Tim Whitehead has experienced the full spectrum of hockey as a player and coach — preps, colleges, pros — and is enjoying a stellar run as head coach at New England prep school power Kimball Union Academy, which won its third consecutive NEPSAC Elite 8 tournament this season. A standout player at Hamilton College and former head coach of the Maine Black Bears — and winner of the 2002 Spencer Penrose Trophy as Division 1 National Coach of the Year — Whitehead sat down recently with New England Hockey Journal to discuss the inner workings of prep school hockey and other topics.
New England Hockey Journal: You were hired at Kimball Union Academy back in 2013. Some people look ahead and have a plan. Some people take it day by day. When you went there in 2013, could you have imagined, A, being there this long, and B, having this much success?
Tim Whitehead: Yes and no. We didn’t know for sure, but my wife, Dena, and I were excited about making this type of move, to a great school where our kids could get their education paid for and most importantly, have a great experience. My wife also was starting a second career in teaching, and she loves working at the public schools, and she’s had an opportunity to do that. At that point, we said, “Let’s see how it goes for a couple of years and if we are enjoying it, and most importantly, if the kids are having a great experience and getting a great education, then let’s keep going with it.” Likewise with her job. She used to be the head athletic trainer at UMass Dartmouth before we had kids. We were happy here. It wasn’t perfect, but our kids were getting a great education so we decided to stay, then we bought a house a couple of years ago, so we’re feeling pretty good where things are at and excited to keep moving forward.
NEHJ: From a hockey perspective, how much did it change for you right away? How difficult was it going from high-level college to high-level prep?
Whitehead: It was a pretty dramatic change in the first year. I can’t make it up. It was a little frustrating from that perspective. But most importantly it was not frustrating working with the student-athletes, because even though they’re younger, they’re still just as passionate about the game as the college athletes are. They were just in a different point in their development. The level of play was definitely lower, younger, but having said that, we have been fortunate to have been able to attract some high-level student-athletes. They’re just younger than they are in college and they’re fun to work with. They’re eager to learn and they’re anxious to move up the hockey ladder.
We have been able to help the school by attracting strong student-athletes, and that’s been a big positive. There are some limits. The younger they are, the less you can do from a competitive standpoint, but I have been pleasantly surprised with their ability to focus and concentrate on the task at hand and develop individually and as a team. We saw some huge jumps kids would make in college year to year. But in prep school, there are really huge leaps. Guys just transform. We’ve got a kid this year who just committed to Providence — Tomas Mazura — and he played on our JV team as a ninth-grader. Now as a junior he just committed to Providence. That’s a pretty big jump. We saw big strides in college, but this is even more extreme, and more fun to see those kids emerge.
NEHJ: As a college coach, recruiting is your lifeline. You need that every year. So you kind of knew younger kids. But what have you learned most about younger players now that you have been dealing with them on a day-to-day basis instead of just recruiting them?
Whitehead: I’ve gotten to know their parents a lot better than I used to (laughs). That could be a positive or a negative. In most cases it’s a positive. They should be more involved at this age — the kids are younger and they need their parents’ guidance. As a result, I do know the parents in more depth than I did at the college level. It was a lot of fun to get to know the families at the college level, but in this case, we’re almost working WITH them, to help their kids develop and grow on and off the ice. More involvement with the parents, and because the kids are younger, they’re growing in a lot of different ways — physically, emotionally, educationally, socially. There’s so many things they are experiencing for the first time. Parents are an important part of that process.
Having said that, we’re a boarding school, and one of the benefits of that boarding school experience is that kids do have to start learning how to fend for themselves and make mistakes as they climb up the ladder academically and athletically. That’s difficult for some parents to deal with. It’s the first time that some of these kids have not been the best player on their team, or not the best student in their class, or not the best at every sport they try, or every instrument they play in music. It is a very good experience for them to deal with adversity for the first time, and it is difficult for parents to let them fail and trust that that’s part if the process. It’s easier to do when you have multiple kids and have been through it with a couple of older siblings already. But particularly for parents who have never been through it, it’s a real difficult process to let your kid fight through it. Parents’ instinct is to save them and try to help them through every challenge they face, and many times that can be counter-productive. We all learn that when we get older, that they have to learn from their own mistakes and mom and dad can’t save them every time, and should not save them, even if they could, in some of these adverse situations. Of course, I’m not talking about dangerous situations. I’m talking about life lessons, on and off the ice.
NEHJ: From a coaching perspective, how different is delivering the message, whatever that message is, to a prep school player than a college player?
Whitehead: Honestly, it’s not very different. My first year, I felt it was. I think it is easier at the college level — they’ve had more experiences, obviously, and they’re more capable, athletically, and more mature, physically. Yeah, the message is easier to deliver at the college level, but now I guess I have adjusted to how to deliver the message. Prep athletes are pretty receptive and I do see them making big strides. There are some areas I will go into more depth at this age than I would with college players and really explain things that I took for granted at the college level. Subtle parts of the game. We do a lot of video, actually. I have never believed, as some people do, that you can’t teach hockey sense, on offense or defense. I don’t believe that at all. You certainly can. Some people are blessed with maybe a little bit more than others, but you certainly can. We go through that process, maybe with more explanation than I would have done at the college level, when we’re talking about reading plays and making decisions on the ice. At the same time, you’re talking about the same things. It just might take a little bit more explanation to get them to do it instinctively.
NEHJ: Skills now are emphasized so much. Are you amazed, impressed, sometimes shocked at how skilled some of these young players are?
Whitehead: Yes, I am. It’s very surprising what some of them can do. And some of them can do it at full speed. Some of the skills they can bring out, even in games and practice, are things that were never done at the college or even the pro level in some cases. Some of the stick skills, in particular, and the shots, the goaltending. … Wow. Huge growth in the game. We then assume that they can think the game the same way they will as an adult, too. But many of them ARE thinking the game, too. So it’s not just the skills and the skating. I see the hockey sense growing as well at a young age. It’s really remarkable.
You see this in many sports, not just in hockey. Having lived in the game for many years, the growth has been very significant. The most glaring thing is the skill level and the skating. I would argue that it’s also how quickly they can do things under pressure. It used to be something you only did at the end of practice when nobody was defending you, now kids are doing it — putting their stick between their legs on a breakaway, for instance — not just in a shootout but in a game, and you’re like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ But they’re pulling it off.
NEHJ: You’ve had a threepeat — won the NEPSAC, the big division, the Elite 8, three years in a row now. What have you been most proud of, hockeywise, so far at Kimball Union?
Whitehead: Proudest I’ve been is just seeing how people here at the school feel about our student-athletes, the respect that they’ve earned on campus, not just as hockey players but as students, as people. That as much as anything. I’m not embarrassed to say, we love winning games here at KUA. There’s nothing wrong with excellence, on the field or on the ice. At the same time, we’re very proud that we’re doing it the right way, with the right kids. We’re not compromising any of our values to do it. Each year is unique, and that’s the most fun, going through that process. Each year, the chemistry is very different each time, and you’ve got to approach it with a clean slate each year. It’s a fascinating process. I think I’m most proud of the growth of the culture here. And the culture was just fine before I got here. The particular culture of each year is what I’m most proud of. Each year we can create a unique culture and a unique spirit that works for each group. That’s the part that my assistant coaches, Matt (Underhill) and Bryant (Harris), and I, are most proud of.
NEHJ: On a personal side, what do you like to do on the side? What helps identify Tim Whitehead apart from Coach Whitehead, when you have time away from the development office and away from coaching hockey?
Whitehead: As a Division 1 (college) coach at a great program that had a remote location, I did spend a lot of time away from home, both in my years at Lowell and my time at Maine, in particular. What I enjoy most now is the quiet moments that I rarely had with my family … with my wife, Dena, and our daughter, Natalie, and son, Zach, and our extended family. My niece has lived with us for a year, going to school at KUA. Now our nephew has lived with us for two years. Those are experiences that are very unique and we are very fortunate that we can do that type of thing. And to see my wife enjoying a second career, teaching at the public school, has been really neat, to see her passion for that. Most importantly for our son and our daughter is for me to be there for some of the big moments but also for some of the quiet moments. That’s been the biggest advantage of this move Dena and I have made.
NEHJ: Any hobbies, activities when you are away from school?
Whitehead: I like watching hockey games. I am a hockey junky, as far as recruiting. My passion for the game definitely has not ebbed at all. I do enjoy working with the student-athletes and recruiting, watching games. I am enjoying exercising more regularly than I could in my previous existence. We have a dog and a cat and I can spend some time taking long walks with the dog, which I never could do. Mostly, it’s just been family time. I don’t get out and golf much. Too restless for that I guess. Same with fishing. Matt fishes a lot, my assistant coach, but I’m too impatient to stand there and wait for somebody to bite. I’ve got to go out and get them. If fishing was a little more active, I’d be on it. Too passive for me.
NEHJ: The beauty of coaching is you always have a mission. What does the team look like next year at KUA?
Whitehead: We’ve got some great kids coming back, but we lost some tremendous seniors, as you do every year, I guess. It’s taking shape. The prep school recruiting and admissions process is much slower than at the college level. We literally don’t know yet who is going to be on our team. We are working hard at it, but we do have other responsibilities at the school, and there’s other considerations for the school than just having a good hockey team. We understand that. I think we’ll be very competitive.
I learned long ago when I was at Maine, you write all the game on there, all the way through the end of the season and every last playoff game, and you never know — you might just find yourself there again next year. We’ll be competitive. Whether or not we’ll have what it takes to get into that championship game and finish it off, remains to be seen.
We’ve set the bar up pretty high for ourselves here. That kind of pressure is usually not healthy for young athletes, but at the same time, we’ll find a way to deal with it and hopefully turn it into a positive, and win, lose or draw, create a fun experience for our players, and a fulfilling experience.
