Derek Schooley
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamRobert Morris
ConferenceAtlantic Hockey
Biographical details
Born (1970-10-04) October 4, 1970
St. Louis, Missouri
Alma materWestern Michigan
Playing career
1989–1990Omaha Lancers
1990–1994Western Michigan
1994–1996Huntington Blizzard
1995–1996Quad City Mallards
1995–1996Flint Generals
1995–1996Roanoke Express
1996–1997Pensacola Ice Pilots
1996–1997Peoria Rivermen
Position(s)Defenseman
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1996–1997Chicago Freeze (assistant)
1997–1998Cornell (assistant)
1998–2004Air Force (assistant)
2002USA U-18 (assistant)
2004–PresentRobert Morris
Head coaching record
Overall275–275–68 (.500)
Tournaments0–1
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1996 Colonial League Champion (player)
1996 Colonial Cup Champion (player)
2014 Atlantic Hockey tournament champion
2015 Atlantic Hockey regular season champion
2016 Atlantic Hockey regular season champion
Awards
2015 Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year
2021 Atlantic Hockey Coach of the Year

Derek Schooley (born October 4,1970) is an American ice hockey head coach and former player. Since 2004 he has been the head coach for Robert Morris, with his tenure interrupted during the program's 2021-23 disbandment.[1]

Career

Hailing from St. Louis, Schooley was unheralded coming out of high school and spent a year with the Omaha Lancers under Frank Serratore. Schooley led the USHL in scoring by a defenseman for his lone season in the league, helping Omaha capture both the regular season and Championship titles, a first for Lancers.[2] After being named to the USHL All-Star second team[3] Schooley joined the program at Western Michigan.

Schooley played for the Broncos for four seasons, improving his point total each season, but remained a relatively unknown player outside of Kalamazoo. The Broncos had a fair amount of success while schooley was there, making two conference semifinals as well as only their second tournament appearance in 1994. After graduating with a degree in Communications Schooley embarked on a brief professional career, spending the 1994–95 season with the Huntington Blizzard before bouncing between four teams the following year. Schooley retires after four games in 1996-97 and joined the Chicago Freeze as both an assistant coach and scouting director.

Schooley returned to the college ranks in 1997 as an assistant for Cornell but left after a season to join his former junior coach Serratore at Air Force in a similar role. Schooley was assigned to coach the team's defense and twice set the program record for lowest goals against per game during his time there. After serving as an assistant on the USA under-18 team at the junior world cup and a year later found himself promoted to associate head coach of the Falcons.

In the summer of 2004 Robert Morris University announced that they were adding several new sports as fully funded programs, including men's ice hockey. Two days after the press conference Schooley was signed on as the team's new head coach.[4] Robert Morris joined the CHA straight away due to the conference having just lost Findlay after their program was demoted to club status.[5] The Colonials finished in last place their first season, but only one point behind Air Force in the conference standings. Over the next four seasons Schooley led to the team to an increasing win total, topping out at 15 in 2007–08 with his first graduating class of seniors. The Colonials dipped a bit in the two years following but while Schooley was building his program, his conference was collapsing.

The CHA had lost Air Force to Atlantic Hockey in 2006 while Wayne State shuttered their program two years later.[6] With only four teams left the conference was on its last legs (NCAA bylaws stipulated that conferences needed to have a minimum of six teams to qualify for an automatic tournament bid). When Bemidji State left for the WCHA in 2010 two of the remaining three schools joined Atlantic Hockey and the CHA was disbanded.[7]

The Colonials found a new level of success in their new home, posting their first winning season in 2010–11 and continued the upwards swing by taking their first conference tournament title in 2014. Robert Morris' first appearance in the NCAA tournament saw them pitted against #1 seed Minnesota where they predictable lost. Schooley's team followed up their surprising season by capturing the Atlantic Hockey regular season crown in 2015, going 24-8-5 and a second the following year. Unfortunately Robert Morris was unable to win the conference tournament in either of those years and was left out of the NCAA championship. Schooley's teams have finished as conference runner-ups in each of the last three seasons (as of 2018).

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Robert Morris Colonials (CHA) (2004–2010)
2004–05 Robert Morris 8–21–44–14–26thCHA Quarterfinals
2005–06 Robert Morris 12–20–37–11–2T–4thCHA Semifinals
2006–07 Robert Morris 14–19–29–10–13rdCHA runner-up
2007–08 Robert Morris 15–15–410–7–33rdCHA Semifinals
2008–09 Robert Morris 10–19–75–8–53rdCHA runner-up
2009–10 Robert Morris 10–19–66–9–32ndCHA third-place game (Tie)
Robert Morris: 69–113–26 (.394)41–59–16
Robert Morris Colonials (Atlantic Hockey) (2011–2021)
2010–11 Robert Morris 18–12–513–9–55thAtlantic Hockey first round
2011–12 Robert Morris 17–17–513–9–57thAtlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
2012–13 Robert Morris 20–14–413–11–35thAtlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
2013–14 Robert Morris 19–18–513–9–55thNCAA West regional semifinals
2014–15 Robert Morris 24–8–519–5–41stAtlantic Hockey Semifinals
2015–16 Robert Morris 24–11–418–6–41stAtlantic Hockey Runner-Up
2016–17 Robert Morris 22–12–415–10–3T–3rdAtlantic Hockey Runner-Up
2017–18 Robert Morris 18–20–312–13–3T–6thAtlantic Hockey Runner-Up
2018–19 Robert Morris 16–22–211–15–2T–8thAtlantic Hockey Semifinals
2019–20 Robert Morris 13–19–511–12–5–3T–6thTournament Cancelled
2020–21 Robert Morris 15–9–010–5–03rdAtlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
Robert Morris: 206–162–42 (.554)135–104–39
Total:275–275–68 (.500)

      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

References

  1. ↑ "Derek Schooley". Robert Morris Colonials. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  2. ↑ "UNITED STATES HOCKEY LEAGUE 1989". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  3. ↑ "Derek Schooley". Air Force Falcons. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  4. ↑ Staff (August 22, 2004). "RMU to name hockey coach". Beaver County Times. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Findlay To Drop Hockey". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2013-06-11.
  6. ↑ Wodon, Adam (March 11, 2008). "Wayne State Bids Farewell". College Hockey News. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Niagara, RMU complete new Atlantic alignment". NHL.com. 2010-10-14. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
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