Dennis Williams, a gold medal-winning head coach for Canada at the 2023 World Junior Championship and current head coach of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips, has been named head coach at Bowling Green.
Williams, the ninth head coach in Falcons hockey history, will be formally introduced at a press conference on Thursday at 9 a.m.
He replaces Ty Eigner, who was not brought back after the 2023-24 season.
Williams comes to BGSU after spending seven years as the head coach of the Silvertips of the WHL, including the last three as general manager. Under Williams, Everett earned four U.S. Division titles, three conference regular-season titles and one Western Conference championship. Williams and the Silvertips start the first round of the WHL playoffs on Friday against Vancouver.
He will coach the Silvertips through the conclusion of the playoffs. Williams will officially join BGSU following the end of the Silvertips’ season.
“Dennis Williams is a gold medal-winning coach for Team Canada, one of those most respected coaches in the Canadian hockey system, and one of the top head coaches in the WHL,” said BGSU director of athletics Derek van der Merwe in a statement. “In the two weeks, I have learned that he is highly respected by his peers across this country. He embodies the essence of educational leadership, with a mentorship style that blends discipline, character, persistence, and a commitment to excellence. Wherever he has gone, winning has followed. His true success lies in the development of his players on and off the ice. We have a storied hockey tradition at Bowling Green State University and Dennis has values, knowledge and respect in the industry to position the Falcons for CCHA and NCAA success.”
“Bowling Green State University is excited to welcome Dennis Williams as our head coach of men’s ice hockey,” added BGSU president Rodney K. Rogers. “He is an accomplished, gold medal-winning coach with extensive experience and success in developing the talent of athletes. I want to thank Derek van der Merwe, director of athletics, for his leadership of this national search. We will continue to elevate the rich history and legacy of BGSU hockey at our university and across the region, and I look forward to joining our students, faculty, staff, alumni and community in supporting BGSU hockey in the Slater Family Ice Arena.”
The native of Stratford, Ont., has served as a coach for Hockey Canada, including head coach for the 2023 World Junior Championship (gold medal), an assistant coach for the 2022 World Junior Championship (gold), an assistant at the 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and head coach for Team Canada Black at the 2018 U17 World Hockey Challenge.
Williams carries 17 years of head coaching experience across junior and college levels, boasting an overall career head coaching record of 544-267-14. His junior hockey career head coaching winning percentage stands at .700 with a career record of 505-217, while with the Silvertips he is currently 283-120 (.702). During his time with Everett, Williams was named Western Conference coach of the year twice (2018, 2020) and U.S. Division coach of the year (2022). He has boasted 11 NHL draftees since 2018 (second-most in the WHL) and 16 of his players have signed pro contracts at the NHL or AHL levels.
Named the fifth head coach in Silvertips franchise history, Williams promptly embarked on a year-long journey which broke the Silvertips record for wins by a first-year head coach (47), earned their third-most points (99) in franchise history, set a new single-season franchise record for goals (246), were second in the league for goal differential (-plus80), and earned eight goals or more in a game on five separate occasions. They broke single-game franchise records for most goals in a game (11) and largest margin of victory (11) in an 11-0 victory at Vancouver, while goaltender Carter Hart earned his second CHL goaltender of the year award, and six different Silvertips were drafted by NHL clubs or signed to NHL or AHL contracts. Williams followed with another 47-win and 99-point season, the Silvertips’ fourth U.S. Division title in five seasons. Goaltender Dustin Wolf was named WHL Western Conference goaltender of the year and CHL scholastic player of the year, while two more Everett players were selected in the NHL Draft in defenseman Gianni Fairbrother (Montreal) and Wolf (Calgary).
The 2019-20 season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, though Williams and the Silvertips secured another remarkable campaign, winning 46 games with 96 standings points for a second-place finish in the division. Three Silvertips were drafted to the NHL following the season: Gage Goncalves (Tampa Bay), Kasper Puutio (Florida) and Ronan Seeley (Carolina). He then guided the Silvertips to their eighth U.S. Division title in the shortened 2021 season, posting a 19-4 (38 points) record and the second-highest points percentage (.826) in the league. Defenseman Olen Zellweger was selected in the NHL Draft 34th overall by the Anaheim Ducks.
With a full slate of games and fans returning to the arena for the 2021-22 season, Williams and the Silvertips assembled one of the greatest seasons in franchise history. Everett clinched their ninth U.S. Division title with a 45-13-5-5 record, clinched the top seed in the Western Conference for just the fifth time in franchise history, eclipsed the 100-point mark for just the third time and scored the most goals as a team in franchise history (280). The team also strung together the longest win streak to start a season (six games) and the longest point streak (18 games) in the team’s 19-year history. Everett netted 79 power-play goals in 2021-22, the most of any WHL team and most in team history since 2006-07.
Despite an injury-riddled season, Williams helped lead the Silvertips back to the postseason in 2022-23 with a 33-32-2-1 team record, placing as the sixth overall seed in the Western Conference. Silvertips captain Jackson Berezowski broke both the career goals record (130; previous record 112) and single-season goals record (48; previously 47) during the season.
In addition to his time with the Silvertips, Williams’ experience includes the USHL’s Bloomington Thunder and NAHL’s Amarillo Bulls. After guiding Bloomington to a 29-24-7 record and fifth place in the Eastern Conference in their expansion season of 2014-15, he led the Thunder in 2015-16 to a 36-18-6 record, an appearance in the Eastern Conference final, and a victory shy of reaching the league’s Clark Cup Finals. He led Amarillo to three consecutive 40-win seasons from 2011-14, amassing a career record of 168-44-2-24 and a points percentage of .756 across four years in the NAHL. He delivered three straight South Division titles, back-to-back and league leading 46-win campaigns, and a Robertson Cup title to Amarillo in 2012-13.
Under Williams, the Bulls shattered a 35-year-old record with 99 points in back-to-back seasons (2011-13) and he was named NAHL coach of the year after the Bulls’ league championship. Williams’ teams in Amarillo led the league in goals from 2011-13 and finished second in the NAHL with 207 goals with a plus-87 goal differential in 2013-14.
During his time in Amarillo and Bloomington, he helped 74 players advance to play in the NCAA Division I ranks and with the Bulls coached seven division all-conference selections, two all-NAHL first team members, one defenseman of the year, and one division all-rookie honoree. With the Thunder, 12 selections were either chosen in the NHL Draft or for rosters at the U17 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, U18 World Championships, and the Junior A World Challenge. He assisted with community outreach efforts with every one of his Bulls squads containing a community service award recipient, and his team in Bloomington was selected as recipient of the 2016-17 Curt Hammer Community Service Award.
Williams has served Utica (2003-04) and Alabama-Huntsville (2007-08) as an assistant coach and started his head coaching career at the NCAA level with four seasons at Neumann.
Williams has not only proven himself as a solid teacher of the game of hockey, but he has also proven he has the capability to change the direction of a program at the college level. Before being an assistant coach for former Falcons assistant coach Danton Cole at Alabama-Huntsville in 2007-08, Williams was the head coach at Neumann from 2003 to 2006. In just three short years, Williams built the Knights into a powerhouse, going from 3-21-1 the year before he arrived to 17-5-5 in his final season behind the bench. In his three seasons with the Knights, he racked up a 35-32-8 record, which included the school’s two best seasons in program history.
A former right winger for the Falcons, Williams received his bachelor of science degree in sport management from Bowling Green in 2001, graduating cum laude. He later earned a master’s degree in education from BGSU in 2003. During his BGSU career, he appeared in 117 career games, notched 20 points (12 goals, eight assists), and 198 penalty minutes for the Falcons, while also notching two-game winning goals. He was the Howard Brown Coaches Award recipient following the 2000-01 season, recognizing him as the person who best exemplified professional qualities both on and off the ice en route to leading the Falcons to a CCHA semifinal appearance that season. He joined BGSU’s coaching staff as an assistant in 2008 and was named interim head coach for the 2009-10 season.
After his BGSU playing career, he spent the 2001-02 hockey season with the Odessa Jackalopes, a New York Islanders affiliate in the Central Hockey League, and the Cambridge Hornets of OHA’s Major League Hockey, now Allan Cup Hockey.
