Will Messa has served as an assistant coach with the LIU men’s ice hockey team since the program’s inception for the 2020-21 season.
Messa is immersed in all aspects of the program and leads the defensemen during games. He also is responsible for LIU’s special-teams units.
Under his tutelage, the LIU power play and penalty kill both improved by more than 10 percent from Year 1 to Year 2, aiding the Sharks in solidifying historic program wins and key moments against nationally ranked competition.
Messa serves as the Sharks’ recruiting coordinator, and helped secure LIU’s first captain and the leading scorer in program history, Billy Jerry.
Messa emphasizes student-athlete development. His daily focus is built on relationships — connecting with recruits and communicating with each player, driving the student-athlete development experience, and instilling “Sharks Hockey” standards on and off the ice.
Messa is a passionate teacher, who plays a significant role in building the Sharks’ emerging brand through practice, preparation, tactical philosophies and innovative recruiting strategies.
Messa joined LIU from Union College, where he spent the 2019-20 season as a volunteer assistant coach, aiding in all areas for Rick Bennett’s staff.
With the Dutchmen, Messa was responsible for assisting player development and with the penalty kill.
Messa created innovative strategies to improve pre-scouting of opponents and individual skill development frameworks. He introduced advanced statistics through video software to improve efficiency in personnel and opponent matchup data. Messa also implemented innovative recruiting strategies to improve marketing efforts for the program and university.
In 2018-19, he served as an intern assistant coach at Notre Dame. With the Fighting Irish, he aided Jeff Jackson’s coaching staff in earning a No. 1 national ranking, Big Ten tournament championship and an NCAA Northeast Regional final appearance.
Messa previously spent two seasons at Northeastern as a graduate assistant coach.
He helped the 2017-18 Huskies to a 23-10-5 record, their first Beanpot title in 30 years and an NCAA Tournament appearance. He aided in the development of prominent players, including forward Adam Gaudette. In his junior year, Gaudette led the nation in scoring and earned the Hobey Baker Award as well as CCM/AHCA first-team All-American, Hockey East Player of the Year, Walter Brown Award and Beanpot MVP honors.
As a student-athlete, Messa participated for three seasons (2013-14 to 2015-16) with the Northeastern Huskies. The team won the 2016 Hockey East Championship, which marked the second tournament title in program history.
Messa graduated from Northeastern in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in communication. He minored in business administration. He earned a master’s in sports leadership from Northeastern in 2018.
