New Hampshire men’s hockey coach Dick Umile has announced that former Yale head coach Tim Taylor has joined the men’s hockey coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach.
“We are very excited to have someone with his background and experience involved with our hockey program and at our University. Tim is not only a well respected member of the hockey community, he is a tremendous person and a good friend,” said Umile.
Taylor was ousted from his position at Yale after the end of the 2005-06 season. Taylor’s last victory, a 3-2 win over Union on March 4, was the longest (141:35) game in the history of NCAA men’s hockey. Yale lost to regular season ECACHL co-champions Dartmouth in the next round.
Taylor owned a 342-433-55 in 28 seasons as Yale’s head coach and produced one ECACHL title, six Ivy League champions, 18 ECAC playoff teams and a pair of 20-win seasons. Taylor, the 1997-98 Spencer Penrose Award winner as the American Hockey Coaches Association University Coach of the Year, is a three-time (1986-87, 1991-92, 1997-98) ECAC Coach of the Year and a two-time (1991-92, 1997-98) New England Coach of the Year. Taylor passed Murray Murdoch on the Yale hockey coaching victory list with his 279th on Dec. 4, 2001.
Taylor was the head coach of the 1994 U.S. Olympic team at Lillehammer and has had a number of important roles in international hockey, including one as assistant general manager and assistant coach for the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team. He served as head coach of the U.S. National Team at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships four straight years in the 90’s in addition to leading Team USA to its best finish in the 1991 Canada Cup. Taylor, an assistant in the Canada Cup, took over Team USA after Bob Johnson became ill and led the Americans to second place. A two-time assistant for the U.S. National Team (1981 and 1983), Taylor also led the South to a silver medal in the 1987 Olympic Sports Festival.
Taylor, who ranks 13th among active Division I head coaches in victories with 327, is a 1963 Harvard graduate. He spent seven years as an assistant at his alma mater before becoming Yale’s 10th head coach. He captained the 1963 Crimson team that won the Ivy League and the ECAC championships, and tallied 46 goals and 33 assists for 79 career points in 68 career games. Taylor also made the U.S. national team in 1965 and 1967.
