The search is over for Massachusetts.
Vermont associate head coach John Micheletto has accepted the Minutemen’s offer and was introduced as the school’s new head coach at a press conference Monday afternoon.
“After our meetings with John and our consultations with those in the college hockey community, we are thrilled to announce him as our new head coach,” said UMass director of athletics John McCutcheon in a news release. “John brings a wealth of coaching experience, is a talented recruiter, understands the Hockey East Association and certainly has a strong familiarity with the UMass hockey program.”
“I am humbled to be the 13th head coach at the University of Massachusetts,” added Micheletto. “When I first started coaching in 1991, I never fathomed that my first head coaching job would come at such a highly-regarded hockey program as UMass.”
Micheletto attended high school in Massachusetts at Milton Academy and graduated in 1990 from Dartmouth.
Micheletto, who coached at UVM since the 2003-04 season, coached prep school hockey in Pennsylvania before breaking into college coaching with stints at Union, under Sneddon, and Notre Dame under former coach Dave Poulin.
“Words cannot describe how proud I was when I learned the news that John Micheletto was offered the head coach position at UMass,” said Vermont head coach Kevin Sneddon in a statement. “John has been a loyal assistant/associate of mine for well over a decade. Though we will miss him as a coach, I will miss him even more as a close friend. Thankfully, he remains in the best conference in college hockey and I look forward to competing against him in Hockey East for many years.”
UMass had been looking for a head coach since Don “Toot” Cahoon stepped down in June and Quinnipiac’s Rand Pecknold, Holy Cross’ Paul Pearl and USHL coach Mark Carlson all reportedly turned down offers to take over behind the the Minutemen bench.
“The University of Massachusetts got a good man today,” said Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna in a statement. “I’ve known John since the days when we were both in the ECAC. He is a quality person with an extensive hockey background. He will do great things in Amherst.”
