New coach aims to help the Bobcats make next step toward national title
Sean Hogan stepped into Bird Arena for the first time nine years ago.
He was an assistant with Oakland then, coming off of a national title-winning season and a program that was about to win back-to-back national titles in Hogan’s first two years as a head coach.
In the midst of all that success, however, Bird Arena — and Ohio hockey — made an impact on the young coach.
“Even back then, I thought, ‘Wow, it would be great to have an opportunity to coach at Ohio,’” Hogan said.
Fast forward to 2014, a year in which Hogan was hired to replace Jonathon Sheridan as the coach of the Bobcats’ American Collegiate Hockey Association team, becoming the third coach in as many seasons at Ohio.
Hogan is a native of White Lake, Michigan, played hockey for Iona College from 1996-98 and graduated from Michigan State with a degree in public policy and public administration in 2001. He will earn a salary of $40,000 a year at Ohio.
“I feel real fortunate to be here,” Hogan said. “The tradition here and everything about Ohio University hockey is fantastic. I think this program is ready to make the next step from good to great, and I’m excited to be the next guy in line to try and do that.”
Hogan’s coaching history began with his assistant job at Oakland, which quickly transitioned into a four-year head coaching stint from 2005-09 that included the aforementioned ACHA national championships. From there, he moved onto coaching junior hockey with the Yellowstone Quake for a season, where he went 34-14 with an American West Division Playoff Finals appearance.
Hogan then spent a season with Western Michigan at the NCAA level as an assistant coach and director of video operations before moving back to the ACHA with a head coaching position at Arizona. He spent three years with the Wildcats, increasing the team’s win total each season he was there and, in his final season, led the team to its first ACHA national tournament berth since 2006.
Sheridan, Ohio’s coach last season and current assistant with NCAA Division III Lawrence University, has gotten to know Hogan at the annual hockey coaches’ convention in Naples, Florida, and had made connections with him during his tenure at Ohio.
“He’s an extremely good coach, and very knowledgeable of the game,” Sheridan said. “We’ve had conversations in the past, and even when I was an assistant coach, he was always a guy who would give me the time of day, and I really admired that. I’ve talked to some of the guys and he seems like a great fit there. I have no doubt he’ll have success at Ohio.”
Hogan’s first chance to impress new and returning fans alike will come Friday, when the Bobcats open their season at home against John Carroll.
“(Hogan) really focuses on the details and habits and things like that in practice,” senior forward Nathan De La Torre said. “With simple plays, breakouts, chips off the board and things like that, he really tries to dumb it down for us so that when we get into a game, we can make those simple plays, and then build on those.”
“Expectations are high this year, but we’re all excited to get this thing going.”
Though Hogan’s Arizona tenure was very much of a rebuilding process, he takes over an Ohio team that is in a more successful place. The Bobcats have accumulated three 30-win seasons over the past five years, and have had just one season with a sub-.500 record since 1978.
“We have a tradition of excellence and the program is set up for success,” Hogan said. “What I told our guys here at Ohio is that I won’t pretend to be the smartest guy in the room, but what I do have is perspective. I’ve been a lot of different places, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t work. If we stick to the game plan, we’ve got a real good shot at success.”
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