OXFORD, Ohio – When you look at Andy Murray’s coaching resume, he has covered almost every base. Before this season, Murray had coached in the NHL, World Championships, overseas in Switzerland and Germany, and Canadian college hockey over a 35-year span. The only thing left for him to do was to coach U.S. college hockey, and Western Michigan University offered him the opportunity.
The former head coach of the Los Angeles Kings and, most recently, St. Louis Blues passed up assistant coaching gigs in the NHL to pursue the head coaching position at Western Michigan.
“Some players that played for me in the NHL that went to Western Michigan contacted me and said I needed go and look at it,” Murray said of the decision process. “I’ve always had in the back of my mind that I’d like to try U.S. college hockey, because you only live once and I want to do it all. If I waited many more years it’d be too late.
“I came to campus, walked around and thought this would be neat.”
At the NHL level, Murray stood behind the bench with crowds of 18 to 20,000 in attendance. Even with crowds one-fourth of those sizes – some nights even less – and college hockey offering different challenges, Murray’s X’s and O’s style hasn’t changed.
“It’s coaching – just like coaching in the NHL, just like coaching at any level,” Murray said. “I coach the same way here that I did for 20 years in the NHL.”
The players have bought into his system, and the results are showing. The Western Michigan Broncos, a team that features expected future NHLers in Dan DeKeyser, Chase Balisy and Matt Tennyson, boast a 12-9-5 record and are ranked 13th in the latest NCAA polls. They are one of four teams that have been ranked in the top 15 all season.
Most coaches that make the transition from the NHL to the college ranks would have to adjust to teaching baby-faced college kids compared to highly-skilled veterans in the NHL. But Murray doesn’t see much of a difference in coaching his current players – mostly because he’s dealt with younger teams in the past.
“Everyone asks what it’s like to work with young players, but the teams I had in Los Angeles and St. Louis were very budget-conscious and we played a lot of a young guys. I had the Blues when (T.J.) Oshie, (David) Perron and (Patrik) Berglund were in their first year,” Murray said.
“Everyone talks about how college kids play with energy and love playing and play for the sake of the game – the NHL guys do, too. The only difference in the NHL is you have to play three games in four nights, six games in 10 nights, travelling across the country, and it’s tough to have that energy every night.”
As much as Murray has liked the new experience of coaching in the NCAA, his players are enjoying it as well.
“It’s been really valuable,” Western Michigan leading point-getter Chase Balisy said of playing for someone that has been in the NHL before. “He’s always thinking hockey, so I think it feeds off on the players. He’s always thinking about something, whether it’s on the plane or the bus. When it’s game day we all know he’s ready to go and so are we.”
Murray has had an adventurous coaching career. It started in 1976 when he took over the Brandon Travellers, a junior hockey team in Manitoba. After zigzagging around the globe over the last four decades, Murray finds himself in Kalamazoo, Mich., coaching 18-22 year olds as they seek the next level.
“Anyone who has followed my career path they’d say ‘What was he looking at?’ To me, I just do what’s going to make me happy and I thought I’d be happy doing this,” Murray said.
Murray wouldn’t count out a return to the NHL in the future.
“You never say never to anything. If it’s what I think I want to do and there’s a good opportunity, that’s what I’ll do,” but, “right now I’m enjoying this.”
Photo credit: Zolton Cohen
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