Len Quesnelle, a 25-year NCAA coaching veteran and most recently an amateur scout for the Detroit Red Wings, has been named an assistant coach at Boston University.
Quesnelle, who was a standout defenseman at Princeton and later served as head coach of the Tigers, has spent the past four years with the Red Wings after a nine-season stint as an assistant coach at Massachusetts.
He replaces Scott Young, who was named director of player development for the Pittsburgh Penguins after three years on staff at his alma mater.
“We feel very fortunate to be able to add someone like Len, with his extensive experience as coach and a recruiter, to our staff,” said BU head coach David Quinn in a statement. “He is as well-respected a guy as there is in all of hockey and he will make a big contribution to BU hockey immediately and moving forward as well.”
In all, Quesnelle spent 20 years at Princeton as a student-athlete and a coach. He arrived on campus in 1984 and went on to earn All-Ivy honors as a senior in 1987-88, when he helped the team reach the NCAA tournament and achieve a ranking as high as sixth in the national polls. He appeared in 106 games and earned the program’s Class of 1941 Championship Award for winning sprit.
Following graduation, he joined Princeton’s coaching staff as an assistant and remained in that role for 12 years before becoming the program’s 14th head coach in 2000. His final nine seasons as an assistant were under head coach Don Cahoon, a standout on BU’s first two national championship teams.
At the helm, Quesnelle became the first coach in Princeton history to lead the Tigers to consecutive seasons of .500-or-better records in ECAC play.
Quesnelle moved to Hockey East in 2004 when he reunited with Cahoon as an assistant coach at UMass.
With the Red Wings, Quesnelle’s primary scouting area was high school, junior and NCAA hockey throughout New England.
He has served as director of the Western Massachusetts Hockey School and Preseason Position Camp, as well as the Princeton University Hockey Camp, and is a frequent speaker and instructor at camps throughout North America.
