Don Cahoon

Biographical details
Born	April 13, 1949 (age 75); Lynn, Massachusetts
Playing career
1969–1972	Boston University
Position(s)	Left wing
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1973–1974	Lehigh
1974–1979	Boston University (assistant)
1979–1982	Norwich
1982–1983	Vienna Capitals II
1983–1986	UMass Lowell (assistant)
1987–1988	Boston University (assistant)
1988–1990	Minnesota North Stars (scout)
1990–1991	Boston University (assistant)
1991	Team USA
1991–2000	Princeton
1995	Team USA
2000–2012	UMass
Head coaching record
Overall	346–398–78 (college)
Tournaments	1–2
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
	ECAC Hockey (1998)

Don 'Toot' Cahoon (born April 13, 1949) is a retired American ice hockey coach. He was the head coach of the Princeton Tigers when they won their first conference tournament championship in 1998.^[1] For almost 40 years Cahoon worked behind the bench of various collegiate hockey programs, reaching the NCAA tournament twice as a head coach.^[2]

Career[edit]

Cahoon's start in collegiate hockey came as a player for Boston University starting three seasons for the Terriers (typical as freshman did not play varsity at the time) which included back-to-back National Championships in 1971 and 1972. He also played for the United States national team at the 1972 ice hockey world championship pool B tournament in Romania.^[3]

After graduating with a B.S. in education,^[4] Cahoon continued his playing career for one more season, lacing it up for seven games for the New England Blades of the EHL, the league's last year in operation.^[5] Cahoon began his coaching career the following season, leading Lehigh University team to the 1973–74 Mid-Atlantic Conference title. After a successful campaign his first time out, Cahoon joined the staff at his alma mater, becoming an assistant at BU under 2nd-year head coach Jack Parker. Cahoon enjoyed as much success as an assistant with the Terriers as he had as a player, winning three consecutive conference tournament titles, three regular season titles, and the 1978 National Championship. After five years as an assistant coach Cahoon accepted the head coaching duties for the Division II Norwich Cadets. In his three seasons at Norwich Cahoon led the Cadets to the postseason each year while continuing the University's strong hockey tradition.^[6] After 1981–82 Cahoon headed across the Atlantic to become the head coach and direction of hockey operations for the Vienna Capitals.^[7]

Cahoon's European stint only lasted one season, however, and he was back as an assistant coach in college, this time for Massachusetts-Lowell as they made the transition from D-II into the Division I ranks. Though not unexpected Massachusetts-Lowell grew progressively worse while Cahoon was there and he left the university after his third season. After a year off, Cahoon returned to BU for the second time, spending a year as an assistant for Jack Parker before accepting a job as a pro scout for the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL. Cahoon's second foray into professional hockey lasted only slightly longer than his first and he rejoined the Terriers two years after he left for the second time. During his third trip behind the bench for BU, Cahoon also served as the head coach for Team USA at the 1991 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, leading the Americans to a respectable 4th-place finish.^[4]

After 1991 Cahoon left Boston University for good when he received his first Division-I head coaching job, replacing Jim Higgins at Princeton.^[1] The Tigers were one of the founding members of ECAC Hockey and in the thirty years prior to Cahoon's arrival they had a winning season only once, in 1967–68. That trend continued for the early part of Cahoon's tenure but he was able to get the Tigers head's above water with a plus-.500 campaign in 1994–95. After a lull the following year, Cahoon pushed Princeton to three consecutive winning seasons, including a conference tournament title in 1997–98 and its first 20-win season the following year. Despite the success, Cahoon left the Tigers after the 2000 season to take on the same role with Massachusetts, a team that had recently brought back its ice hockey program but had yet to see much success.^[8]

Similar to how he had improved Princeton, Cahoon took a couple of years to right the ship in Amherst, posting two 8-win seasons before leading the Minutemen to a 19-win campaign in year three, their first winning record since joining Hockey East in 1994. Cahoon continued to enjoy moderate success with UMass for the next several seasons, hovering around .500, and brought the Minutemen to their first NCAA berth and win in 2007 behind the stellar goaltending of Jonathan Quick, but the results started to turn bad in the second decade of the 21st century and Cahoon agreed to resign from his post after the 2011–12 season.^[9] Cahoon ended with a 346–398–78 record as a head coach.

Head coaching record[edit]

College[edit]

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Lehigh Engineers (ECAC 3) (1973–1974)
1973–74	Lehigh	10–5–2	0–1–0	T–17th
Lehigh:		10–5–2
Norwich Cadets (ECAC 2) (1979–1982)
1979–80	Norwich	12–13–0	9–12–0	T–20th	ECAC 2 West Quarterfinal
1980–81	Norwich	18–11–1	14–8–1	9th	ECAC 2 West Semifinal
1981–82	Norwich	18–11–1	15–9–1	8th	ECAC 2 West Quarterfinal
Norwich:		48–35–2
Princeton Tigers (ECAC Hockey) (1991–2000)
1991–92	Princeton	12–14–1	9–12–1	9th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1992–93	Princeton	9–17–3	6–13–3	10th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1993–94	Princeton	10–15–3	7–12–3	9th	ECAC first round
1994–95	Princeton	18–13–4	9–10–3	7th	ECAC Runner-Up
1995–96	Princeton	7–19–4	5–14–2	10th	ECAC first round
1996–97	Princeton	18–12–4	11–8–3	t-5th	ECAC third-place game (loss)
1997–98	Princeton	18–11–7	7–9–6	7th	NCAA West regional quarterfinals
1998–99	Princeton	20–12–2	13–8–1	4th	ECAC third-place game (loss)
1999–00	Princeton	10–16–4	8–9–4	t-6th	ECAC first round
Princeton:		122–129–32	75–95–26
Massachusetts Minutemen (Hockey East) (2000–2012)
2000–01	Massachusetts	8–22–4	7–15–2	9th
2001–02	Massachusetts	8–24–2	3–19–2	9th
2002–03	Massachusetts	19–17–1	10–14–0	6th	Hockey East Semifinals
2003–04	Massachusetts	17–14–6	12–9–3	3rd	Hockey East Runner-Up
2004–05	Massachusetts	13–23–2	6–16–2	8th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
2005–06	Massachusetts	13–21–2	10–15–2	8th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
2006–07	Massachusetts	21–13–5	15–9–3	4th	NCAA East Regional Finals
2007–08	Massachusetts	14–16–6	9–13–5	8th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
2008–09	Massachusetts	16–20–3	10–14–3	7th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
2009–10	Massachusetts	18–18–0	13–14–0	t-7th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
2010–11	Massachusetts	6–23–6	5–16–6	8th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
2011–12	Massachusetts	13–18–5	9–14–4	t-8th	Hockey East Quarterfinals
Massachusetts:		166–229–42	109–168–32
Total:		346–398–78
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

Awards and honors[edit]

Award	Year
All-NCAA All-Tournament team	1971	^[10]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b "Princeton Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
^ "Don Cahoon Year-by-Year Coaching Record". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
^ "All-Time Roster". Archived from the original on 2016-05-08. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
^ ^a ^b "Don Cahoon". UMass Athletics. Archived from the original on 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
^ "Eastern Hockey League [1933–1973] history and statistics". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
^ "Norwich Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
^ "Don Cahoon". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
^ "Massachusetts Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
^ "Don Cahoon resigns from head coaching position at UMass". The Mack Report. 2012-06-19. Archived from the original on 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
^ "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved 2013-06-19.

External links[edit]

Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or The Internet Hockey Database

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Dick Umile	Bob Kullen Coach of the Year Award 2002–03	Succeeded by Jerry York

[princeton-1] "Princeton Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.

[2] "Don Cahoon Year-by-Year Coaching Record". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.

[3] "All-Time Roster". Archived from the original on 2016-05-08. Retrieved 2016-06-06.

[bio-4] "Don Cahoon". UMass Athletics. Archived from the original on 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2014-05-21.

[5] "Eastern Hockey League [1933–1973] history and statistics". hockeydb.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.

[6] "Norwich Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.

[7] "Don Cahoon". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.

[8] "Massachusetts Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-05-21.

[9] "Don Cahoon resigns from head coaching position at UMass". The Mack Report. 2012-06-19. Archived from the original on 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2014-05-21.

[ncaa-10] "NCAA Frozen Four Records" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved 2013-06-19.

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v t e UMass Minutemen ice hockey
Formerly the Massachusetts Agricultural Aggies, Massachusetts State Aggies and UMass Redmen
Playing venues	Campus Pond (1908–1939, 1947–1951, 1953–1979) Mullins Center (1993–present)
Head coaches	Elton J. Mansell (1917–1922) Herbert Collins (1922–1923) Howard R. Gordon (1923–1924) Lorin Ball (1924–1939) Thomas Filmore (1947–1949) Walter Fitzgerald (1949–1950) Bill Needham (1950–1951) Mel Massucco (1953–1954) Steve Kosakowski (1954–1967) Jack Canniff (1967–1979) Joe Mallen (1993–2000) Don Cahoon (2000–2012) John Micheletto (2012–2016) Greg Carvel (2016–present)
Seasons	1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Conference affiliations	Independent (1908–39, 1947–51, 1953–61, 1993–94) ECAC Hockey (1961–1964) ECAC 2 (1964–1979) Suspended program (1939–47, 1951–53, 1979–93) Hockey East (1994–present)
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Pat Keenan (180 Points) Pat Keenan (105 Goals) Matt Murray (52 Wins)
National championships	2021
Frozen Four appearances	2019 2021
NCAA Tournament appearances	2007 2019 2021 2022 2024
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC 2: 1972 Hockey East: 2021 2022
Hobey Baker winners	Cale Makar (2019)
University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, MA

v t e Princeton Tigers men's ice hockey
Playing venues	Lake Carnegie (1907–1923) Hobey Baker Memorial Rink (1923–present)
Head coaches	Russell O. Ellis (1920–1921) Moylan McDonnell (1921–1922) Chippy Gaw (1922–1924) Beattie Ramsay (1924–1927) Lloyd Neidlinger (1927–1933) Frank Fredrickson (1933–1935) Richard Vaughan (1935–1943, 1946–1959) R. Norman Wood (1959–1965) Johnny Wilson (1965–1967) Bill Quackenbush (1967–1973) Jack Semler (1973–1977) Jim Higgins (1977–1991) Don Cahoon (1991–2000) Len Quesnelle (2000–2004) Guy Gadowsky (2004–2011) Bob Prier (2011–2014) Ron Fogarty (2014–2024) Ben Syer (2024–Present)
Seasons	1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Conference affiliations	Intercollegiate Hockey Association (1899–1913) Intercollegiate Hockey League (1912–1917) Triangular Hockey League (1919–1926) Pentagonal League (1933–1943, 1946–1955) ECAC Hockey (1961–Present)
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders John Messuri (178 Points) Ryan Kuffner (75 Goals) Zane Kalemba (57 Wins)
NCAA Tournament appearances	1998 2008 2009 2018
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC: 1998 2008 2018
Princeton University Princeton, NJ