A two-time national champion coach and one of six active Division I men's hockey coaches with more than 500 victories, Don Lucia enters his 12th season as the head coach at the University of Minnesota in 2010-11.

Lucia, 52, has guided the Gophers to a stellar 274-145-47 (.638) mark during his 11 seasons. In 23 seasons overall as a collegiate head coach, Lucia has compiled a 553-300-76 (.636) record. The mark places Lucia fifth in career victories and sixth in winning percentage among active NCAA Division I coaches.

During his tenure at Minnesota, Lucia has helped his teams raise seven banners to the rafters of Mariucci Arena, including back-to-back NCAA championships in 2001-02 and 2002-03. His squads have also captured two WCHA titles and three WCHA Final Five crowns. In addition, Lucia has led the Gophers to seven 25-win seasons and six top-three finishes in the WCHA. He is a three-time WCHA Coach of the Year, winning the award in 1993-94, 1995-96 and 2005-06. 

Joining the legendary Herb Brooks, Lucia became only the second head coach in Gopher history to lead his team to increasing win totals in each of his first three seasons. After Minnesota finished 20-19-2 in his first year, the Gophers went 27-13-2 in 2000-01 and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. His third campaign saw the team finish 32-8-4 and win its first NCAA Championship in 23 years with a dramatic 4-3 overtime win vs. Maine at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

In 2002-03, the Gophers took home their fifth national title, posting a 28-8-9 record along the way and beating New Hampshire 5-1 in Buffalo, N.Y. in the title game. With that NCAA crown, Lucia became one of just four coaches in NCAA history to lead his team to back-to-back national titles. The 2002-03 squad also captured the Gophers' first WCHA Final Five championship since 1995-96 while finishing the season with an eight-game winning streak and 12-game unbeaten streak.

In fact, Lucia has done some of his best coaching late in the season, owning a 57-29-1 combined record during the months of March and April. He ranks seventh all-time with 17 NCAA tournament coaching victories and is also seventh with 13 career appearances in the event. Five of those appearances came while coaching at Colorado College as Lucia joins current Boston College coach Jerry York as the only coaches to lead two different schools to at least five NCAA tournament appearances.

Lucia led his teams to at least 27 wins in each of the next four seasons, capturing a second straight WCHA Final Five title in 2003-04 and reaching the NCAA Frozen Four in 2004-05. His 2005-06 and 2006-07 squads both won WCHA regular season titles and earned top seeds in the NCAA tournament. The 2006-07 team had a school-record 22-game unbeaten streak after a season-opening loss and finished 31-10-3 overall.

One of Lucia's best in-season coaching performances may have come in 2007-08 when the team finished 19-17-9 and placed seventh in the WCHA, but had a strong finish with three straight overtime wins to reach the WCHA Final Five championship game and earn an eighth straight berth to the NCAA tournament, which was the second-longest streak in Minnesota history.

In 2008-09, the Gophers were ranked No. 1 in the country for two weeks in November before Lucia was diagnosed with sarcoidosis midway through the season, causing him to miss four games as the team finished 17-13-7 overall and fifth place in the WCHA regular season.

The struggles carried over into 2009-10 when Lucia endured just his second losing season as a head coach and first since 1989-90 when the Gophers finished 18-19-2. However, in typical Lucia fashion, the squad played its best hockey at the end of the season with wins in four of its last six regular season games and a hard-fought three-game series loss at eventual WCHA Final Five champion North Dakota in the league playoffs. The season also capped a four-year span where Lucia coached his son, Tony, who served as team captain and was named the Most Valuable Player as a senior after leading the team in scoring.

Lucia has coached 16 All-Americans, including 2001-02 Hobey Baker Award winner, Jordan Leopold and, most recently, 2008-09 selection Ryan Stoa. He also has coached 50 all-WCHA players, 20 all-WCHA defensemen, eight Hobey Baker Award finalists, six WCHA Defensive Players of the Year and three WCHA Rookies of the Year. Leopold's Hobey Baker Award was the fourth in Minnesota history, marking the most of any school.

Lucia has helped many Gophers move on to the next level as well. During his 11-year tenure, 53 of his players have been drafted by NHL franchises including 13 first round selections (through 2009 draft). Erik Johnson was taken first overall in the 2006 draft by the St. Louis Blues while Thomas Vanek (2003), Blake Wheeler (2004) and Phil Kessel (2006) were all taken with the fifth overall choice.

During 2009-10, 13 of Lucia's former Minnesota players played in NHL regular season games. In 2008-09, Vanek became the Gophers' first NHL all-star since 1986 and Alex Goligoski was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup championship team. Wheeler also had a banner rookie season with the Boston Bruins and was named the Most Valuable Player of the NHL Youngstars game.

Lucia has maintained Minnesota's tradition of building a roster built primarily around Minnesota natives, however, he has also brought in several top-notch players from other states and countries to keep the Gophers among the nation's elite programs. He has been successful in attracting some of the nation's top players who have participated in the U.S. National Development Team program, drawing 16 players from the Ann Arbor, Mich. squad since taking over the Gophers' program.

Prior to his arrival at Minnesota, Lucia led his previous employer, Colorado College, to an overall record of 166-68-18 (.694) in six seasons. Tied with former Wisconsin head coach Jeff Sauer as the second-winningest coach in Colorado College history, Lucia guided the Tigers to a record of 23-11-5 record and the WCHA regular-season title in his first season in 1993-94. Colorado College had struggled to an 8-28 record the previous season and had not experienced a winning season in the previous 13 campaigns. The league title was Colorado College's first in 37 years.

Lucia, who guided Colorado College to an unprecedented three straight outright regular-season league titles in his first three years behind the bench, helped the Tigers appear in the 1996 championship game and 1997 NCAA Frozen Four semifinals. Lucia was honored at the conclusion of the 1993-94 season as the 44th recipient of the Spencer Penrose Award as National Coach of the Year by the American Hockey Coaches Association. He is one of just six coaches in NCAA history to lead two different schools to the Frozen Four.

Prior to his stint at Colorado College, Lucia spent six years as head coach at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he posted four winning seasons and an overall record of 113-87-10. In his first year as head coach in 1987-88, the Nanooks claimed the final championship of the now-defunct Great West Hockey Conference, and Lucia was named the league's Coach of the Year.

Lucia has been a collegiate coach for 29 seasons overall, spending six years as an assistant following his graduation from the University of Notre Dame in 1981. He began his career as an assistant at Alaska Fairbanks (1981-85) before moving to the University of Alaska Anchorage for two seasons (1985-87). He lettered three times as a defenseman at Notre Dame, where he served as assistant team captain his senior year.

Lucia has also been active with USA Hockey for the last decade, having served as head coach of the national-16 team that competed in Finland in August of 1996. In the summer of 1995, he was head coach of Team West at the United States Olympic Festival in Denver. Lucia served as the president of the American Hockey Coaches Association in 1999.

As a prep athlete, Lucia helped Grand Rapids High School claim two Minnesota State High School Hockey Championships (1975 and 1976) as well as a pair of third-place finishes (1974 and 1977). He earned all-state recognition as a linebacker in football and as a defenseman in hockey his senior year. He also served as captain of the hockey team during his final prep campaign. He later was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League.

Lucia and his wife, Joyce, are the parents of two daughters, Alison (age 27) and Jessica (25), as well as two sons, Tony (23) and Mario (17). The Lucia family makes its home in Plymouth, Minn. 

Lucia at a Glance

Born: August 20, 1958

High School: Grand Rapids High School (Minn.)

Education: B.S., University of Notre Dame, 1981

Coaching Experience
Alaska-Fairbanks: assistant coach, 1981-85
Alaska Anchorage: assistant coach, 1985-87
Alaska-Fairbanks: head coach, 1987-93
Colorado College: head coach, 1993-99
Minnesota: head coach, 1999-present

Coaching Highlights
• Coached Minnesota to back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2002 and 2003
• One of only four coaches in NCAA history to lead a team to back-to-back titles
• Spencer Penrose National Coach of the Year in 1994
• Has reached the Frozen Four in four of the last 10 years
• Three-time WCHA Coach of the Year (1994, 1996, 2006)
• Coached 2002 Hobey Baker Award winner, Jordan Leopold
• Coached his teams to five MacNaughton Cups and three Broadmoor Trophies

Has Coached
• 16 first team All-Americans
• 8 Hobey Baker Award finalists
• 50 All-WCHA team members
• 106 WCHA All-Academic team members

Coaching Record
• 553-300-76 (.636) overall (through 23 seasons)
• 113-87-11 (.562) at Alaska Fairbanks (six seasons)
• 166-68-18 (.694) at Colorado College (six seasons)
• 274-145-47 (.638) at Minnesota (11 seasons)

Family
Wife: Joyce
Children: Alison (27), Jessica (25), Tony (23), Mario (17)

WCHA Titles (Combined) since 1981-82

Lucia at Minnesota

2009-10
• Record: 18-19-2 (12-14-2 WCHA)

2008-09
• Record: 17-13-7 (12-11-5 WCHA)
• Ryan Stoa: First Team All-American
• Jordan Schroeder: WCHA Rookie of the Year

2007-08
• Record: 19-17-9 (9-12-7 WCHA)
• WCHA Final Five Runner-up
• NCAA Tournament appearance
 
2006-07
• Record: 31-10-3 (18-7-3 WCHA)
• WCHA Championship
• WCHA Final Five Champions
• NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed
• Alex Goligoski: First Team All-American

2005-06
• Record: 27-9-5 (20-5-3 WCHA)
• WCHA Championship
• WCHA Co-Coach of the Year
• NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed
• Ryan Potulny: Hobey Baker Award Finalist/First Team
All-American/nation’s leading scorer
• Phil Kessel: WCHA Rookie of the Year/nation’s leading rookie scorer

2004-05
• Record: 28-15-1 (17-10-1 WCHA)
• NCAA Frozen Four appearance
• NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed
• Three 40-point scorers

2003-04
• Record: 27-14-3 (15-12-1 WCHA)
• WCHA Final Five Champions
• NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed
• Keith Ballard: Hobey Baker Award Finalist/First Team All-American

2002-03
• Record: 28-8-9 (15-6-7 WCHA)
• NCAA Champions
• WCHA Final Five Champions
• NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed
• Thomas Vanek: nation’s leading rookie scorer

2001-02
• Record: 32-8-4 (18-7-3 WCHA)
• NCAA Champions
• Jordan Leopold: Hobey Baker Award winner/First Team
All-American/WCHA Defensive Player of the Year/nation’s
leading defenseman scorer
• John Pohl: First Team All-American/nation’s leading scorer

2000-01
• Record: 27-13-2 (18-8-2 WCHA)
• NCAA Tournament appearance
• Jordan Leopold: First Team All-American/WCHA Defensive Player of the Year

1999-2000
• Record: 20-19-2 (13-13-2 WCHA)
• First season at Minnesota