Jeff Jackson to step down as Notre Dame hockey coach, Irish name replacement
Jeff Jackson will step down as Notre Dame’s head hockey coach at the end of the 2024-25 season, the university announced Monday. It’ll be Jackson’s 20th and final season in charge of the Fighting Irish program.
Current Notre Dame associate head coach and Irish alum Brock Sheahan has been named the head coach-in-waiting.
“I plan to celebrate my final year at Notre Dame by doing what I love,” Jackson said in a statement. “I get to fully embrace coaching this great game at this incredible university, surrounded by a fantastic staff and good friends, for one more season. Most importantly, I feel privileged to work with some incredible student-athletes pursuing their dreams.”
Jackson, 69, took Notre Dame to the Frozen Four four times, including two appearances in the national championship game in 2008 and 2018. The Irish have made the NCAA Tournament in 12 of Jackson’s 19 seasons to date, racking up over 400 wins along the way. Twenty-eight of Jackson’s former players have made NHL debuts.
A Michigan native and Michigan State graduate, Jackson is the winningest active Division I hockey coach in the country with an all-time record of 589-316-98. Jackson led Lake Superior State to two national champions in 1992 and 1994. He was also an assistant for the 1988 Lake Super State national championship-winning team.
Jackson spent 10 years with USA Hockey, owning titles such as head coach for the U.S. Junior National Team an assistant coach for the Team USA Olympic team in 1998, before becoming a head coach in the Ontario Hockey League in 2000. He was an assistant coach for the New York Islanders in the NHL for a year before getting to Notre Dame in 2005.
Sheahan played for Jackson in his inaugural season in South Bend. He was an assistant in the USHL for four years and was the head coach of the Chicago Wolves in the AHL for one year before returning to his alma mater as an assistant last season. Sheahan also has experience as assistant at Holy Cross for four seasons in addition to one season as a volunteer assistant for the Irish in 2013-14.
“The opportunity to lead the Notre Dame Hockey program is a dream come true for me and my family,” Sheahan said in a statement. “I will be forever grateful to Father Bob Dowd, John Veihmeyer, Jack Brennan, Pete Bevacqua, and the University of Notre Dame for this responsibility.
“I am motivated to lead the program forward, with the intention of winning conference and national championships, while developing our student-athletes to the highest level, as both people and hockey players. The mentorship, influence, and friendship from Jeff Jackson, Paul Pooley, and Andy Slaggert has made me into the person and coach I am today. I am especially thankful for the support of Coach Jackson and all the guidance he has provided me over the years. He has made Notre Dame hockey what it is today and I am excited to work with him this season to achieve our goal of bringing Notre Dame Hockey its first national championship.”
The Irish went 15-19-2 last season and have not made the NCAA Tournament since 2022. Jackson gets one more shot to capture some magic from the glory years.
