With the weather heating up, so are the offseason coaching changes in college hockey. A number of local college programs have openings or are making hires while a big-time name from the region is on the move.
As of right now, the most notable opening in New England is at Bentley. Former head coach Ryan Soderquist (Stoneham, Mass.) and the school parted ways in April. Athletic director Vaughn Williams has hired a search firm to lead the effort to bring a new head coach to the Falcons.
Both assistant coaches, Ben Murphy (Andover, Mass.) and Steve Needham (Medford, Mass.), were relieved of their duties a few weeks after Soderquist’s announcement. That means whoever the new head coach is will get free rein to hire his own staff.
Williams came to Bentley in 2020 after serving as the senior associate athletic director at Boston College, which means he’s familiar with an emerging candidate. Brendan Buckley (Needham, Mass.) has been an assistant coach at BC, his alma mater, since 2018-19. In addition to coaching stops with the Eagles and UConn, Buckley had an illustrious playing career as a defenseman.
The school will unlikely be able to pull in a big-name assistant like I discussed when offering my opinion on candidates back in April. It will be interesting to see if Williams and the search committee elect to go with a young up-and-coming assistant coach who might use the job as a platform for a bigger role or if they’ll opt for an experienced, older coach who could see Bentley as a long-term fit.
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While Bentley searches for its next head coach, Atlantic Hockey foe American International’s administration can breathe a sigh of relief. Eric Lang appears set to stay at his alma mater after flirting with yet another head coaching gig elsewhere. Lang was in the running and was in deep conversations to be the next head coach at Colgate, but ultimately it fell through. The AIC alum has had a successful career at his alma mater since taking over before the 2016-17 season.
Staying in Atlantic Hockey, Holy Cross will need to find a new assistant coach to replace Eric Sorenson, who will take a similar post at UMass Lowell. The 2014 Western New England alum had been on Bill Riga’s staff for the past two seasons. He will replace Taylor Nelson, who left Norm Bazin’s staff to become an assistant coach at Division 1 upstart Augustana. Like Nelson, Sorenson is a former collegiate goaltender and can bring expertise in that regard to the River Hawks’ staff.
Just down the road along Route 495, Merrimack appears set to hire Jimmy Mullin to fill the void that has been open on its staff since the tragic passing of Josh Ciocco. Merrimack head coach Scott Borek (Swampscott, Mass.) and assistant Dan Jewell operated shorthanded for much of the 2022-23 campaign. A huge kudos goes out to volunteer assistant Chris Ross, who stepped in somewhat, but the Warriors only had one coach on the recruiting trail for much of the season. Mullin played college hockey at Miami and Minnesota State. He just finished his second season as an assistant coach with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program. Prior to that, he spent time with two youth hockey programs, the Indiana Junior Fuel and Ohio AAA Blue Jackets.
As I reported previously, Stonehill alum Dana Borges (Taunton, Mass.) was leaving Colgate to become an assistant coach at Arizona State. The Sun Devils were in the fold for two assistants as head coach Greg Powers let go both of his following the 2022-23 season.
The other new addition to the ASU staff is quite the splash. Former Boston University head coach Albie O’Connell (Watertown, Mass.) will be the new associate head coach of Arizona State. A former star player at BU, O’Connell had significant success as an assistant coach at his alma mater and other programs prior to becoming the Terriers’ bench boss. The move will become official after the NHL Draft later this month as O’Connell will remain on the scouting staff of the Montreal Canadiens until then.
