Former Summerland resident Tim Coghlin has been named coach of the year by U.S. College Hockey Online.
He is coach of the St. Norbert College in Wisconsin near Green Bay.
He coached the Green Knights to a second consecutive D-III championship and a third consecutive Frozen Four.
This is the second consecutive year he has been named USCHO’s Division III Coach of the Year.
Coghlin was born in Penticton and educated in Summerland, graduating from Summerland Secondary School in 1982. His sisters Kim Chadwick and Shirley McPhedran live in Summerland.
Bringing the Green Knights from their infancy on ice to the pinnacle of NCAA Division III hockey, Coghlin has constructed a 390-108-40 record in 18 seasons.
During that time, St. Norbert has put together a 194-54-26 mark in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association, the best tenure in league history in terms of winning percentage.
St. Norbert has appeared in 12 NCAA Division III Tournaments since 1997, highlighted by its Frozen Four appearances in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011, winning the national championship in 2008 and 2011 and placing as national runner-up in 2004, 2006 and 2010.
His five NCAA title game appearances are the second highest total in Division III history.
Named St. Norbert’s third varsity head coach on May 26, 1993, Coghlin immediately went to work into laying the foundation for future success.
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’s 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.
Coghlin was also a two-time all American at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point as a defenseman and was inducted into that school’s sports hall of fame. Coghlin holds a master’s degree in education and a bachelor’s degree in communications, both from UW-Stevens Point.
Coghlin completed the Wisconsin Ironman Triathlon in 2006.
He lives in Suamico with his wife Barb, son Joseph, and daughter Faith.