Why is Morozov such a popular coach?

[victoriajh]

i thought his work with yagudin was epic- winter and the race car sp were the beginning of some great programs- i have seen him at several events and still find him kinda sleezy (sorry) looking and not just in looks but in the way he carries himself and such- alwasy gives off this arrogant and better than thou attitude- wwalking through a door at national jeff buttle opened it for me- morzorov expects YOU to open it for him!

[The Accordion]

Edited when I thought better of it

[orbitz]

Morozov gave Michelle Kwan TFB, Aranjuez, Tosca, and Spartacus; All memorable programs for Michelle. He gave Sasha her best SP: Malaguena. Therefore Michelle's fans and Sasha's fans should adore him

[Pratfall]

Well, I wouldn't expect a former student ( and certainly not a current student.. pretty well known to be a girlfriend) to have anything negative to say about him. It would be very bad form...For that, you probably have to wait for their memoirs..

And I don't think he finds each skater's style , but rather imposes his own style, or expression on them. To my eyes , there's been improvement in all after they left him.

I agree he can impart confidence and that's important , and it's very true that a skater can improve their skills by working with an ice dancer.(and I believe he enlists the services of a very fine jump coach ) I don't even say he can't produce a good program , but they're getting more and more rare, IMO.

Whatever his strenghths may be , I think they were greatly exaggerated from the outset. I think his reputation benefitted enormously by working as Tarasova's assistant ,then by having some of her top students ( particularly Yagudin ) follow him when he branched out on his own.
At the time, IIRC, Tarasova had health and family problems and was cutting back on the number of students she was coaching. Also, politics played a more noticeable role at that time, and he fell heir to a certain amount of her clout.
What skater wouldn't want to enroll with the coach who could get them to the top ( for whatever combination of reasons) ? Soon, in fact, pretty well immediately, he was attracting the top talent , which increased his chances of success and bolstered his reputation.

These are my main reasons for not liking him as a coach. Sure , I find the personal relationships distasteful ; the skaters are mostly young when they go to him , and not in a position to make the wisest choices in this regard.
But mostly it's that he's recieved acclaim as some sort of miracle worker and ace choreographer, that's quite undeserved. The Emperor is at least half naked , and I'm glad to see that CoP has been exposing this to some degree.

[orbitz]

If TT was indeed the genius behind Yagudin's programs when Morosov was working under her then why wasn't she able to produce any good programs for anyone once she and Morosov split?

[GarrAarghHrumph]

I don't know him personally. I can only tell you my own experiences with him, and what I've been told by the skaters I know.

I know many skaters who've been coached by Morozov. They all tell me how much he improved their basic skating skills. They feel they benefitted greatly from working with him. I didn't ask them about him - this is info they volunteered.

He's never been anything but nice to me, and he does not know me more than having seen me around the rink - I'm probably just some fat old skater mom with a seven year old in Basic 4. Worse, I'm *gasp* an adult skater. Really, he's been nothing but pleasant. That includes treating me kindly when I was the only adult who obviously COULD NOT DANCE in a modern dance clinic he held during our adult skating camp. During which one of the moves was, yes, face stroking.

Beyond that, I can't comment.

[bek]

I think that everybody has their good points and bad points. I'm really not sure how it can be argued that Nicolai is a bad coach. Look at how inconsistent Florent was and how much more consistent Florent is now. I think Daisuke did gain more confidence with him. And Shizuka was a much more confident skater when she went to him. I thought her long program (of course redone) was lovely.

No Morosov isn't perfect, but I don't think he can be called a bad coach. As for him and Tarasova, I think choregraphy wise they worked well together.

[mmot]

Well, I wouldn't expect a former student ( and certainly not a current student.. pretty well known to be a girlfriend) to have anything negative to say about him. It would be very bad form...For that, you probably have to wait for their memoirs..

I think Dai has every reason NOT to speak kindly of Morozov, considering how they ended up splitting up though - and how UNKINDLY Morovoz has been talking about Dai since their split. Besides, the quotes I made are from Dai's autobiography, in which he could have chosen not to mention anything about his days with Morozov. He did not mention anything about Tat, although as far as I know he remains friendly with her, unlike with Morozov. As for Miki, what you said remains as gossip so I refrain from commenting.

The subject here is not about what we think about Morozov, as a person or choreographer, but why he is actually a popular coach with many pupils. (And wasn't that popularity the reason why Adam left him?) You and I may not appreciate him but many skaters and federations continue to do so. (The French Federation chose Morozov for Amodio.)

[orbitz]

I think Morosov is #1 choice for the JSF, because they believe that he was responsible for giving Japan their first Olympic gold medalist in Arakawa.

He was a natural choice for Joubert, because Brian wanted to be a Yagudin clone for a while. I guess skaters like Rippon, Javier, and KVD flocked to Morosov also because they admired his work for Yag.

[WayCon]

The problem is that he is more of a calculator than a coach.

In a way I agree with you. But I see this in a more positive light, I think, than you do. As a writer, who has worked with a number of editors, I have found myself thinking how much Morozov is like an editor for skaters. Writers hate editors. Editors slash and change things for the sake of their audience, but, when the editor is good, the changes are good after all. Morozov has a good eye, a strong aesthetic sense, but he never, never forgets that he must fulfill the COP requirements and please the judges. He can be brutal, but he wins events.

[berthesghost]

Morozov gave Michelle Kwan TFB, Aranjuez, Tosca, and Spartacus; All memorable programs for Michelle.

yeah, memorably bad! Seriously, about half of MKF nearly had a collective heart attack when Aranjez debuted... had she not performed it so well at nats and worlds, it would be even far more hated than it is.

[Autumn_girl]

That's actually quite good! I can't imagine the facilities in Ekaterinburg are good enough for someone who has potential to skate at quite a high level.

Yes, and it was the main reason I guess why Maxim's previous coach (she also coached Lipnitskaya before Tutberidze) herself contacted with Morozov, so after Worlds Maxim will move.

IDK if Morozov is a good coach for the highest level skaters, but for juniors and up and coming skaters he can be one of the best, imo

[IRIS1975]

I think that Morozov is a very good and successful coach. His students got a lot of medals at different tournaments: Ando - gold and bronze at Worlds, gold at FCC, Takahashi silver at Worlds and gold at FCC, Bourne and Kraatz gold at Worlds, Arakawa gold at Olympic Games, Grushina/Goncharov different medals at Olympic Games, Worlds, Europeans (I'm from Ukraine and believe me it's a very good result for our FS), Amodio gold at Europeans etc.
I think that such Morozov's programs are real masterpieces: "Winter" (Yagudin), "Dark Eyes" (Cohen), "Swan Lake" (Takahashi), "Memories of Geisha" (Ando), "Chaplin" (Oda), "Pirates" (Fernandez), "Pearl Fishers" (Pang/Tong). Maybe I forgot smth.
As for Amodio's LP this year, I am fond of it as it suits him well. He understands what is he is doing on ice. There was nothing wrong when Jackson did those crotch touchings the same with Amodio, I think.

[leafygreens]

After checking the wiki page, I was surprised to find out how much of a ladies man he is:

Morozov was briefly married to Tatiana Navka. He later married French ice dancer Caroline Douarin with whom he has a daughter, Annabelle Nicole, born in 2001. He was married to Canadian ice dancer Shae-Lynn Bourne from August 2005 to July 2007.

He's also currently dating his student, Tatiana Volosozhar. Yowza!

Here's a video of his daughter competing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFpUXrGnPw8

[Zemgirl]

He's also currently dating his student, Tatiana Volosozhar. Yowza!

I think you've mixed up Nikolai Morozov and Stanislav Morozov. Tatiana and Stas have been a couple for a very long time and I doubt that's changed.

[IRIS1975]

After checking the wiki page, I was surprised to find out how much of a ladies man he is:



He's also currently dating his student, Tatiana Volosozhar. Yowza!

Volosozhar's husband is Stanislav Morozov. They are not oficially married. But they are a couple appr. 5 years.

Nikolai married to Navka in order to obtain Byelorussin citizeship, Tanya got it a couple of years earlier.

[aliceanne]

What are your opinions on why he is so popular? ..

Because his students win medals! So what if he dates a lot of women. He's young, handsome, and successful. What's so unusual about that? I think people rag on him because he doesn't fit the stereotype of the coach who has toiled away for decades in anonymity and has no life outside of skating.

[ks777]

I liked Takahashi much more when he was with Morozov.

[gbrookgone]

He's also currently dating his student, Tatiana Volosozhar. Yowza!

Um, no. He's currently dating his student Miki Ando.

[MikiAndoFan#1]

Um, no. He's currently dating his student Miki Ando.

Actually, I've heard Miki is dating a skater.