Northern Michigan head coach Rick Comley will be named MSU’s next hockey coach at a press conference today, the university announced Sunday night.
“Rick Comley is a fierce competitor,” retiring MSU head coach Ron Mason said in a written statement. “Rick was that way as a player and he has carried that competitiveness into his coaching. He’s very innovative in terms of his coaching and he’s a tireless worker.
“At Michigan State, there’s so much more to this position than simply coaching. Rick knows how to completely run a hockey program so he can handle both the coaching and administrative roles.”
Mason, who has coached MSU for the last 23 years, is retiring to become MSU’s next athletics director, effective July 1. He was in charge of choosing his hockey successor.
Comley, 55, has spent the last 26 seasons as head coach of the Wildcats. He has amassed a 538-429-68 record with the team. He is the only coach in the history of the Northern hockey program, and he was the school’s athletics director from 1987-2000.
Before starting his tenure in Marquette, he coached three years at his alma mater, Lake Superior State, from 1973-76. His all-time 29-year record is 597-475-71, which, following the recent retirements of Mason and Wisconsin head coach Jeff Sauer, makes him the third-winningest active coach in the nation.
Comley earned the Spencer Penrose Award as national coach of the year in 1980 and 1991 - the year he guided Northern to its only national championship. This season, the Wildcats went 26-12-2 and narrowly missed a berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Ironically, Comley’s last game at Northern was a 2-1 loss to MSU in the CCHA Tournament semifinals on March 16. He is 11-20-2 all-time against MSU.
Comley was not available for comment Sunday.
“I’m very excited about having the opportunity to lead one of the best hockey programs in the country,” Comley said in a statement. “Ron Mason has established a program of national prominence. My goal is to continue to pursue excellence, both in the classroom and on the ice.
“Our goal at Michigan State remains the same, and that’s to win national championships.”
Comley’s ties to Mason go back to 1967, when he began playing for Mason at Lake Superior State. He played under Mason until 1971 and then became an assistant on the Laker staff the following year. He took over the program in 1973, when Mason left for Bowling Green.
The two have remained close friends since.
Comley attended all four games of the NCAA Tournament West Regional at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor this weekend - sitting between his wife, Diane, and Western Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner Bruce McLeod.
When Comley was asked about the recent speculation concerning him and the MSU job, both he and his wife laughed.
“That’s the rumor, I know, but it’s just rumors right now,” he said in the Yost stands Friday. “We’re just here enjoying the weekend.”
While Comley was mostly unnoticed in the upper rows of Yost this weekend, it will be hard for him to hide at the arena in the future. Mason was repeatedly jeered Friday during his last game in Ann Arbor, and Comley can expect the same treatment once he becomes the face associated with Spartan hockey.
