University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team is set to name a new head coach in Detroit Red Wings assistant coach, Tony Granato.
The announcement was made Sunday by John Buccigross at ESPN, a little more than a week after long time head coach Mike Eaves was fired.
Multiple sources tell me Tony Granato will be the next Head Hockey Coach at Wisconsin. Brother Donny will likely join him on staff.
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) March 27, 2016
Granato has spent the last fourteen seasons jumping around coaching jobs in the NHL, serving as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche and an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The 51-year-old Illinois native played under historic coach Jeff Sauer from 1983-87 at Wisconsin and finished his career as a two-time second-team All-American and a finalist for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award in his senior season. Granato sits fourth on UW’s all time scoring list and third in goals as a member of the UW Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Badger legend followed up his impressive college stats with a successful 18-year NHL playing career with the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks before retiring in 2001.
Granato takes over a Wisconsin program that is in a slump, finishing last in the Big Ten for two years in a row and totaling only twelve wins in the same time span. With four graduating seniors in 2016, not a single player left on the Badgers has any NCAA tournament experience and the thirteen rising freshmen leaves Granato with his work cut out for him.
Also reportedly helping Granato in the rebuilding effort are his brother, Don, and former Badger Mark Osiecki as assistants, according to USCHO.com.
Don Granato is joining the staff after a stint as the head coach of the USA Hockey National Development Program while Osiecki returns to Madison after a short berth as the head coach at Ohio State. Osiecki was a six year assistant under Eaves and provides some much needed experience for an especially young roster.
After drastic drops in attendance at the Kohl Center in the last few seasons, the three hires should bring new attention to a Badger program in much need of a rebirth. Granato and the new staff should be a fresh change for a young class of promising underclassmen.
The future seems bright in a new era for Wisconsin men’s hockey.
