Western Michigan has announced the hiring of J.J. Crew as the program’s director of player development.
Crew replaces David Killip, who recently took an assistant coaching position with Salmon Arm of the British Columbia Hockey League.
In his new position, Crew will assist the staff in analyzing the development of the student-athletes, recognition of skill sets and areas of improvement for the team, and help monitor academic progress for the team.
“We are excited about J.J. coming back to Kalamazoo and joining our staff,” said WMU coach Andy Murray in a statement. “He went right away into coaching after a very successful playing career at WMU and has picked up a great amount of experience. We know he will help us give the best opportunity to get the most out of our student-athletes on and off the ice.”
After helping the Broncos win the CCHA tournament in 2012, he graduated with a degree in criminal justice. He then went on to coach in the USPHL Elite league with the Hampton Road Warriors as an assistant coach. From there, he moved on to be the head coach of the Colorado Rampage of the Rocky Mountain Junior Hockey League in 2015-16.
Recently, Crew served as a graduate assistant coach for Ohio University’s ACHA Division I team under former WMU hockey volunteer assistant coach Sean Hogan.
