Tom Mutch (born June 16, 1967) is an American former ice hockey coach of the

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 ...

women's

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 ...

team.

Playing career

Mutch played his college career with the Northeastern University Huskies from 1986 to 1988. Afterwards, he played professionally in the

East Coast Hockey League The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

Colonial Hockey League Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

and the

Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which opera ...

, before retiring for good in 1994.

Coaching career

Mutch served as an assistant coach on the

United States national women's ice hockey team The United States women's national ice hockey team is controlled by USA Hockey. The U.S. has been one of the most successful women's ice hockey teams in international play, having medaled in every major tournament. In 1998, the women's Olympic ...

, where he started his career as a women's hockey coach in 1996. During his time as assistant coach, the national team won

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

. Mutch also served as an assistant coach with men's hockey with the

Omaha Lancers The Omaha Lancers are a Tier I junior ice hockey team and are members of the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). Founded in 1986, the Lancers play at the Liberty First Credit Union Arena in Ralston, Nebraska. Previous ...

, the

University of Nebraska-Omaha The University of Nebraska Omaha (Omaha or UNO) is a public research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a private non-sectarian college, the university was originally kno ...

and his alma mater, Northeastern.

Boston College women's ice hockey

In four years as

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 ...

of the women's ice hockey program at Boston College, Mutch revitalized a lagging program. During the 2006–2007 season, Mutch led the Boston College Eagles to their first ever

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 ...

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

appearance. Additionally, he led the Eagles to the first

Beanpot Tournament The Beanpot is an annual ice hockey tournament among the four major US college hockey schools of the Boston, Massachusetts area, usually held during the first two Mondays in February at TD Garden. The tournament has been held annually since the 1 ...

Trophy in 2006, and repeated in 2007. Mutch was named

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

Coach of the Year for his work with Boston College in 2005 and 2007.

Resignation and scandal

On April 24, 2007, Mutch resigned as head coach of the women's ice hockey program. The resignation came in the wake of an inappropriate relationship with

Kelli Stack Kelli Allison Stack (born January 13, 1988) is an American former ice hockey forward, who played for Kunlun Red Star in the Canadian Women's Hockey League. She is a member of the United States women's national ice hockey team. Stack competed for ...

, a freshman who was the

Player and Rookie of the Year. The ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

'' had printed an article earlier that day that detailed the alleged explicit

text messaging Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible compute ...

that occurred between the married Tom Mutch and Stack.

Head coaching record

References

1967 births Living people People from Canton, Massachusetts Northeastern Huskies men's ice hockey players Memphis RiverKings players Flint Bulldogs players American ice hockey coaches Northeastern University alumni Boston College Eagles women's ice hockey coaches

External links

* {{US-icehockey-player-stub