EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Kelly Nash won two women's ice hockey national championships during her playing career at the University of Wisconsin. Now, with several years of coaching experience at the collegiate and professional levels under her belt, she aims to lift LIU to an elite level as well.
Nash officially was named head coach of the Sharks women's ice hockey program on Friday.
She arrives from the Premier Hockey Federation's Metropolitan Riveters, where she served as associate head coach and head scout this past season.
Nash previously played with the Riveters, including on their Isobel Cup championship-winning team in 2018.
She spent a combined six seasons as an assistant coach at the collegiate level. Her focus at Vermont (2013-17) and Princeton (2017-19) centered on player development, recruiting, practice planning, and video analysis and scouting.
During her collegiate playing career, Nash produced 22 goals and 47 assists in 153 career games with the Badgers spanning four seasons. She earned the team's Jeff Sauer Award as the "most dedicated player" as a senior and graduated in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in sociology.
Nash worked with LeagueApps, a youth-sports management platform, in addition to her duties with the Riveters. Her responsibilities included managing the company's partnership with the NHL, particularly the league's "Learn to Play" and "Breaking the Ice" initiatives.
"We're thrilled to have Kelly join LIU Athletics," director of athletics
Dr. William E. Martinov Jr. said. "Her credentials as a two-time national champion and experience as an assistant coach at the college and professional levels, as well as her ability to build a rapport with her players, will directly benefit our student-athletes.
Nash met virtually with LIU women's ice hockey student-athletes earlier this week to introduce herself to the team.
"I've felt like I've always been able to build good player-coach relationships throughout my career, and build that trust from the get-go," Nash said. "I think my playing career has helped to get that started right off the bat with the players. And then, with my six years of Division I coaching as an assistant coach, I was really focused on player development, and working on skills specifically. That's something I definitely want to bring to LIU."
Nash succeeds Rob Morgan, who built the program from its inception to prominence. The program's early success under Morgan included winning the New England Women's Hockey Alliance title in the team's inaugural season in 2019-20 and earning the NEWHA Commissioner's Cup the following season. The Sharks then went a school-record 15-3-2 in 2021-22 en route to sharing the conference's regular-season title.
"There's a strong foundation that we can build off of here," Nash said. "There's just a lot of excitement going into this upcoming season. They've already experienced a bit of success early on."
