Jim Culhane’s 11th full season as Western Michigan’s head coach will be his last.
Culhane will be relieved of his duties at the end of the season, the school announced Thursday. The Broncos are 8-17-5 overall this season and 4-16-4 and in 11th place in the 12-team CCHA.
“After a very diligent evaluation of our hockey program, we have
made the decision to move toward a new direction in terms of the
leadership of Bronco hockey,” Western Michigan athletic director Kathy Beauregard said in a news release.
Culhane will be reassigned to the school’s office of development to work in a fundraising role.
A defenseman at Western Michigan from 1983 to 1987, Culhane has a 158-219-45 record with the Broncos.
He posted only two winning seasons of his 11 (he was named interim head coach, then head coach late in the 1998-99 season), those coming in 2001 (20-13-6) and 2002 (19-15-4). The Broncos followed up a .500 season by stumbling to 8-27-3 two seasons ago and 14-20-7 last year.
The school said it would soon launch a national search for Culhane’s replacement.
