Earlier this month, Western Michigan lost associate head coach Rob Facca, when he left Kalamazoo to take a scouting position with the Chicago Blackhawks.
On Sunday, Western Michigan's assistant director of media relations Adam Bodnar tweeted out that the school is in the process of finalizing the hiring of Facca's replacement.
. @WMUHockey intends to hire Providence asst coach Ben Barr @benbarrpc to the position of Associate Head Coach pending University approval.
— Adam Bodnar (@bodnarwmu) June 29, 2014
If finalized, which it should be, that's a fairly noteworthy hire by Westen Michigan. Barr, who played college hockey at RPI, has seen his reputation grow in coaching circles as one of the top assistants in college hockey after working as an assistant coach under Nate Leaman at Union, helping build that program, and then following Leaman to Providence, where they've experienced similar success. This summer, Barr was a finalist for the head coaching position at Lake Superior.
Western Michigan has made significant investment in their coaching salaries in recent years, and this job likely comes with a bit of a pay raise for Barr. Western Michigan, meanwhile, keeps their reputation as one of the strongest coaching staffs in college hockey, despite losing a well-respected coach this offseason.