Report: BC Hockey’s Mike Cavanaugh To Be Offered UConn Job

Andrew B. Fielding-USA TODAY Sports

The Hartford Courant reports on Tuesday afternoon that Mike Cavanaugh, Boston College assistant hockey coach under Jerry York, is in the final stages of being hired by the University of Connecticut as its new head coach. The school has not yet made an official announcement as the process is still ongoing.

Cavanaugh has been on York’s staff since 1995, the second year of the coach’s reign at BC, and has served as Associate Head Coach for the last nine years. During the last year, former Eagle player Greg Brown has shared that role, which will soon be held solely by Brown.

Rumors had previously abounded that the Huskies were targeting George Gwozdecky, the former head coach at Denver who was a finalist, but it now appears that Cavanaugh is their man. In the previous offseason, Cavanaugh was a candidate to fill the coaching vacancy at Massachusetts, but with word that some entries were “frustrated” with the hiring process, he backed out and chose to remain at Boston College.

As it turns out, an assistant coach with multiple national championships under his belt is only going to stay in one place for so long before finally taking the right opportunity that comes his way. Even though he will be coaching BC’s unfriendly adversaries in Storrs, he has earned the opportunity to run his own program.

Should the process complete and Cavanaugh leaves Boston College, this would raise a few more questions as to who will be Jerry York’s successor, heaven forbid that he ever retires. Cavanaugh would have been a fairly logical choice, though far from a lock, but unless they would be looking at Greg Brown in the future, this increases the possibility that York’s future replacement will come from outside the program.