In NHL.com's Q&A feature called "Sitting Down with ..." we talk to key figures in the game, gaining insight into their lives on and off the ice. In this edition, we feature Boston University coach Jay Pandolfo.
Sometimes Jay Pandolfo still doesn't quite believe where life has taken him.
After a 15-season NHL career and winning the Stanley Cup twice with the New Jersey Devils (2000, 2003), Pandolfo didn't want to leave the game. He kicked off his post-playing career with his hometown Boston Bruins as a development coach and then spent five seasons there as an assistant coach.
But in 2021, Pandolfo went somewhere even closer to his heart, back to Boston University, where he played his four seasons in college, after being hired as associate coach. He ascended to the head job last season, taking over a position the venerated Jack Parker held for 40 seasons.
"Now to be coaching here, I still kind of pinch myself once in a while," Pandolfo said.
It's a special place for Pandolfo, where he helped Boston win the 1995 national championship and captained the 1995-96 team while going to four straight Frozen Fours. As a coach, he's already one-for-one. The Terriers made it last season before losing to Minnesota in the semifinals.
"It's pretty cool, just obviously with Jack Parker being here so long and the influence he had on me," Pandolfo said. "I don't know if I ever expected to be the head coach at BU, so now to be here, it's pretty special."
Pandolfo talked more about his transition to coaching, his relationship with Parker, and getting the opportunity to coach Macklin Celebrini, a 17-year-old forward and the early favorite to be taken No. 1 in the 2024 NHL Draft.
At what point did you start considering going into coaching?
"It's a good question. I think probably when I was done playing with the Bruins -- actually, that worked out nicely to be able to finish at home -- and then getting to know the organization and them getting to know me. Talking to (Bruins general manager) Don Sweeney and (then-Bruins GM) Pete Chiarelli at the time, Donnie was transitioning out of the player development role just because he had a lot of other stuff on his plate being the assistant GM of Providence (of the American Hockey League) and the assistant GM of Boston, so they had asked if I'd be interested in that role. And that's how it started with the coaching stuff.
"I enjoyed that, but Providence being so close, I was down there a lot. I was with Bruce Cassidy and Kevin Dean, probably going down more than I even needed to, but I enjoyed it. I was on the ice with those guys and they were very welcoming, too, Bruce and Kevin. It worked out, too. Those guys were both defensemen when they played, so they liked having someone that played forward. I even started going on the bench with them on Friday nights, just getting a better feel for some of your prospects.
"I started to realize that it's pretty fun to be coaching. It's the closest thing to playing … [and] I just gravitated more towards the coaching side. To me, you just feel like you're in the mix a little bit more. And that's really how it started."
What has Jack Parker's influence been on you?
"I just had so much respect for him when I played here. Now, he could certainly be hard on you, but he did it in the right way. He did it because he cared and wanted to get the most out of you, so I really appreciated that as a player. And he just had a presence as a coach that pushed our group.
"He let us play our game as well. Certainly, we had systems and structure, but within that he let you play to your strengths. I think guys that played for him appreciated that as well. And then just the relationship I've had with him over the course of my career, too. He would always check in and that always went a long way as well. Now it's even [more], being able to just bounce stuff off him on a regular basis is pretty cool."
How often do you talk to him?
"It just depends. Probably once a week, once every two weeks. He's always there for me to talk to, but he's not going to bug me. He gives me my space, but I like having him around. I like talking to him. Obviously, he's got a lot of knowledge and coached at this level for a long time, still sees the game very well, so it's great just to hear his perspective on things. Sometimes hearing someone from -- I don't know if you want to call him on the outside -- but someone that's not on the coaching staff anymore, sometimes that opens your eyes to some things maybe you're missing or your staff's missing, so to have that goes a long way for us."
What did you learn in your first season as a head coach?
"I think I got advice from different people, that you have to be yourself. I think that's what you learn, you have to have conviction in what you believe in, and you have to trust yourself. I think that's the biggest thing I learned this year. And you try to do the best you can of letting your players play, but also keeping them accountable for how you want to play, but also giving them a little bit of freedom, because all players have different strengths, and you want for their strengths to come out."
Do you feel comfortable now that you're in your second season?
"I definitely do. Getting that first year under your belt, just the experience, I feel much more comfortable this year going into my second year. I'm enjoying it. It's fun coming to the rink every day. The players at this level, at this age, they really want to learn. They really want to get better and that's encouraging to see every day. It makes it fun to come to work with these guys."
What's the goal for this season? What do you hope for from BU hockey?
"I think the expectations are high for this year for our group, especially after the year we had last year. We do have a lot of new players, but we have some talented players that came in and we have a good core group that had some great success last year coming back, so the expectations are to win a national championship this year, or to compete for one, for sure. That's the goal of this group, and I think most BU teams. That was certainly the goal every year when I was here, so that's how we want to continue to move forward here."
Have you thought about what it would feel like to win a national title as head coach?
"I haven't yet. I just try to go day by day and not to think too far ahead. It would be certainly pretty special. I know what it feels like to win it as a player and it's no question really special. In college, it's different than pro hockey, the college players, you're together all the time, on the ice, off the ice, so it's special. So to coach a group to [a championship] would be really special.
"But like I said, I try not to look too far ahead. We really just try to go day by day. Last year, we got to the Frozen Four, but came up short. And I think just from my experience as a player, I do understand how hard it is to win, coming down to these one-game scenarios. It's tough, you need a little bit of luck, but you've also got to make sure you're on your game. The margin of error is really slim when you get to these one-game eliminations."
What is the potential for Macklin Celebrini?
"Yeah, the sky's the limit for this kid. Just his hockey IQ, his competitiveness, his willingness to play inside the dots, his attention to detail on both sides of the puck, the pace he plays at. There's just things that he does, the way he shoots the puck. It's fun to see. It's fun to see how he works every day and competes every day. He doesn't take anything for granted, which is really fun to see for a kid his age, very mature, a very mature player at 17 years old. And I don't care how good you are, it's not easy to come into NCAA college hockey and play against 24- or 25-year-olds on a nightly basis and have success. It's only a few games in here, but I think we feel that he's just going to continue to grow and get better game to game."
Is it more fun or more challenging to coach a player with his ceiling?
"It's fun because he wants to be coached. That's the other part of it. It's a lot of fun. He wants to learn. He's very willing to learn, which is great to see. Like all players that have that high a ceiling, some of them can be really stubborn. But I don't see that. He wants to learn."
Have you learned anything about yourself since you took the head job at BU?
"You realize how much you enjoy competing, even as a coach. When you're done playing, there's definitely a hole there when your career's over as a player. And for me, I just enjoy the coaching side of it, just from a competitive standpoint. You feel like you're in the fight every day, you know, there's always a challenge, so I'm really enjoying that."
We're running this story on Halloween, so I have to ask: What's your best Halloween costume?
"I'm not creative with it. My wife is a little bit more creative. But the one we did one year that was pretty good was we were 'Wind-blown,' so basically [it looked like] if you were walking outside and it's windy. We had newspapers taped to us, leaves taped to us. I think I wore a shirt with a tie, the tie over my shoulder. Not that I have much hair, but I had a little bit more back then, our hair all like pushed back. It was a pretty good one, called 'Wind-blown.' It was different, for sure."
