Ferris State hockey coach Bob Daniels reaches rare milestone

Bob Daniels

Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels watches his team during their game at Yost Ice Arena on Thursday, November 2, 2017. (Hunter Dyke | The Ann Arbor News)ANN ARBOR NEWS

Only two other coaches in the history of NCAA Division I men’s ice hockey have done what Ferris State University’s Bob Daniels recently accomplished.

Daniels, who is in his 29th season of coaching the Bulldogs, became the third to coach in more than 1,100 games at the same school. Daniels coached his 1,100th game on Feb. 13 at Michigan Tech and has now coached in 1,102 games following this past weekend’s home series against Minnesota State.

Boston University head coach Jack Parker and former Michigan head coach Red Berenson also have coached more than 1,100 games on the bench at a single institution. Daniels’ 29 seasons to date as a head coach are the third-most of any active NCAA Division I head coach in the country.

The all-time winningest coach in Bulldog history and a two-time National Coach of the Year, Daniels has led FSU to four conference titles along with four NCAA tournament appearances in his tenure in addition to the 2012 national championship game. He also is serving on the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Committee with a four-year term representing the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

Ferris also has one of the nation’s most experienced coaching staffs as associate head coach Drew Famulak has been beside him on the Bulldog bench for 28 years and assistant coach Mark Kaufman has been with the program for 17 seasons in two different stints dating back to Daniels’ first staff in 1992. In addition, Dave Cencer, who holds the role of Coordinator of Athletic Performance, is in his 15th season on the Bulldog hockey staff.

Daniels, a Livonia native, is a 1982 graduate of Michigan State. He began his coaching career as the head coach of the Hennessey Engineers of the North American Hockey League. He started his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Miami (Ohio) before becoming an assistant at the University of Illinois at Chicago and then Ferris State. He became head coach for the Bulldogs in 1992.

Ferris, 1-19-1 overall, will return to the ice Friday when the Bulldogs host Lake Superior State at 7 p.m.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.