Rick Comley

Rick Comley

Sport(s)	Ice hockey
Biographical details
Born	(1947-01-20) January 20, 1947
Playing career
Lake Superior State
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1973–1976	Lake Superior State
1976–2002	Northern Michigan
2002–2011	Michigan State
Head coaching record
Overall	783–615–110 (.556)

Rick Comley (born January 20, 1947) is a former collegiate ice hockey player and former head coach at Michigan State University. He finished his 38-year coaching career with a 783-615-110 (.556) record. In 2007, he became the third coach in NCAA history to win a national championship at two different schools.

Playing career

Comley played at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (1967–1971) under head coach Ron Mason, college hockey's career coaching victories leader. In his senior season, Comley was named LSSU team captain and Most Valuable Player and was selected NAIA All-American. He was also named LSSU's Most Outstanding Athlete that year.

Coaching career

Lake Superior State

Comley rejoined the LSSU program as an assistant coach for the 1972-73 season. When head coach Ron Mason took the head coaching position at Bowling Green State University, Comley was named his successor. Comley compiled a 59-46-3 mark in the three seasons at Lake Superior winning the CCHA regular-season title and NAIA national championship in 1974.

Northern Michigan

With an offer from Northern Michigan University that included a recruiting budget twice the size of LSSU, Comley departed Sault Ste. Marie for Marquette to start NMU's varsity ice hockey program. Northern Michigan completed its first season in 1977 with a winning record of 19-13-1. In the program's fourth season, Comley guided NMU to their first of two consecutive CCHA regular-season and play-off championships. With those championships in 1980 and 1981, Northern Michigan earned automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament. The 34-6-1 1980 team defeated University of Minnesota in Minneapolis advancing to the NCAA Frozen Four where they defeated No. 1 seed Cornell University to make the national championship game. The team lost the national championship to University of North Dakota, 5-2. Again, Comley guided NMU to the NCAA Frozen Four in 1981 with a victory over Cornell before losing to eventual national champion Wisconsin and archrival Michigan Tech in the consolation game.

In 1984 Comley and Northern Michigan followed Michigan Tech to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. In the WCHA, Comley coached NMU to seven 20-win season in nine years. He won the WCHA MacNaughton Cup as regular-season champions in 1991 and won the Broadmoor Trophy as play-off champions in 1989, 1991 and 1992. During Northern Michigan's time in the WCHA, the Wildcats made the NCAA tournament in 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1993 winning the 1991 NCAA National Championship in a dramatic triple overtime game against Boston University.

In a university-wide effort to gain more presence in the lower peninsula of Michigan, Comley switched NMU's hockey program back to the CCHA in 1997. The move proved to re-energize hockey at Northern Michigan which had three straight losing seasons prior to 1997-98. Comley coached NMU to five straight winning seasons and three trips to Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA championships. In 1999, Northern Michigan made the CCHA title game, but lost to University of Michigan. The championship appearance earned Comley and NMU their first berth in the NCAA tournament since 1993.

During his time at NMU, Comley also served as athletic director from 1987-2000 highlighted by: major improvements in facilities including the building and completion of Superior Dome and Berry Events Center, several Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships, two NCAA Division II titles in women's volleyball, and the establishment of the U.S. Olympic Educational Center.

Michigan State

Rick Comley was announced as Ron Mason's successor as head ice hockey coach at Michigan State University in March 2002. Comley was succeeded at NMU by former player and New York Rangers assistant Walt Kyle. Previously, Comley declined head coaching offers at Bowling Green State University in 1979 and 1994 and at University of Denver in 1994.

Comley's tenure at MSU was turbulent replacing the iconic Ron Mason. After missing the NCAA Tournament in 2005, Comley guided MSU to a second-place CCHA finish and a CCHA play-off championship in 2005-06. In 2006-07, Michigan State was preseason ranked No. 5, which was MSU's highest preseason ranking since October 2001. The team was, again, inconsistent but earned an NCAA Tournament bid. In a stunning series of games, MSU defeated three higher-ranked teams en route to the national championship, including wins against No. 1-ranked Notre Dame in the Midwest Regional final and No. 4-ranked Boston College in the National Championship game.

Comley retired at the end of the 2010-2011 season. He was succeeded by Tom Anastos.

Legacy

Rick Comley is one of only five coaches to have won more than 700 games, and one of only three to have won NCAA Championships at two separate schools. Comley was the CCHA coach of the year twice (1980 and 1981) and WCHA coach of the year twice (1989 and 1991). He has won the Spencer Penrose Memorial Trophy as the national coach of the year twice (1980 and 1991). He was runner-up for the Spencer Penrose Trophy in 2007.

In his 33 seasons as a head coach, Rick Comley coached 1991 Hobey Baker Memorial Award runner-up Brad Werenka and nine Hobey Baker finalists. He has coached 14 AHCA First and Second Team All-Americans, three CCHA players of the year, one WCHA player of the year, 20 First and Second Team All-CCHA selections, 13 First Team and Second Team All-WCHA selection and 19 players who went on to play in the NHL.

In addition Comley has 25 seasons with a winning record, 17 seasons winning 20 or more games and two seasons winning 30 or more games. Comley has won two CCHA regular-season championships, three CCHA play-off titles, one WCHA regular-season title and four WCHA play-off titles. His teams have advanced to the NCAA tournament nine times making the Frozen Four four times.

Notable players coached

In 38 years of coaching, Rick Comley has coached a number of outstanding players.

Hobey Baker Award finalists

Steve Bozek	1981
Gary Emmons	1986 and 1987
Phil Berger	1988
Scott Beattie	1991 and 1992
Brad Werenka	1991
John-Michael Liles	2003
Jim Slater	2004
Jeff Lerg	2008

AHCA All-America

Steve Bozek	1981	Forward	Northern Michigan
Bill Schafhauser	1984	Defense	Northern Michigan	Second Team
Gary Emmons	1987	Forward	Northern Michigan	Second Team
Phil Berger	1988	Forward	Northern Michigan	Second Team
Darryl Olsen	1989	Defense	Northern Michigan	Second Team
Brad Werenka	1991	Defense	Northern Michigan
Scott Beattie	1991	Forward	Northern Michigan
Bill Pye	1991	Goalie	Northern Michigan	Second Team
Dallas Drake	1992	Forward	Northern Michigan
Jim Hiller	1992	Forward	Northern Michigan	Second Team
John-Michael Liles	2003	Defense	Michigan State
Brad Fast	2003	Defense	Michigan State	Second Team
Jim Slater	2004	Forward	Michigan State	Second Team
A.J. Thelen	2004	Defense	Michigan State	Second Team
Jeff Lerg	2008	Goalie	Michigan State	Second Team
Jeff Petry	2008	Defense	Michigan State	Second Team

Conference Player of the Year

Don Waddell	1978	Defense	Northern Michigan
Steve Weeks	1980	Goalie	Northern Michigan
Jeff Pyle	1981	Forward	Northern Michigan
Scott Beattie	1991	Forward	Northern Michigan

NHL players

Justin Abdelkader	Michigan State	Detroit Red Wings
David Booth	Michigan State	Florida Panthers
Steve Bozek	Northern Michigan	Calgary Flames
Dallas Drake	Northern Michigan	St. Louis Blues
Brad Fast	Michigan State	Carolina Hurricanes
Keith Hanson	Northern Michigan	Calgary Flames
Jim Hiller	Northern Michigan	Los Angeles Kings
Tim Kennedy	Michigan State	Florida Panthers
Dieter Kochan	Northern Michigan	Tampa Bay Lightning
Torey Krug	Michigan State	Boston Bruins
Tom Laidlaw	Northern Michigan	New York Rangers
Drew Miller	Michigan State	Detroit Red Wings
Chris Mueller	Michigan State	Tampa Bay Lightning
Jeff Petry	Michigan State	Edmonton Oilers
Corey Potter	Michigan State	Edmonton Oilers
Jim Slater	Michigan State	Winnipeg Jets
Mike Stutzel	Northern Michigan	Phoenix Coyotes
Corey Tropp	Michigan State	Buffalo Sabres
Don Waddell	Northern Michigan	Los Angeles Kings
Ed Ward	Northern Michigan	Calgary Flames
Steve Weeks	Northern Michigan	Vancouver Canucks
Brad Werenka	Northern Michigan	Pittsburgh Penguins
J.P. Vigier	Northern Michigan	Atlanta Thrashers

Olympians

Mark Beaufait	1994	USA
Bruno Campese	1994	Italy
Phil DeGaetano	1994	Italy
Eric LeMarque	1994	France
Brad Werenka	1994	Canada	Silver

Head coaching record

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Lake Superior State University (CCHA) (1973-74–1975-76)
1973-74	Lake Superior State	22-16-1	5-3-0	T - 1st	NAIA Champions
1974-75	Lake Superior State	17-14-1	2-5-1	3rd
1975-76	Lake Superior State	20-15-1	9-7-0	3rd
Lake Superior State:		59-45-3	16-15-1
Northern Michigan University (Independent) (1976-77–1976-77)
1976-77	Northern Michigan	19-13-1
Northern Michigan University (CCHA) (1977-78–1983-84)
1977-78	Northern Michigan	19-12-3	8-10-2	T - 3rd
1978-79	Northern Michigan	19-12-3	13-10-1	3rd
1979-80	Northern Michigan	34-6-1	17-3-0	1st	NCAA Finalist
1980-81	Northern Michigan	27-14-3	18-4-0	1st	NCAA Fourth Place
1981-82	Northern Michigan	15-21-0	12-16-0	8th
1982-83	Northern Michigan	18-18-4	16-13-3	5th
1983-84	Northern Michigan	17-22-1	16-14-0	4th
Northern Michigan University (WCHA) (1984-85–1996-97)
1984-85	Northern Michigan	19-21-0	14-20-0	7th
1985-86	Northern Michigan	23-14-2	21-13-0	5th
1986-87	Northern Michigan	18-21-1	16-18-1	5th
1987-88	Northern Michigan	16-20-4	14-17-4	T - 6th
1988-89	Northern Michigan	26-17-2	20-13-2	2nd	NCAA First Round
1989-90	Northern Michigan	22-19-1	15-12-1	4th
1990-91	Northern Michigan	38-5-4	25-3-4	1st	NCAA Champions
1991-92	Northern Michigan	25-14-3	17-12-3	3rd	NCAA Quarterfinalist
1992-93	Northern Michigan	21-18-4	15-13-4	5th	NCAA Quarterfinalist
1993-94	Northern Michigan	22-16-1	17-14-1	5th
1994-95	Northern Michigan	13-24-3	10-19-3	9th
1995-96	Northern Michigan	7-30-2	5-25-2	10th
1996-97	Northern Michigan	13-24-3	9-21-2	8th
Northern Michigan University (CCHA) (1997-98–2001-02)
1997-98	Northern Michigan	19-15-4	15-12-3	4th
1998-99	Northern Michigan	22-15-5	14-11-5	5th	NCAA First Round
1999-2000	Northern Michigan	22-13-4	16-8-4	T - 3rd
2000-01	Northern Michigan	18-13-7	12-10-6	T - 5th
2001-02	Northern Michigan	26-12-2	16-10-2	3rd
Northern Michigan:		538-429-68
Michigan State University (CCHA) (2002-03–2010-11)
2002-03	Michigan State	23-14-2	17-10-1	4th
2003-04	Michigan State	23-17-2	17-9-2	3rd	NCAA First Round
2004-05	Michigan State	20-17-4	12-13-3	6th
2005-06	Michigan State	25-12-8	14-7-7	2nd	NCAA Quarterfinalist
2006-07	Michigan State	26-13-3	15-10-3	4th	NCAA Champions
2007-08	Michigan State	25-12-5	19-6-3	3rd	NCAA Quarterfinalist
2008-09	Michigan State	10-23-5	7-17-4	T - 10th
2009-10	Michigan State	19-13-6	14-8-6	2nd
2010-11	Michigan State	15-19-4	11-15-2	10th
Michigan State:		186-140-39
Total:		768-596-106
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

See also

• List of college men's ice hockey coaches with 400 wins

External links

• Rick Comley biography

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Charlie Holt Terry Slater	Spencer Penrose Award 1979–80 1990–91	Succeeded by Bill O'Flaherty Ron Mason
Preceded by Ron Mason	CCHA Coach of the Year 1979–80 1980–81	Succeeded by Jerry York