HEAD COACH HC
JOSH BRANDWENE HEAD COACH • First Year PENN STATE ‘91 Record: 0-0-0
PENN STATE’s First women’s hockey head coach
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gram to its first state tournament berth in five years and a trip to the semifinals in his second season. In addition to coaching, Brandwene served as ACHA president from 1997-2004. Under his watch, the organization’s membership more than tripled to 278 teams. A women’s division was also formed in 2000 and a third men’s division was added in 1999. The longest-serving president in ACHA history, Brandwene was elected for an unprecedented three terms. Prior to that time, no president had served more than one term. He also served a twoyear stint on the American Hockey Coaches Association Board of Governors. Brandwene was elected to the ACHA Hall of Fame in 2009, the Penn State Hockey Hall of Fame in 1996 and the University of Delaware Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005. A standout defenseman for Penn State’s club hockey team, Brandwene was a member of the 1990 ACHA National Championship team. He earned both team and league MVP honors and garnered first-team All-Tournament recognition as a senior. Brandwene graduated as the program’s all-time leader in points among defensemen. Brandwene and his wife, Leona, also a Penn State graduate, have a daughter, Sophie.
On May 31, 2011, Josh Brandwene was named the first head coach of the Penn State women’s ice hockey team. Brandwene, a Penn State alumnus, brings more than 20 years of coaching and administrative experience at the international, collegiate and prep school levels to Happy Valley. Brandwene’s previous coaching experience included a stint as the Team USA’s men’s ice hockey assistant coach at the 2003 World University Games. He also served as head boys’ coach at top New England prep program Northfield Mount Hermon School (Mass.) in 2004-07, and head girls’ coach at the Kingsford Oxford School (Conn.) in 2007-10. During his two-year tenure with the Kingsford Oxford girls’ team, Brandwene successfully rebuilt the program and led the New England Division II prep school team to a runner-up finish at the Canterbury Invitational Tournament and four victories over Division I prep programs. He was then asked to take over the boys’ program in the 2010-11 season prior to arriving at Penn State. Before Kingswood Oxford, Brandwene spent three years at Northfield Mount Hermon where led the program to the 2005 New England Prep School Hockey Conference-East Championship. Brandwene’s prep school coaching was preceded by a 10-year stint leading three different American College Hockey Association (ACHA) men’s programs, beginning with a two-year stint as head coach at West Virginia (1994-96). He led the program to its first bid to the national tournament and the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season championship in its first season in the league. Brandwene then left the Mountaineers to become the head coach and director of youth hockey programs at Delaware. During his seven-year stay (1996-2003), he led the team to three straight ECHA titles and seven consecutive national tournament appearances. In 2001, Delaware advanced to the national championship game and appeared in the THE BRANDWENE FILE semifinals two years later. Head Coaching Experience After serving as an assistant coach for 2011-present Penn State Women Kingswood Oxford boys Team USA at the World University Games, 2010-11 2008-10 Kingswood Oxford girls Brandwene spent the 2003-04 season at the 2004-07 Northfield Mount Hermon boys University of Michigan Dearborn. He led the 2003-04 Michigan Dearborn men program to a 20-win season and collected 1996-2003 Delaware men 1994-96 West Virginia men the 200th win of his ACHA coaching career. Farmington HS boys Brandwene began his coaching career im- 1991-94 mediately after graduating from Penn State International Coaching Experience 2003 Team USA Men’s Assistant in 1991 when he became the head coach World University Games at Farmington High School (Conn.). In three Playing Experience Penn State seasons (1991-94), Brandwene led the pro- 1987-91 8 2012-13 // PENN STATE WOMEN’S HOCKEY