BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green State University is working to finalize a deal to make Dennis Williams the Falcons’ next men’s ice hockey coach, a source told The Blade on Tuesday night.
Williams, who played hockey for BGSU from 1997 to 2001 and spent time in the coaching ranks with the school, has been the head coach of the Everett Silvertips for the past seven seasons and the general manager the past three. He has had a successful 237-98-27 run with winning campaigns in each year, as well as 40 or more wins in five seasons, for the Western Hockey League squad.
Williams was also part of Canada’s World Junior Championship gold medal teams as the head coach in 2023 and an assistant in 2022.
The 44-year-old Ontario native was BGSU’s interim coach during the 2009-10 season when the Falcons went 5-25-6. He was an assistant at BGSU the previous season, as well as a graduate assistant from 2002 to 2003.
Williams spent three seasons as head coach at Neumann College (25-22-7) prior to his first BGSU coaching stint. Following his time as the Falcons’ interim coach, Williams spent four seasons as head coach of the North American Hockey League’s Amarillo Bulls, leading the team to two championships and a 168-44-26 record from 2010-14.
Following the stint in Amarillo, Williams served for three seasons as head coach of the United States Hockey League’s Bloomington Thunder, where he had a 90-69-21 record.
In his first season with the Silvertips, 2017-18, Williams led the team to a championship series appearance. The team has won four U.S. Division titles and three conference regular-season titles under Williams’ leadership. Thirteen of his Everett players have been selected in the NHL draft, including two picks last year: Kaden Hammell to Seattle in the fifth round and Austin Roest to Nashville in the sixth.
Williams won Western Conference Coach of the Year honors twice and was U.S. Division Coach of the Year in 2021-22.
In August, Williams was the subject of two separate investigations into allegations of misconduct. According to the Herald in Everett, Wash., he was cleared of any wrongdoing after the U.S. Center for SafeSport and the Western Hockey League received complaints against Williams by an unnamed individual and former Silvertips equipment manager Damon Pugerude.
Everett finished the 2023-24 regular season second in the WHL’s U.S. Division with 95 points, six behind Portland’s 101. The Silvertips are set to open the postseason Friday, opening a best-of-7 series against the Vancouver Giants.
BGSU’s coaching search began on March 11 after parting ways with Ty Eigner, a 1993 BGSU graduate and former hockey player who went 83-81-11 in five seasons as head coach. The Falcons finished with a losing record each of the past three seasons, a first for the program since 2010 to 2013.
First Published March 27, 2024, 2:02 a.m.
