May
6, 2005
Jackson Takes Over at Notre Dame
By Mike
Eidelbes
 |
| Notre
Dame introduced its new head coach, Jeff Jackson, on Friday. |
Nearly a decade
after leaving the college ranks with two NCAA championship victories,
former Lake Superior State coach Jeff Jackson is returning to
the CCHA as the new head coach at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame
director of athletics Kevin White made the announcement Friday
morning. Jackson, who met with the media in South Bend that afternoon,
replaces Dave Poulin, who three weeks ago resigned after 10 years
behind the Fighting Irish bench to take another position within
the athletic department.
"This
is the University of Notre Dame and that in itself makes it special,"
said Jackson. "I think that the potential is going to be
based on the quality of individuals that come to this school character
wise and the type of players that we bring in here. But my immediate
objective is to take the players that are here and accelerate
the transition and convince the players that are here that they
fit into the mission."
Jackson, who
has spent the past two seasons as a New York Islanders assistant,
cut his coaching teeth in Sault Ste. Marie, first as an assistant
for four years under current LSSU coach Frank Anzalone, helping
the Lakers to an NCAA crown in 1988. When Anzalone left the Soo
for the professional ranks prior to the 1990-91 campaign, Jackson
assumed head coaching duties and piloted LSSU to national championships
in 1992 and 1994, six straight NCAA Tournament appearances, four
CCHA playoff titles and a pair of CCHA regular-season championships.
In six seasons at Lake
Superior State, Jackson amassed a 182-52-25 record. His .751 winning
percentage is tops in Division I history among coaches with at
least 200 career decisions.
Jackson left the Lakers
following the 1996-97 season to serve as head coach of the fledging
U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich., where
he guided the U.S. entry in the 1997 World Junior Championship
to a silver medal – the best showing for an American team
at the WJC until the U.S. won the gold in 2004.
Prior to joining
the Islanders organization, Jackson spent three seasons as head
coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Guelph Storm where
he compiled an 87-67-24-4 record.
