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Princeton University Athletics
Don Cahoon Resigns To Accept Head Position At UMass-Amherst
April 05, 2000 | Men's Ice Hockey
April 5, 2000
Don "Toot" Cahoon, the only coach to ever lead the Princeton University men's hockey team to an ECAC championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament, resigned today to accept the vacant head coaching position at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He was announced as the program's second head coach since UMass reinstated hockey for the 1993-94 season at a press conference tonight in Providence, R.I., the site of this weekend's Frozen Four. He replaces Joe Mallen, whose contract was not renewed after seven years as coach of the Minutemen.
A national search for Cahoon's replacement will begin immediately.
"I think I can speak for my family and all my good friends in Massachusetts and say, it's an honor and a privilege to coach and lead the UMass hockey program into a new chapter," Cahoon said at the press conference. "I'm looking forward to getting the program headed in the right direction to be competitive within Hockey East and on the national level. Everyone can rest assured that I will lead the program with the state's best interests in mind." Cahoon left his mark on Princeton, where he leaves with a nine-year record of 122-129-32 and a pair of banners to his credit. Besides winning the 1998 ECAC championship, the Tigers claimed the 1999 Ivy League championship. He won 100 games faster than any other coach in Princeton hockey history (eight seasons) and leaves just eight wins behind James B. Higgins for second place on the program's all-time wins list.
Cahoon interviewed for the position yesterday and accepted the offer today. He met with his players at 1:30 p.m. before traveling to Providence for the press conference.
"For me, he taught me more about the game than I've ever known," says junior Kirk Lamb, a second-team All-ECAC player this past season. "He was the one that gave me a shot when I might have been looked upon as a long shot after being out for a couple years."
Princeton had never reached Lake Placid for the ECAC Final Four before Cahoon's arrival in 1991, but the Tigers made it there four times during his nine-year tenure. Their first trip concluded in a championship-game loss to Rensselaer in the 1995 conference tournament. That season ended with Cahoon being named a finalist for the American Hockey Coaches Association Division I Coach of the Year, an honor he would receive again after the 1996-97 season. The Tigers broke into the national spotlight when they upset Clarkson 5-4 in double overtime of the 1998 ECAC championship game and nearly shocked eventual national-champion Michigan on the Wolverines' home ice before falling 2-1 in the first round of the national tournament that same season. Princeton was ranked as high as No. 6 in the national polls two years ago and was also featured in Sports Illustrated.
Princeton had never won more than 15 games in a season before Cahoon's arrival, but had four seasons with at least 18 wins in the past six years. The Tigers won a school-record 20 games during the 1998-99 season and hosted an ECAC first-round series for the first time in school history.
"From what I understand, just from hearing about how the program was before I got here, it's done a total 180," Lamb says. "Now people recognize Princeton hockey. A lot of that is owed to Coach, but it shouldn't just stop because he's gone."
Princeton has graduated a number of players who would eventually play professionally, including Jeff Halpern '99, who was named the NHL Rookie of the Month for March earlier in the week. Halpern, the 1998 ECAC tournament MVP, is sixth among NHL rookies with 17 goals and 10th with 26 points in 75 games. The Tigers have had an All-America selection (Steve Shirreffs '99, 1998) and six players who were named to either the all-ECAC first- or second-team during Cahoon's tenure behind the bench.
"He is a great guy, one of the truly special people in hockey," Halpern said. "I wish him the best. One of the best things he did, besides winning, was to create a great base with current and former players and to make everybody involved proud to be part of the program. He has a great drive to compete, and he brings it out of everyone else. He always makes sure his team is playing to its potential. He's a guy that guys loved to play for."