Saint Michael’s has announced the rent of Jack Fitzgerald as head coach for men’s hockey.
Fitzgerald, a former assistant coach of Amherst and Middlebury, becomes the fourth head coach of the program, because it was elevated to the status of Varsity in 1982-83.
He follows 13-year-old head coach Damian Digiulian, who retired this summer After leading the purple knights to the Northeast 10 Championship Crown 2024-25.
“I am honored and excited to become head coach of the legendary Saint Michael’s Men’s Ice Hockey program,” said Fitzgerald. “I have long admired the success of the program and the deep passion that the alumni have for their experiences here. I look forward to building on that proud tradition, and I can’t wait to start.”
In the past two seasons, Fitzgerald helped to revitalize the hockey program of Middlebury Men’s as the only assistant coach of a staff of two people. The Panthers went on both years after the last qualification in 2015-16 to the Nescac Tournament-Halve Final, and their 13-12-1 Mark Last winter was their first .500 since 2012-13.
“I am pleased to welcome Jack Fitzgerald as the new head coach of the Saint Michael ice hockey team,” said SMC Associate Director of Athletics Annie Martin. “His success in leading Amherst to strong scoring and defensive versions, together with his ability to recruit top talent at Middlebury in his skill in developing competitive teams. We look forward to seeing how his expertise will increase our program and support the growth of our student athletes.”
Fitzgerald was an assistant coach at Amherst, his Alma Mater, during the four years prior to landing in Middlebury (2019-23). He was the main recruiter of the mammoths and both produced Power-Play systems and selected the staff. Amherst led the Nescac in Power-Play percentage during the 2022-23 season after the second year before.
The last winter of Fitzgerald in Amherst contained the highest victory of the program (16-6-4) and the semi-final of the first house since 2014-15, with the mammoths claiming in fourth place in NCAA Division III in scoring the average while he scoring the Nescac pacing in the scoring of defense. Amherst was also the first in the nation in the penalty kill percentage in 2019-2020.
A resident of Guilford, Conn., Fitzgerald was a coach, instructor and assistant director Operations and Marketing at different times with the Guilford-based Elite Hockey program between 2019 and 2021.
Fitzgerald graduated from Amherst in 2019 with a degree in psychology. He was a men’s hockey captain as a senior when the mammoths qualified for their second Nescac final during his career. They went a combined 51-35-16 general and 34-23-15 in Nescac game for his four years, where Fitzgerald yielded 43 points in 102 games.
He was appointed as the Nescac All-Sportsmanship team of the Winter 2019, was a member of the Amherst Leads Futures program for three years and has been involved in Special Olympics Massachusetts since 2015.
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