April
12, 2005
Northeastern Names Cronin Head Coach
 |
| Greg
Cronin has spent two years as head coach of the AHL's Bridgeport
Sound Tigers. |
Bringing strong
ties to both Hockey East and Northeastern, Greg Cronin was introduced
Tuesday as the Huskies' new head coach.
Cronin, a
Boston native, returns to the college game, where he had been
an assistant and interim head coach at Maine. He has spent the
past seven years in the New York Islanders' organization, most
recently in a two-year stint as the head coach of the AHL's Bridgeport
Sound Tigers.
Cronin, while
he did not attend Northeastern, has strong family ties to the
school. His father, Don Cronin, was a three-year letterwinner
in hockey and was team captain in 1958-59. His uncle, Gerry Cronin,
was also a three-year letter-winner at NU and a team captain.
Greg’s cousin, Kerry Cronin, was a member of the NU women’s
hockey teams from 1983-86.
Cronin was
the interim head coach for Maine for the second part of the 1994-95
season and first half of the 1995-96 season while head coach Shawn
Walsh served a one year NCAA-mandated suspension. Cronin led the
Black Bears to a 27-12-2 record during that time and the team
played in the Hockey East finals.
Prior to joining
Walsh’s staff at Maine, Cronin was an assistant coach at
Colorado College from 1990-93. Cronin played college hockey at
Colby College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1986,
and was a graduate assistant at Maine while earning his Master's
degree.
In between
his collegiate and professional hockey coaching careers, Cronin
was director of player development and head coach of USA Hockey’s
Under-18 team. He was an assistant coach for Team USA at two World
Junior Championships and one IIHF World Championship.
"We wanted
a coach who is passionate about hockey, understands what it takes
to win, and expects to win,” Northeastern athletic director
Dave O’Brien said in a statement. “In Greg Cronin,
we have found the ideal coach for Northeastern’s men’s
ice hockey program. He has top-flight college recruiting and coaching
experience at Colorado College and the University of Maine. He
has national level skill development experience with USA Hockey.
He has head coaching experience with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers."
Northeastern
did not renew the contract of coach Bruce Crowder at the end of
the season. Crowder had only two winning seasons in nine years
at Northeastern, and his teams hosted only one home playoff series.
He led the Huskies to a sixth-place finish in Hockey East this
year after back-to-back last-place seasons and came within a goal
of winning the Beanpot, losing to Boston University in overtime.
The Huskies finished 15-18-5 overall this year.
