Huh? Blame Mishin? What coach in his right mind wouldn't want to coach such skaters of emmense talent? Believe you me, I would! Smart man. He knew they'd be champions.
True, and Mishin's approach is the teamwork approach. But honestly, you really can't coach the best two skaters in the world... Because someone's going to get short changed...... And honestly, I think as a coach your previous skaters do deserve some loyalty. For example, Mishin know refuses to train Lambiel. Perhaps then I guess Mishin has learned: Two best skaters in the world, can't share one coach... Still given this I never understood why in some cases, Mishin seemed a little bit upset that Yagudin left. At the very least, Mishin seemed angry with Tarasova, and I don't really understand this because surely Mishin was a smart enough man to realize that Yagudin/Plushenko training mates for life wasn't going to work.
But then again, I guess the situation was always win/win for Mishin. In reality, I mean even though I was cheering for Yagudin back then, even I recognize that yes Mishin deserves a lot of credit for Yagudin being the Olympic champion he was.
Maybe Mishin's plan was always to let the first one who wanted to leave? Honestly, I think that it made more sense for Yagudin to leave anyways. He was older than Plushenko, and could handle the move a lot better. Also, I can't blame Mishin if he thought Plushenko had more potential back then, because I thought the same thing. Plushenko back then did have more charisma. But you know what, I think that Yagudin always was the better competitor than Plushenko. Even now, if both men were healthy, and I had to rely on one man to skate his best when the pressure is on, I'd take Yagudin. There's a reason Yagudin won 3/4 world titles and the Olympic title.