Bill O'Flaherty is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player, coach and executive. He was the head coach of Clarkson for six years before moving on to become the school's

Athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

, compiling one of the highest winning percentages in the history of college hockey.

Career

Bill O'Flaherty began attending Clarkson in 1967, playing under legendary coach

Len Ceglarski Leonard Stanley Ceglarski (June 27, 1926 – December 16, 2017) was an American ice hockey player and coach. He was an All-American left wing on Boston College's 1949 NCAA championship team, and was captain of the 1950–51 squad. He was also a ...

for two full seasons and graduating in 1971 with a

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

. O'Flaherty immediately moved to coaching afterwards, taking a position at Clarkson first under Ceglarski, then

Jerry York Jerry York (born July 25, 1945) is an American former ice hockey coach who was the men's ice hockey coach at Boston College. York is the winningest coach in NCAA hockey, and leads the all-time list as the only Division I head coach with over 1,0 ...

after the former left to become the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

in 1972. O'Flaherty remained as an assistant until York himself left to take over at Bowling Green and O'Flaherty was chosen as his successor. O'Flaherty had immediate and consistent success with the Golden Knights, winning 21 games in his first season ( 1979–80) and continuing that trend for his entire tenure. In his second and third seasons O'Flaherty got Clarkson 26-wins which provided the team with their only 2 back-to-back

ECAC Hockey ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United States. This relati ...

regular season titles in school history and getting them to their first NCAA tournament in over a decade. In six seasons behind the bench O'Flaherty provided five 20-win seasons, 6 winning records, 3

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

tournament berths, and 2 conference regular season titles. O'Flaherty was awarded the

Spencer Penrose Award The Spencer Penrose Award is awarded yearly to the top coach in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey by the American Hockey Coaches Association. The finalists for each year's award comprise the conference Coach of the Year winners from each Division ...

in 1981 for prompting Clarkson to a superb season, the fourth consecutive coach at Clarkson to earn the honour. O'Flaherty moved into the front office, assuming the sole duties as Clarkson's

Athletic Director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

in 1986 and remaining at that post until 1997 when he jumped to the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

to serve as Director of Player Personnel for the Los Angeles Kings. O'Flaherty joined the staff of the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

as professional scout for one season ( 2006–07) before becoming the Director of Pro Scouting for the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

, remaining there until 2010.

Personal life

Bill is the son of former NHLer John "Peanuts" O'Flaherty who spent most of his career in the minor leagues for the

Pittsburgh Hornets The Pittsburgh Hornets were a minor-league professional men's ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Contrary to popular belief, the Pittsburgh Hornets did not evolve from the International Hockey League's Pittsburgh Shamrocks. The ...

. Bill's brother Gerry O'Flaherty was drafted by the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and spent parts of 8 seasons in the NHL as a player, eventually winning 3

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

s as a scout.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:OFlaherty, Bill Canadian ice hockey coaches Clarkson Golden Knights men's ice hockey coaches Florida Panthers scouts Living people Los Angeles Kings executives Pittsburgh Penguins scouts Ice hockey people from Etobicoke Year of birth missing (living people)