Professional profile
One would be hard-pressed to find a coach who has constructed and maintained a program as successful as St. Norbert College hockey under Tim Coghlin.
Bringing the Green Knights from their infancy on ice to the pinnacle of NCAA Division III hockey, Coghlin has constructed a 322-92-35 record in 15 seasons. During that time, St. Norbert has put together a 158-44-22 mark in the strong Northern Collegiate Hockey Association, the best tenure in league history in terms of winning percentage.
Coghlin piloted the Green Knights to their first national championship in 2008. St. Norbert won both Frozen Four games via shutout, the first time that's ever happened at the Division III level. St. Norbert finished the season 27-1-4, the fewest losses ever for a NCAA Division III men's ice hockey champion.
St. Norbert has appeared in 10 NCAA Division III Tournaments since 1997, highlighted by its Frozen Four appearances in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 – winning the national championship in 2008 and placing as national runner-up in 2004 and 2006.
Over the past 11 seasons, St. Norbert has registered an outstanding 291-56-27 ledger which includes 10 NCHA regular-season championships and seven NCHA Peters Cup Playoff titles. Coghlin’s team have been especially tough to beat at home since moving into the Cornerstone Community Center in 2000, going a robust 116-11-7 on home ice during the eight years the Green Knights have occupied the building.
Named St. Norbert’s third varsity head coach on May 26, 1993, Coghlin immediately went to work into laying the foundation for future success.
Following a 10-9-1 rookie campaign, St. Norbert entered its first season in the NCHA. The Green Knights finished sixth in the league in 1994-95 and nearly toppled UW-Stevens Point in the first round of the league playoffs.
It would be the last and only time St. Norbert has finished out of the top half of the NCHA standings. The Green Knights improved to fourth with a 10-8-2 mark in 1995-96, and broke through to win the league title in 1996-97.
St. Norbert fashioned a 27-6 record in 1997-98 while winning a second consecutive NCHA championship. The Green Knights had five one-goal losses that season and the other game by just two goals. St. Norbert finished the hat trick in 1998-99, again winning the NCHA regular-season and playoff titles.
The Green Knights finished second in the NCHA in 1999-2000 but still managed 22 wins and a 19-game unbeaten streak, and then placed third in 2000-01. St. Norbert answered those seasons with its fourth and fifth NCHA championships the next two years.
In 2001-02 and 2004-05, Coghlin led St. Norbert to a 12-0-2 regular-season record in the NCHA, becoming the first coach in league history to lead a team to an unbeaten season two different times.
St. Norbert ended the 2004-05 season ranked No. 1 for the third consecutive year. The Green Knights also ended the 2003-04 regular season ranked No. 1 and made their first NCAA Division III championship game appearance, losing 1-0 in overtime to Middlebury. During the 2002-03 season, St. Norbert was ranked No. 1 for 10 weeks, including eight straight weeks in late January to mid-March.
Coghlin was named NCHA Coach of the Year in 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2006. He also received the Lee Remmel Award for Outstanding Achievement in April 2005.
No stranger to success as a player, he captained UW-Stevens Point’s first NCAA Division III championship team in 1989 and was an assistant coach with the Pointers when they won the national title in 1993 and finished runner-up in 1992.
Coghlin was a two-time All-America selection as a defenseman and three-time All-NCHA selection at Stevens Point, where he was inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame and ranks among the Pointers’ all-time scoring leaders.
Following his collegiate career, Coghlin signed with the Vancouver Canucks and played briefly with the Milwaukee Admirals in 1989. He injured his shoulder in training camp the next season and joined the Fife Flyers of the British Premier League as a player and assistant coach.
A native of Summerland, British Columbia, Coghlin holds a master’s degree in education and a bachelor’s degree in communications, both from UW-Stevens Point.
Coghlin, who completed the Wisconsin Ironman Triathlon in 2006, resides in Weyauwega with his wife, Barb, and son, Joseph. |
