Penn State has announced the hiring of George Lewis as the men’s hockey team’s director of hockey operations.
“George has the earned the respect of our staff and alumni through great work in the past as a volunteer assistant coach with our program,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said in a statement. “Since then, he has shown tremendous growth and had valuable experiences in both coaching and operations during his time in the NAHL and most recently the USHL, with the Lincoln Stars. Because of the person he is, his experience with our program, and the work he has done in junior hockey we are thrilled to have George Lewis join our program as director of hockey operations.”
Lewis makes his return to Hockey Valley to replace longtime director of hockey operations, Alex Dawes, who earlier this week began a new job with the PGA of America as the championship operations manager for the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. Dawes had spent the past nine seasons at Penn State serving as director of hockey operations for the men’s program since 2016.
Lewis served three seasons as a volunteer coach for the Nittany Lions from 2013 to 2016. After leaving Penn State, he spent two years as the head coach and general manager of the Philadelphia Little Flyers before joining the Amarillo Bulls of the NAHL as an assistant coach and the director of player personnel in 2018.
During his three seasons with the Bulls, Lewis organized team travel and oversaw all aspects of team video as well as recruiting and retaining players and overseeing all of the team’s community service appearances.
Most recently, Lewis spent the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach with Lincoln, where he oversaw all aspects of team video, organized team travel along with assisting in the development and execution of daily practice plans while also providing the team and staff with different analytic feedback.
“It is an honor and a privilege to return to the Penn State men’s hockey program,” said Lewis. “I am extremely passionate about this program, and I look forward to helping to continue to build the culture while providing our student-athletes with the best possible experience.”
