William G. Selman (born c. 1939) is a retired head coach of men's college, university and professional ice hockey teams.
Career
Bill Selman was a three-year letterman for the
North Dakota Fighting Sioux
The North Dakota Fighting Hawks (formerly known as the Flickertails and the Fighting Sioux) are the athletic teams that represent the University of North Dakota (UND), located in the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks compete at ...
, winning a
national title with the team in his senior season. After two seasons as an assistant in
Grand Forks
Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in the state, after Fargo and Bismarck. Grand For ...
Selman became the third consecutive assistant coach to be promoted to
head coach
A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...
of the Sioux in 1966. Selman led North Dakota to two conference tournament titles in each of his first two seasons, finishing as runners up in
1968
Events January–February
* January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously.
* January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...
. After only two years Selman left his
alma mater
Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...
to take over at
Minnesota–Duluth. Two seasons later Selman once again changed universities, this time leading the new
Division I program at
Saint Louis.
The Billikens would only remain in the upper echelon for nine years but Selman stayed with the team for the entire time being a driving force behind the formation of the
CCHA, capturing three conference titles, three conference tournament championships and coaching three future
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
players (
Mike Krushelnyski
Michael "Kruzer" Krushelnyski (born April 27, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre/ left winger who played 14 years in the National Hockey League (NHL). While playing in the NHL, he won three Stanley Cups as a player with th ...
,
Mario Faubert and
Lindsay Middlebrook). Once Saint Louis ended their program Selman moved on to be the head coach of the
IHL's Dayton Gems
The Dayton Gems were a minor league ice hockey team based in Dayton, Ohio, and members of the International Hockey League from 1964 to 1977, and 1979–1980.
The Gems were an expansion team assembled from various cast-offs and young players loo ...
for the
1979–80 season. After a year off Selman was back in the college ranks, this time with the
Lake Superior State Lakers
The Lake Superior State Lakers (LSSU Lakers) are the athletic teams that represent the Lake Superior State University, located in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sporting competitions. The Lakers compete as members ...
. He coached
Team USA
The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions.
Olympic teams
Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...
at the
1982 World Ice Hockey Championships
The 1982 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in Finland from the 15 April to the 29 April. The games were played in Helsinki and Tampere with eight teams playing a single round-robin, followed by the top four teams playing each other once m ...
but finished with a disastrous 0-6-1 record that saw the US relegated out of the top bracket. Selman would only coach Lake Superior State for 20 games the following season before retiring from coaching and taking a job with
Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...
in the
sports marketing
Sports marketing as a concept has established itself as a branch of marketing over the past few decades; however, a generally accepted definition does not exist. Academicians Kaser and Oelkers (2005, p. 9) define sports marketing as 'using spor ...
department.
In his career Selman was named as coach of the year for both the
WCHA
The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college ice hockey conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's-only conference.
From 1951 to 1999, it operated as a men ...
(
1967
Events January
* January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair.
* January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
) and
CCHA (
1977
Events January
* January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
) while also receiving the 2014 President's Choice Award from the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame and the 2016
Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award
The Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award is an annual award presented by the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Committee to honor "one of the all-time great contributors to the game of College ice hockey, college hockey."
In 1981, the Hobey Baker ...
.
Head coaching record
College
†
Selman resigned in December 1982
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selman, Bill
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Canadian ice hockey coaches
Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs men's ice hockey coaches
North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey players
North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey coaches
Saint Louis Billikens men's ice hockey coaches
Lake Superior State Lakers men's ice hockey coaches
Ice hockey people from Ontario
Sportspeople from Fort Frances
Ice hockey in Dayton, Ohio
Canadian ice hockey defencemen
NCAA men's ice hockey national champions