance, the Blue Jackets went 2-8-1 in their final 11 games.  They went from second place in the Metropolitan Division on March 25 to missing the playoffs.  And adding insult to the injury for the fans and ownership, they also closed out the season with a six-game home losing streak.

The players since that night have responded, saying their coach was right. "That’s on us. We have to own it and learn from it," Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner told radio station WTOP.

Unfortunately, fans have seen the entitlement and nonchalance of players in every major professional sport grow in direct correlation with their abandonment of the basic fundamentals of their particular sport.   The “Team” game has morphed into the “Me” game for so many of these athletes.

But as one team after another has tanked - see NBA - and made a mockery of the support from their fan base as well as the generosity of the ownership group, we have witnessed coach after coach come to the lectern after the end of a game or season in which the team quit on the fans and utter the same useless – and often false – phrase: “Well, it all starts with me.  I just have to do a better job of coaching the players and getting them to buy into our system.”

No you don’t.  Sometimes you have to call out the prima donna’s on the team who have lost their way chasing money, personal stats, and followers on social media.  Far too many coaches – and owners – walk on eggshells around some clearly very selfish players and refuse to say what needs to be said.

Rick Bowness, who received a one-year contract extension this week, stood up and rightfully called out players who trashed the loyalty given them to by fans and the lavish salaries given to them by ownership.  That said, the players who slap the fans and owners in the face should understand one reality - loyalty is a double-edged sword and does go both ways.

As so many in the collective fan-base of the NHL, NFL, NBA, and MLB continue to struggle to make ends meet, potentially more and more might decide that supporting their local professional team is no longer an expense they can afford.  Both for reasons of money as well as the loyalty they expect back from the players.

Back in the glory days of NASA in the 1960s, one truism said it all: “No Bucks.  No Buck Rogers.”  The players thinking only of themselves might want to pause from admiring themselves in the mirror for a just moment to extrapolate upon that reality.  If the fan-base dwindles or collapses outright, so does the money needed to pay multi-million-dollar salaries.

Rick Bowness did the sporting world a massive favor by having the courage to speak out when so many fear upsetting the prima donna’s.  If they care about their fan-base, more coaches in the NFL, NBA, and MLB need to follow the lead of Bowness … while they still have fans.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the book: The 56 – Liberty Lessons from those who risked all to sign The Declaration of Independence.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Rick Bowness does sporting world massive favor by speaking out