Head Coach Don Lucia
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On April 9, 1999, the University of Minnesota tabbed Don Lucia as the 13th head coach in Golden Gopher Hockey history. Nearly four years to the day later, Lucia led Minnesota to its second straight NCAA Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., with a 5-1 win vs New Hampshire. Entering his 21st season as a head coach, Lucia has established himself as one of the nation's premier collegiate coaches.
Lucia, 49, has guided the Golden Gophers to a stellar 220-96-29 (.680) mark during his eight seasons. In 20 seasons overall as a head coach, Lucia has compiled a 499-251-58 (.654) record. That mark places Lucia third in career winning percentage and seventh in career victories among active NCAA Division I coaches.
During his tenure with the Maroon and Gold Lucia has helped his teams raise eight banners to the rafters of Mariucci Arena - two NCAA Championships, two WCHA titles and four WCHA Final Five crowns. In addition, Lucia has led the Golden Gophers to 20 wins in each of his eight seasons, 25 wins seven times, 30 wins twice and six top-3 finishes in the WCHA.
Joining the legendary Herb Brooks, Lucia became the only other head coach in Golden Gopher history to lead his team to more wins in each of his first three seasons. After Minnesota finished 20-19-2 in his first year, the Golden Gophers reached the NCAA Tournament in 2000-01 for the first time since 1998 when Minnesota went 27-13-2. His third campaign saw the team win its first NCAA Championship in 23 years with a 4-3 overtime win vs Maine at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. That team posted an impressive 32-8-4 record. In 2002-03, the Golden Gophers took home their fifth national title, posting a 28-8-9 record along the way. With that NCAA crown, Lucia became one of just four coaches in NCAA history to lead his team to back-to-back national titles.
In 2003-04, the Maroon and Gold succeeded in raising another banner with Minnesota's second straight WCHA Final Five Championship. The Golden Gophers struggled in the early going, but rebounded to post a 27-14-3 record. In 2004-05, Minnesota exceeded all expectations with a 28-15-1 record, posting a third-place finish in the WCHA and making its 19th appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four. With the Frozen Four appearance, Lucia matched the legendary John Mariucci with three appearances in the NCAA Frozen Four. That mark is one behind Herb Brooks' four appearances and three behind Doug Woog's six.
In 2005-06, Lucia helped Minnesota capture its first WCHA Regular Season Championship since 1996-97 and its first outright MacNaughton Cup since 1991-92. In the process, Lucia was named the WCHA Co-Coach of the Year and became the first coach to win the MacNaughton Cup with two different schools - he also won at Colorado College in 1994, '95 and '96. Lucia guided the Gophers to another outright MacNaughton Cup in 2006-07, marking his fifth WCHA regular season title which ranks in a tie for third all-time in league history with North Dakota's Dean Blais. He also ranks first among active coaches in WCHA titles won. After a 27-9-5 overall record in 2005-06, the Golden Gophers backed that season with a 31-10-3 ledger in 2006-07 and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive season.
Last season, Lucia coached Alex Goligoski to First Team All-America honors, giving him six All-Americans during his tenure. Goligoski was also named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year, bringing the Gophers tally to three since 2001.
Over the last six seasons, Lucia has saved his best coaching until the end. In 2001-02, the Golden Gophers finished the year winning 14 of their final 16 games en route to the NCAA title. In 2002-03, when the team was finally able to field its full lineup in early February, Minnesota finished the season on a 14-1-2 tear. In 2003-04, the Maroon and Gold had a subpar February with a 4-4-0 record, but went 7-1-0 in March and April to get within one win of a third straight Frozen Four bid. In 2004-05, UM went 6-2-0 entering the NCAA Tournament and posted two dramatic overtime wins to vault into the Frozen Four. In 2005-06, Minnesota posted a 16-1-1 record in the second half to vault to the top of the WCHA standings. Last season, Minnesota rallied to win the WCHA Final Five for the second straight year with consecutive one-goal wins over Wisconsin and North Dakota. Minnesota advanced to the NCAA Regional final before falling to North Dakota in overtime. Over the last six years, the Golden Gophers are 39-11-1 in the months of March and April.
The 2004-05 campaign witnessed breakout seasons by a host of Golden Gophers and the third time in the past five seasons that Lucia's freshmen led the WCHA in point production. For the first time since 2002-03, Lucia coached three 40-point scorers in Tyler Hirsch, Danny Irmen and Ryan Potulny. Those three, along with the 10-member freshmen class, helped Lucia lead Minnesota to its third Frozen Four in the past four years.
The 2003-04 season saw Minnesota stumble out of the gates with a 2-7-1 start, but mount a midseason resurgence thanks, in part, to defenseman Keith Ballard, the 13th first team All-American to play for Lucia. Ballard also became the seventh player under Lucia to be named a Hobey Baker Award finalist.
The 2002-03 season featured the debut of Thomas Vanek, the nation's leading rookie scorer. Vanek became the highest draft pick in Golden Gopher Hockey history after being selected fifth overall by the Buffalo Sabres.
The 2001-02 season witnessed the Hobey Baker Award return to Minnesota as Jordan Leopold became the school's fourth recipient, the most of any program in the country. Leopold and John Pohl were also named first team All-Americans.
In addition to a Hobey Baker Award winner and 15 All-Americans, Lucia has coached 48 All-WCHA players, 20 All-WCHA defensemen, eight Hobey Baker Award finalists, six WCHA Defensive Players of the Year and two WCHA Rookies of the Year. He has coached the only two players to ever win the league's defensive player of the year honor twice in their careers (Leopold and Eric Rud, Colorado College).
Lucia has helped many Gophers move on to the next level as well. During his eight-year tenure, 46 of his players have been drafted by NHL franchises including nine first round selections. Erik Johnson was taken first overall in the 2006 draft by the St. Louis Blues while Thomas Vanek (2003), Blake Wheeler (2004) and Phil Kessel (2006) were all taken with the fifth overall choice.
Prior to his arrival at Minnesota, Lucia led his previous employer, Colorado College, to an overall record of 166-68-18 (.694) in six seasons in Colorado Springs, Colo. Tied with former Wisconsin Head Coach Jeff Sauer as the second-winningest coach in CC history, Lucia guided the Tigers to a record of 23-11-5 record and the WCHA regular-season title in 1993-94, his first season as head coach of the Tigers. Colorado College had struggled to a mark of 8-28-0 the season before Lucia took over the reins of the program and had not experienced a winning season in the previous 13 campaigns. The league title in 1993-94 was Colorado College's first in 37 years.
Lucia, who guided Colorado College to an unprecedented three straight outright regular-season league titles in his first three years behind the bench, has taken his troops to the NCAA playoffs in 12 of the last 13 campaigns, including an appearance in the 1996 championship game and 1997 NCAA Frozen Four semifinals. Lucia was honored at the conclusion of the 1993-94 season as the 44th recipient of the Spencer Penrose Award as National Coach of the Year. The award is presented by members of the American Hockey Coaches Association. He is one of just six coaches in NCAA history to lead two different schools to the Frozen Four.
Under Lucia's guidance, CC won a school-record 33 games in the 1995-96 campaign. Lucia was also named WCHA Coach of the Year that same season, and added a second league coach of the year trophy at the conclusion of the 1996-97 season. He coached nine All-Americans in his six-year tenure at CC - the Tigers had nine total All-Americans in the previous 22 combined seasons before Lucia's arrival in Colorado Springs.
Previous to his stint at CC, Lucia spent six years (1987-93) as head coach at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he posted four winning seasons and an overall record of 113-87-10. In his first year (1987-88) as head coach, the Nanooks claimed the final championship of the now-defunct Great West Hockey Conference, and Lucia was named GWHC Coach of the Year.
Lucia has been a collegiate coach for 26 seasons overall, spending six years as an assistant following his graduation from the University of Notre Dame in 1981. He began his career at Alaska Fairbanks (1981-85) before moving to the University of Alaska Anchorage for two seasons (1985-87). He lettered three times as a defenseman at Notre Dame, where he served as assistant team captain his senior year.
Lucia has also been active with USA Hockey for the last decade, having served as head coach of the national-16 team that competed in Finland in August of 1996. In the summer of 1995, he was head coach of Team West at the United States Olympic Festival in Denver. Lucia also acted as the president of the American Hockey Coaches Association in 1999.
As a prep athlete, Lucia helped Grand Rapids High School claim two Minnesota State High School Hockey Championships (1975 and 1976) as well as a pair of third-place finishes (1974 and 1977). He earned all-state recognition as a linebacker in football and as a defenseman in hockey his senior year. He also served as captain of the hockey team during his final prep campaign. He later was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League.
Lucia and his wife, Joyce, are the parents of two daughters, Alison (age 24) and Jessica (22), as well as two sons, current Golden Gopher freshman Anthony (20) and Mario (14). The Lucia family makes its home in Plymouth, Minn.