Assistant men's ice hockey coach Brendan Whittet was named head men's ice hockey coach at Brown University on Friday. Whittet, who graduated from Brown in 1994, has 14 years of coaching experience and has worked at the College for 11 years.
"I'm appreciative to have had the opportunity to work at Dartmouth with such a great program with great people," Whittet said in a statement. "I'll forever treasure my time here. [Head] Coach Gaudet has taught me well and I look forward to putting into place all that I've learned from him.
Whittet, who himself skated for Brown as an undergrad, said he was looking forward to beginning work at Brown and remaking the team into an "elite hockey program."
Brown Director of Athletics Michael Goldberger also released a statement saying he was excited to see Whittet use the skills he had learned at Dartmouth to help the Brown team improve.
"I am absolutely delighted to have Brendan Whittet return to Brown as our head coach," Goldberger said in the statement. "Brendan has a proven record of accomplishment as an assistant coach and brings a strong passion for Brown to our program. He had tremendous success as a player at Brown and has the knowledge and skills to guide the team to the same level of achievement that he experienced as a player. I know that Brendan learned from one of the best coaches in the league in Bob Gaudet at Brown and Dartmouth, and we are thrilled to welcome him back to Brown."
Brown made it's most recent appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1993, when Whittet was a junior and Gaudet was the Brown coach.
Neither Gaudet nor Whittet were available for comment on Monday.
Dave Peters, associate head coach of Dartmouth's hockey program, said that conducting a search for a new assistant coach is "an interesting process." The Big Green hockey coaches have "reviewed resumes, spoke to references and talked about their strengths and weaknesses and what the program needs right now," Peters said.
Peters declined to say whether any top candidates are coming to the forefront during the process, adding that both he and the head coach had been out of town.
Peters said they hope to select and announce Whittet's replacement "sooner rather than later."
Whittet helped to guide the Big Green to the 2006 ECAC Regular Season Championship and the 2007 Ivy League Championship. Under his watch, the team has 166 wins from 1998-2009, comprising 7 straight winning seasons.
Dartmouth has been a fixture in the ECAC Tournament in recent years, making semi-final appearances in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.
One of Whittet's primary responsibilities at Dartmouth has been coaching the defensive unit, which has consistently been ranked nationally during his tenure. The Big Green recorded its lowest average number of goals allowed in 44 years during the 2004-05 season.
In contrast, Brown has seen four consecutive losing seasons and seven losing seasons in the last 10. The 2009 team finished 5-23-5 overall and 3-15-4 in the ECAC, which according to the Providence Journal was the team's worst performance in 20 years.
Gaudet's successor and Whittet's predecessor, Roger Grillo, has coached the team to three winning seasons during the last twelve years.
After graduating from Brown in 1994, Whittet coached at Brown and Colby College. During his time with the teams, they both placed in the ECAC championships.
Whittet was a defensive player at Brown, where he helped lead the hockey team to an Ivy League title in 1992, two trips to the ECAC Final Four Championship in 1993 and 1994, and an NCAA at-large tournament team selection in 1993.
Whittet said he was looking forward returning to the university where he participated on the team as a player.
"I am very excited about the opportunity to be a head coach and I'm especially excited about the chance to lead my alma mater."
Whittet's wife, Karen, is an associate director in the College's Office of Career Services. She did not respond to requests for comment about her plans for the coming year.
