Mike Towns Expected To Be Added As Assistant
Bench Staff Complete With Clarkson Assistant On Board
(Photo credit: USCHO.com)
Adam Nightingale has reportedly rounded out his on bench staff, with the hire of Mike Towns, previously of Clarkson University. As first reported by Mike McMahon in his newsletter, Towns was the clear favorite and it has moved further along since that post yesterday. Towns started his coaching career, helping build American International College with Eric Lang, from the brink of extinction to an Atlantic Hockey powerhouse. Towns is familiar with the state of Michigan from his college playing days, as he was a 4 year letter winner at Adrian (playing for Princeton HC Ron Fogarty) amazingly being an assistant captain for 2 seasons and captain for 2 seasons. In his senior season as a player Towns, who was a RW, led the Bulldogs to the D3 Frozen Four. After a short pro playing career, Towns began coaching with Lang in 2014, before moving over to Clarkson in 2019. Below is more on Towns from his Clarkson bio:
In his first season with the Knights, Clarkson skated to a 23-8-3 overall record and a second place 16-5-1 ECAC Hockey mark. The Knights were poised for postseason success and were rated ninth in the final NCAA Pairwise rankings before the COVID 19 pandemic forced an abrupt end to the college hockey season in early March.
Towns came to Clarkson after serving five years on the staff at American International College, including the 2018-19 campaign as the Yellow Jackets associate head coach. Since arriving at AIC in August 2014, Towns helped guide the Yellow Jackets to the most successful seasons in the program's history.Serving as AIC's recruiting coordinator since 2016-17, Towns was instrumental in recruiting efforts that helped rebuild the Yellow Jackets program. Towns helped recruit head coach Eric Lang's first recruiting class for the 2016-2017 season, which was regarded as one of the best in the conference. The 2017-2018 season saw more impressive recruiting efforts. The team set program records for wins in a season (15), and was able to host and win its first Atlantic Hockey Championship Tournament series. The Yellow Jackets continued improving and enjoyed unprecedented success in 2018-2019, reestablishing a record for victories (23), and winning both the Atlantic Hockey regular season and playoff championships. AIC excelled at the NCAA tournament as well, upsetting No. 1 St. Cloud State to advance to the West Regional Championship.
Towns was responsible for many facets of AIC's hockey program. His primary responsibilities included coaching the team's forwards, including bench management and skill development. He was also responsible for video and statistical breakdown and coaching the power play.As a player, Towns spent four seasons in the BCHL playing with the Penticton Vees before attending Adrian College. At Adrian, Towns was an alternate captain his first two seasons, and the team's captain in his junior and senior years. During his senior season, Towns captained the Bulldogs to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four, eventually losing in the National Championship Game.
This is a fantastic rounding out of the MSU staff in my book. I expect Towns will work with the MSU forwards, and like Jared DeMichiel who was previously hired, has been a part of some great recruiting classes. I love his BCHL ties to work Western Canada, and his Clarkson ties to mine for the upstate NY and Toronto kids. Once again a great move by Nightingale, and I am happy to see him reach outside the MSU circle for a young guy with tons of promise. Welcome to East Lansing Coach Mike Towns!