Having already lost its conference and an assistant coach this offseason, Alabama-Huntsville added another element to a few months of great change.
Coach Danton Cole is leaving UAH to become a head coach at the USA Hockey National Team Development Program.
Cole was the head coach and associate athletic director for the Chargers for the last three seasons.
Alabama-Huntsville is set to play the upcoming season as an independent program following the dissolution of the CHA. It applied for membership in the CCHA, but was rejected.
Earlier this month, assistant coach John McCabe left to become the head coach at Division III Finlandia.
Cole’s tenure at Huntsville ends with a 23-59-11 record. The Chargers won the CHA playoff title last season to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.
“An opportunity for me and my family with USA Hockey presented itself, and as a professional chance to work in their program it is a great situation for us,” Cole said in a news release.
Cole will coach the National Team Development Program’s Under-17 team next season.
The school did not immediately announce how Cole, a Pontiac, Mich., native and former Michigan State player, would be replaced or how that process would proceed.
“We wish Coach Cole and his family well with this new position back home in Michigan,” Alabama-Huntsville athletic director Jim Harris said. “Danton has done an outstanding job advancing our hockey program with excellent recruiting classes and an upgraded future schedule that includes teams like Ohio State, Air Force and others in home-and-home series.”
