Don Lucia (born August 20, 1958) is an American former

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 ...

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 ...

, who was named as inaugural commissioner of the second

Central Collegiate Hockey Association The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) is a college athletic conference that participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The current CCHA began play in the 2021–22 season; a previous incarnation, which the curre ...

(CCHA) on June 17, 2020. The CCHA, which is set to start play in the 2021–22 season, is a revival of an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

men's hockey conference whose original version operated from 1971 to 2013 before folding in the wake of massive conference realignment in the sport.

Coaching career

Lucia is best known for his 19-season tenure as head coach of the

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's hockey The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team at the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. They are members of the Big Ten Conference and compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

team (1999–2018). He twice led the Golden Gophers to the NCAA national championship title, in 2002 and 2003. Under Lucia, the Golden Gophers won four

MacNaughton Cup The MacNaughton Cup is a trophy awarded annually to the regular season conference champion of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). The trophy is named after James MacNaughton of Calumet, Michigan, who was a supporter of amateur ice h ...

s (awarded to the

WCHA The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's ice hockey-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated a ...

's regular season champion), the

Broadmoor Trophy The Broadmoor Trophy is a trophy that has been awarded to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) playoff champion since 1985. The trophy itself dates to 1981, when it was awarded to the WCHA regular season champion for three seasons, f ...

three times (awarded to the WCHA playoff champion), and the Big Ten regular season championship in each of that league's first four seasons. He coached one

Hobey Baker Award The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player. It has been awarded 41 times. It is named for Hall of Famer Hobey Baker, who played college hockey at Princeton University ...

winner,

Jordan Leopold Jordan Douglas Leopold (born August 3, 1980) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He was drafted in the second round, 44th overall, by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 1999, though never making an appearance with the team. In h ...

. He is one of 10 coaches to record more than 600 NCAA men's ice hockey wins, and one of four to win national titles in consecutive years.Borzi, Pat. "Once-Embattled Coach Has Gophers Golden Again." ''New York Times'' 8 Feb. 2013: B11(L). ''Academic OneFile''. Web. 10 Oct. 2015. Lucia graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1981, where he played defense for the school's hockey team. During the 2008–2009 season, Lucia was diagnosed with

sarcoidosis Sarcoidosis (also known as ''Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease'') is a disease involving abnormal collections of inflammatory cells that form lumps known as granulomata. The disease usually begins in the lungs, skin, or lymph nodes. Less commonly af ...

, but only missed four games while battling the autoimmune disease. This illness, combined with a growing number of college hockey players taking their talents to the NHL, led Lucia's Gophers to a 17–18–2 record during the 2009–2010 season. That season was Lucia's only year with a losing record with the Gophers, and his first since coaching Alaska-Fairbanks in the 1991–1992 season. The Gophers eventually returned to the top of the WCHA, winning back-to-back conference titles in 2012 and 2013. In the summer of 2013 Minnesota joined with 5 other schools to form the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

's ice hockey division. The Gophers won the inaugural regular season title and advanced all the way to the National Championship game where they fell to

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

. Lucia won the first 4 Big Ten titles, but could only garner 1 conference tournament championship (

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

) and despite the success in the Big Ten, Minnesota was not considered a contender for the NCAA title most years. Minnesota finished 5th in 2018 and with many of the fans unhappy with the direction of the program, Lucia resigned after 19 years behind the bench.

Personal life

Lucia and his wife Joyce have four children. Both his sons were drafted in the

NHL Entry Draft The NHL Entry Draft (french: Repêchage d'entrée dans la LNH) is an annual meeting in which every franchise of the National Hockey League (NHL) systematically select the rights to available ice hockey players who meet draft eligibility requirem ...

. Tony was selected in the 6th round of the

2005 NHL Entry Draft The 2005 NHL Entry Draft was the 43rd NHL Entry Draft. Originally scheduled to be held on June 25, the 2004–05 NHL lockout led to the draft being postponed to July 30. Special procedures were required to determine the order of picks, because ...

by the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

and Mario was selected in the 2nd round of the

2011 NHL Entry Draft The 2011 NHL Entry Draft was the 49th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 24–25, 2011, at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was the first time the Draft was held in the state of Minnesota since the Minnesota North Stars hoste ...

by the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Minnesota bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucia, Don 1958 births American men's ice hockey defensemen Central Collegiate Hockey Association commissioners Ice hockey people from Minnesota Living people Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey players People from Grand Rapids, Minnesota Philadelphia Flyers draft picks Alaska Nanooks men's ice hockey coaches Colorado College Tigers men's ice hockey coaches Ice hockey players from Minnesota Ice hockey coaches from Minnesota

Coaching career

Personal life

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links