Richard Umile (born December 21, 1948) is a former American men's ice hockey coach at

the University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover, moved to Durham in 1893, a ...

. Coaching the Wildcats from

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

through the 2018 season, Umile led UNH to the most wins in school history.

Career

Dick Umile was UNH’s coach from 1990 to 2018. He attended the University of

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

from 1968 - 1972, and played hockey for legendary UNH coach

Charlie Holt Charlie Holt (July 17, 1922 – March 17, 2000) was an American ice hockey coach. He was the head coach of the University of New Hampshire from 1968 thru 1986. He is one of three 3-time recipients of the college ice hockey National Coach-of-t ...

. Upon graduation, Umile began his coaching career with the Watertown (Mass.) High School Red Raiders . He was named head coach in 1975, and proceeded to rebuild the previously unsuccessful team into a state champion during the next ten years. In 1985, Umile jumped into the college ranks by becoming assistant coach to the newly appointed head coach at

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in some religions * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

College, former UNH teammate

Mike McShane Michael McShane (born June 25, 1955) is an American actor, singer, and improvisational comedian. He appeared on the original British version of the television show ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' (1988–97) and went on to appear in films such as ...

, where Dick worked for two years prior to becoming a scout for the NHL St.Louis Blues. In 1988 Umile ran into

Bob Kullen Robert A. Kullen (1949 – November 2, 1990) was an American ice hockey coach and player. He was the head coach of the University of New Hampshire for a short time in the late 1980s before a rare heart condition that necessitated a heart transpl ...

who was recovering from a recent

heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedure is to take a functioning heart ...

and was enticed to return to 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 ...

as an assistant coach. Two seasons later, Kullen's health took a sudden turn for the worse and Umile was thrust into the head coaching position just prior to the 1990–91 season. The season soon became dedicated to Kullen when the former coach died on November 2 and the team responded by giving New Hampshire its first winning season in seven years. After the season, Umile was awarded with

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

's Coach of the Year Award, newly renamed in Bob Kullen's Honor. The Wildcats advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade. Four years later New Hampshire would win its first Hockey East Regular season title, and its first conference title in 23 years, behind a then-record 28-win season. Two years later the Wildcats would post their first 30-win season and marched all the way to the 1999 NCAA Championship Game before being defeated by conference rival

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, 3-2 in overtime. New Hampshire would continue to perform strongly under Umile, returning as a semi-finalist in the 2002 NCAA Frozen Four tournament, and then making it back to the Frozen Four Championship game in 2003, where the Wildcats lost to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, 5-1. Over the course of his 28 years at the helm, Umile coached the Wildcats to 22 winning seasons, with twenty of them having at least 20 wins. He holds the school record for most statistical categories including

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

appearances (4), NCAA Tournament appearances (18), consecutive tournament appearances (10), and Conference Regular season Titles (7), and is the only coach in school history to provide conference tournament titles (

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

). For his efforts, Umile received the Bob Kullen Coach of the Year Award a record six times, as well as the

Spencer Penrose Award The Spencer Penrose Award is awarded yearly to the top coach in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey by the American Hockey Coaches Association. The finalists for each year's award comprise the conference Coach of the Year winners from each Division ...

in 1999. Dick was named to both the Italian-American Hall of Fame (2007) and the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey (2009). He retired after the 2017-18 season.

Head coaching record

College

† Maine was required to forfeit 13 games after the conclusion of the season and subsequently dropped from 1st place to 3rd, though they are still considered league champions for the year

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Umile, Dick 1948 births Living people American ice hockey coaches High school ice hockey coaches in the United States New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey players New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey coaches Ice hockey people from Melrose, Massachusetts

Career

Head coaching record

College

See also

External links

External links