Head Coach Don Lucia
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Lucia, 51, has guided the Gophers to a stellar 256-126-45 (.652) mark during his 10 seasons. In 22 seasons overall as a collegiate head coach, Lucia has compiled a 535-281-74 (.642) record. The mark places Lucia fifth in both career victories and winning percentage among active NCAA Division I coaches.
During his tenure at Minnesota, Lucia has helped his teams raise seven banners to the rafters of Mariucci Arena, including back-to-back NCAA championships in 2001-02 and 2002-03. His squads have also captured two WCHA titles and three WCHA Final Five crowns. In addition, Lucia has led the Gophers to seven 25-win seasons and six top-three finishes in the WCHA. He is a three-time WCHA Coach of the Year, winning the award in 1993-94, 1995-96 and 2005-06.
Joining the legendary Herb Brooks, Lucia became only the second head coach in Gopher history to lead his team to increasing win totals in each of his first three seasons. After Minnesota finished 20-19-2 in his first year, the Gophers went 27-13-2 in 2000-01 and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. His third campaign saw the team finish 32-8-4 and win its first NCAA Championship in 23 years with a 4-3 overtime win vs. Maine at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. In 2002-03, the Gophers took home their fifth national title, posting a 28-8-9 record along the way and beating New Hampshire 5-1 in Buffalo, N.Y. in the title game. With that NCAA?crown, Lucia became one of just four coaches in NCAA history to lead his team to back-to-back national titles.
Lucia led his teams to at least 27 wins in each of the next four seasons, capturing a second straight WCHA Final Five title in 2003-04 and reaching the NCAA Frozen Four in 2004-05. His 2005-06 and 2006-07 squads both won WCHA regular season titles and earned top seeds in the NCAA tournament. The 2006-07 team had a school-record 22-game unbeaten streak after a season-opening loss and finished 31-10-3 overall.
One of Lucia's best in-season coaching performances may have come in 2007-08 when the team finished 19-17-9 and placed seventh in the WCHA, but had a strong finish with three straight overtime wins to reach the WCHA Final Five championship game and earn an eighth straight berth to the NCAA tournament.
In 2008-09, the Gophers were ranked No. 1 in the country for two weeks in November before Lucia was diagnosed with sarcoidosis midway through the season, causing him to miss four games as the team finished 17-13-7 overall.
Lucia has coached 16 All-Americans, including 2001-02 Hobey Baker Award winner, Jordan Leopold and 2008-09 selection Ryan Stoa. He also has coached 50 all-WCHA players, 20 all-WCHA defensemen, eight Hobey Baker Award finalists, six WCHA Defensive Players of the Year and three WCHA Rookies of the Year. Leopold's Hobey Baker Award was the fourth in Minnesota history, marking the most of any school.
Lucia has helped many Gophers move on to the next level as well. During his 10-year tenure, 53 of his players have been drafted by NHL?franchises including 13 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. Tied with former Wisconsin head coach Jeff Sauer as the second-winningest coach in Colorado College history, Lucia guided the Tigers to a record of 23-11-5 record and the WCHA regular-season title in his first season in 1993-94.
Colorado College had struggled to an 8-28 record the previous season and had not experienced a winning season in the previous 13 campaigns. The league title 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, helped the Tigers appear 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 by the American Hockey Coaches Association. He is one of just six coaches in NCAA history to lead two different schools to the Frozen Four.
Prior to his stint at Colorado College, Lucia spent six years 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 as head coach in 1987-88, the Nanooks claimed the final championship of the now-defunct Great West Hockey Conference, and Lucia was named the league's Coach of the Year.
Lucia has been a collegiate coach for 28 seasons overall, spending six years as an assistant following his graduation from the University of Notre Dame in 1981. He began his career as an assistant 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 served 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 26) and Jessica (24), as well as two sons, current Gopher senior Tony (22) and Mario (16). The Lucia family makes its home in Plymouth, Minn.
