FSU's Daniels named National Coach of the Year

Ferris State Athletics Release

For his efforts in leading Ferris State University to its first NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey “Frozen Four” appearance in school history, Bob Daniels has been chosen winner of the 2012 Spencer Penrose Award as Division I Men’s Ice Hockey flexxCOACH/AHCA Coach of the Year. For Daniels, this marks his second Penrose Award, having been previously honored by his peers in 2003. He will receive his award on Saturday evening, April 28, during the American Hockey Coaches Association annual convention in Naples, FL.

Entering Thursday afternoon’s semifinal contest vs. Union College, Daniels’ Bulldogs have compiled an overall record of 25-11-5, capturing the regular season title in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association along the way.

Ferris advanced to this year’s Frozen Four in Tampa by virtue of winning the NCAA Midwest Regional in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on March 23-24. FSU defeated the University of Denver in the opening game, 2-1, and came back to down Cornell University by the same score in the final.

Daniels, this year’s CCHA Coach of the Year, is completing his 20th season at Ferris State. A 1982 graduate of Michigan State University, Daniels got his coaching start in junior hockey, three times earning Coach of the Year honors for the Hennessey Engineers of the North American League from 1983-1986. He earned a master’s degree in sports organization while serving as a graduate assistant at Miami University during the 1986-87 season. From there, he spent two years as an assistant at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Daniels first arrived at Ferris State in 1989 and served as an assistant under John Perpich for one year and Bob Mancini for two. He was named head coach in 1992 and his career mark stands at 333-361-79. In his previous Coach of the Year season, he led Ferris State to a record of 31-10-1 in 2002-2003.

The longest serving coach in FSU history, Daniels has coached eight All-Americans (prior to this year’s announcements), including 2003 Hobey Baker Hat Trick Award Finalist Chris Kunitz, the first ever CCHA Player of the Year to come from Ferris State. Daniels has also been very active with USA Hockey and the American Hockey Coaches Association.

Assisting Daniels this season were Drew Famulak and Mark Kaufman. Famulak will also be honored in Naples as it was previously announced that he will receive the Terry Flanagan Award, recognizing an assistant coach for a career body of work.

The runners-up for this year’s AHCA Men’s Division I Coach of the Year award were Rick Bennett of Union College and Norm Bazin of UMass-Lowell.

The Spencer Penrose Award is named in memory of the Colorado Springs benefactor who built the Broadmoor Hotel Complex, site of the first ten NCAA championship hockey tournaments. All AHCA Coach of the Year awards are selected by the head coaches in each division and are sponsored by flexxCOACH, the leader in delivering online coaching education for sports and the development of software products designed to assist coaches in creating drills, planning practices and designing fitness programs for athlete development.