April 12, 2002
Whitehead Wins Penrose Award as Division I Coach of the Year


He took over a team devastated by the death of its popular coach, Shawn
Walsh, in September. He watched them start out 3-4-2. But in the end, his
Black Bears fell just an overtime goal short of the NCAA title.

For this remarkable season, the University of Maine's Tim Whitehead is the
winner of the 2002 Spencer Penrose Award as Division I Men's Ice Hockey
Coach of the Year.

Whitehead, whose title all year was "Interim Head Coach," saw his efforts
rewarded when Maine named him permanent head coach just two days after the
emotional 4-3 overtime loss to Minnesota in the NCAA title game.

A 1985 graduate of Hamilton College, Whitehead returned to Orono this fall
after ten years at UMass Lowell. An assistant to Shawn Walsh during the
1990-91 season, Whitehead spent his first five years at Lowell as an
assistant to Bruce Crowder and his last five years as head coach. His record
as a head coach was 76-95-12 before this year's 26-11-7 mark.

The runner-up in this year's Spencer Penrose Award balloting was George
Gwozdecky, head coach of the University of Denver. The award is named in
memory of the famed Colorado Springs benefactor who built the Broadmoor
Hotel Complex, home of the first ten NCAA ice hockey championships.

College hockey's Coach of the Year recipients are chosen by members of the
American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA). Winners will receive their
awards at the annual AHCA Coach of the Year Banquet, held in conjunction
with the AHCA Convention in Naples, FL. This year's banquet is scheduled for
Saturday evening, April. 27.