Lake Superior Hires Damon Whitten As New Head Coach

This afternoon, Lake Superior State University announced that former Michigan Tech assistant coach Damon Whitten will be the school's next head coach, replacing Jim Roque, whose contract was not renewed after this past season.

Whitten just celebrated his 37th birthday, making him the youngest head coach in the WCHA. Whitten played four years at Michigan State under Ron Mason, serving as the team's alternate captain in his senior season(and--because I never pass an opportunity to post this--nearly got his face rearranged by Bob Gassoff in his junior season)

Following a brief minor league pro career, Whitten got into coaching, working as an assistant coach at Wayne State University. From there, he moved on to a two-season stint at the University of Alaska-Anchorage as an assistant coach. His next stop was a two-year stint as Director of Hockey Operations at Michigan State, working under Rick Comley, who coincidentally, headed the search committee for Lake Superior in the search for their new coach. After Michigan State, Whitten took a job on Michigan Tech's staff as an assistant coach, where he has served for the past four seasons.

Whitten has a reputation as an excellent recruiter, and a defensive specialist. He handled Michigan Tech's penalty kill and was the lead on recruiting at all three of his previous assistant coaching stops. He was reportedly chosen over other candidates that applied for the job, including Division III Adrian College head coach Ron Fogarty, and Providence College assistant Ben Barr.