Rick Comley
| Sport(s) | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Biographical details | |
| Born | January 20, 1947 |
| Playing career | |
| 1967-1971 | Lake Superior State |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1973–1976 | Lake Superior State |
| 1976–2002 | Northern Michigan |
| 2002–2011 | Michigan State |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 783–615–110 (.556) |
Rick Comley (born January 20, 1947) is a former collegiate ice hockey player and former head coach at Michigan State University. He finished his 38-year coaching career with a 783-615-110 (.556) record. In 2007, he became the third coach in NCAA history to win a national championship at two different schools.
Comley played at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (1967–1971) under head coach Ron Mason, at one time, college hockey's career coaching victories leader. In his senior season, Comley was named LSSU team captain and Most Valuable Player and was selected NAIA All-American. He was also named LSSU's Most Outstanding Athlete that year.
Comley rejoined the LSSU program as an assistant coach for the 1972-73 season. When head coach Ron Mason took the head coaching position at Bowling Green State University, Comley was named his successor. Comley compiled a 59-46-3 mark in the three seasons at Lake Superior winning the CCHA regular-season title and NAIA national championship in 1974.
In 1976, Northern Michigan University launched a varsity hockey program, and approached Comley to become its first head coach. NMU's offer included a recruiting budget twice the size of LSSU, which was too much for Comley to resist. NMU finished its first season with a winning record of 19-13-1. In the program's fourth season, Comley guided NMU to their first of two consecutive CCHA regular-season and play-off championships. With those championships in 1980 and 1981, Northern Michigan earned automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament. The 34-6-1 1980 team defeated University of Minnesota in Minneapolis advancing to the NCAA Frozen Four where they defeated No. 1 seed Cornell University to make the national championship game. The team lost the national championship to North Dakota, 5-2. Again, Comley guided NMU to the NCAA Frozen Four in 1981 with a victory over Cornell before losing to eventual national champion Wisconsin and archrival Michigan Tech in the consolation game.
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