Q&A: UMaine men’s hockey coach Tim Whitehead

Tim Whitehead is in his ninth season as the head men’s hockey coach at the University of Maine.
He guided the Black Bears to six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including two Frozen Four berths and two NCAA championship games, before missing the tourney the last two seasons.
The Trenton, N.J., native, who played football, soccer, baseball, basketball and hockey as a youngster, played hockey at Division II Hamilton College (N.Y.) and went on to play pro hockey in England and Belgium.
He also coached in Europe and then, after returning to America, spent several years as an assistant coach, including stops at Middlebury College (Vt.), Maine and UMass Lowell.
He eventually became the head coach at UMass Lowell and spent five years there before returning to Maine and taking over for Shawn Walsh, who died of complications from kidney cancer on Sept. 24, 2001.
He guided the Black Bears to the NCAA title game in his first year, losing 4-3 in overtime to Minnesota in St. Paul, Minn., and he was named the Spencer Penrose Trophy winner as the Division I National Coach of the Year. He has been a Penrose finalist six times in his 13 years as a head coach.
He is currently sporting a career record of 260-211-45, including a 184-116-34 mark at Maine.
His .625 winning percentage (10-6) in NCAA Tournament play ranks him first among Hockey East coaches and second nationally.
The 48-year-old Whitehead resides in Bangor with his wife, Dena, and their children Natalie and Zachary. They are very involved in the Bangor community.
Here is a question-and-answer session with Whitehead.
Favorite book?
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition.
Favorite food?
Indian chicken curry.
Favorite leisure time activity?
Playing with my kids.
If money were no object, how would you spend a perfect 24 hours?
I’d build a new hockey arena.
Favorite Band?
Christian Sbrocca. He used to play for me at Lowell. He’s really good. He’s based out of Montreal.
If you could host a dinner party, which three people would you invite, living or dead?
My [late] dad, Harlan; my [late] mother-in-law Debbie and my [late] grandfather, Frank Ferguson, who I never met.
What do you like best about yourself?
I prioritize my family first.
What do you least like about yourself?
I’m a perfectionist.
If you weren’t a coach, what would you like to do?
Teach high school or junior high school history.
Who have been major influences on your life?
My parents, Harlan and Ellie; my brother, Charlie, and sister Priscilla.
What is your coaching philosophy?
To focus on developing players on and off the ice and bringing a team together each year to do something special.
Where is the program right now?
We’ve made a lot of progress with our recruiting and the development of our players. I’m very confident we’re close to turning the corner, getting us back into the national scene. When we made four Frozen Fours in six years, it certainly wasn’t an accident. I know what it takes to get there and I know we’re close to getting the team back to that level. Unfortunately, in the college game, it takes time when you lose players to the pros and to graduation and other factors. We’re getting after it as quickly as we can. I’m not a very patient person. It has been tough to fight through the building years. But we’ll get there. It’s exciting. We’re very close to turning the corner.
You have won 13 games in each of the last two seasons. What has been behind the dropoff?
It’s no big mystery to us on the coaching staff. We’ve lost several players early, we’ve made a few mistakes recruiting and we haven’t been able to make a lot of improvements to the facility and that hasn’t helped us. A combination of those things has made it very challenging. Having said that, during this time period we’ve made tremendous progress, and not only have we improved considerably this season, we should be very strong next year and years after that. It doesn’t take much research to see we have an improved team and that we’ve got a team that’s going to be pretty damned good in the future. I’m excited about it.
How has your recruiting emphasis been altered lately?
The new [NHL] College Bargaining has made an impact on college hockey. Maine, in particular, has made a living off of older free agents like [Dustin] Penner, [Teddy] Purcell and [Andrew] Sweetland. Those types of players aren’t as available as they used to be, but we still have to go after them. Purcell and Sweetland would still be on our team [if they didn’t sign free-agent contracts after their freshman seasons]. We’ve done a very good job continuing to attract those types of players but, due to the CBA, we haven’t been able to retain them as long. We’re still taking those players if they’re available, but we’re also recruiting smaller, faster skilled players we can retain three or four years. We’ve built a foundation and we don’t want to have a drop in our competitiveness like we’ve had over the last couple of years.
Losing goalies [Ben] Bishop and [Jimmy] Howard [after their junior years] is also a factor. It’s a juggling act. But I’m confident we’ve addressed it. We have such a strong base of underclassmen now. I’m very excited to be working with these guys, and I’m confident the program is going in the right direction.
Have these last two years taken a toll on you?
Yes. I’m a very competitive person. Obviously, it’s very difficult to fight through this rebuilding process. Having said that, I’m determined and confident we will rise up again and compete successfully on the national level.
What would you consider your coaching highlight to date?
The 2001-2002 season was the most significant one. That was the most challenging one of my coaching career. It was also the most fulfilling when it comes to setting goals and reaching them. Coach [Walsh] had passed and we created a season he would have been proud of. Seeing the seniors and the team do something special after such a devastating loss [Walsh], and to do something special in his honor, was certainly the highlight of my coaching career.
What was the lowlight?
It was frustrating not winning games in the second half of last season [3-17-3 finish]. We had made progress in the fall but let it slip away. I felt for the kids on that team. We didn’t seem to be able to turn it around until the final [Hockey East best-of-three quarterfinal series] at BU and when we did, it was too late.