Walt Kyle

Walt Kyle (born June 11, 1956) is an American ice hockey coach. He is the former head coach of the Northern Michigan Wildcats, a position he held from June 2002 to March 2017.[1]

Walt Kyle
Born	(1956-06-11) June 11, 1956 Waterloo, Iowa, U.S.
Height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight	179 lb (81 kg; 12 st 11 lb)
Position	Center
Played for	NCAA Boston College Eagles Northern Michigan Wildcats
WHA Draft	206th overall, 1974 Vancouver Blazers
Playing career	1976–1981

Biographical details
Alma mater	Boston College Northern Michigan University
Playing career
1973-1974	Waterloo Black Hawks
1974-1976	Austin Mavericks
1976-1978	Boston College
1978-1979	Waterloo Black Hawks
1979-1981	Northern Michigan
Position(s)	Center
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1981-1982	Northern Michigan (Graduate Assistant)
1982-1992	Northern Michigan (Assistant)
1991	USA U20 Team (Assistant)
1992-1993	USA U20 Team
1992-1994	Seattle Thunderbirds
1993	Team USA (Assistant)
1994-1995	San Diego Gulls
1995-1996	Baltimore Bandits
1996-1998	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (Assistant)
1998-2000	Hamilton Bulldogs
2000-2002	New York Rangers (Assistant)
2001	Team USA (Assistant)
2002-2017	Northern Michigan
2006	USA U20 Team
Head coaching record
Overall	265–263–68 (.502) (college)
Tournaments	0–1 (.000)

For the Canadian defenseman who played in the NHL during the 1950s, see Gus Kyle

Career

Kyle started his college career with Boston College, spending two seasons with the program before leaving after the Eagles lost the 1978 title game. He spent a year in the USHL while transferring to Northern Michigan and once he got back into the college ranks he found himself a runner-up for a second time in 1980.

After finishing his eligibility in 1981 Kyle turned to coaching with his alma mater first as a graduate assistant and then a full-time assistant. In the early 1990s Kyle started working as a coach for USA Hockey as both an assistant and head coach for the World Junior Team. While coaching the national program Kyle left his position at Northern Michigan to become a head coach, first for the Seattle Thunderbirds in 1992. Kyle was an assistant coach, under Ron Wilson, for Team USA at the 1994 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships held in Bolzano, Italy.[2] By the late '90s Kyle worked his way up to the NHL as an assistant with both the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and New York Rangers sandwiched around a short stint with the Hamilton Bulldogs.

In 2002 Rick Comley, the only coach the program at Northern Michigan ever had, left the university.[3] A few months later Walt Kyle returned to Marquette, Michigan to become the second head coach for the team.[4] Kyle's early results with the Wildcats were good, winning 20+ games in each of his first four seasons, but over the course of his 15-year tenure the club slowly declined both in the standings and in relevance. Kyle was never able to win either a conference or tournament title in his time behind the bench and only made one NCAA tournament appearance in 2010.

Towards the end of his time with Northern Michigan Kyle got into trouble off the ice. He was put on administrative leave in January 2015[5] and just over two years later he was arrested on fraud charges.[6] While prosecutors ultimately dismissed the charges[7] the rumors surrounding the charge contributed to his firing at the end of the 2017 season.[8]

Head coaching record

College

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Northern Michigan Wildcats (CCHA) (2002–2013)
2002–03	Northern Michigan	22–17–2	14–13–1	t-5th	CCHA Third Place Game (Win)
2003–04	Northern Michigan	21–16–4	13–13–2	7th	CCHA Third Place Game (Loss)
2004–05	Northern Michigan	22–11–7	17–7–4	3rd	CCHA Quarterfinals
2005–06	Northern Michigan	22–16–2	14–12–2	t-4th	CCHA Third Place Game (Loss)
2006–07	Northern Michigan	15–24–2	10–17–1	10th	CCHA Quarterfinals
2007–08	Northern Michigan	20–20–4	12–13–3	6th	CCHA Third Place Game (Win)
2008–09	Northern Michigan	19–17–5	11–12–5–3	6th	CCHA Third Place Game (Win)
2009–10	Northern Michigan	20–13–8	13–9–6–3	4th	NCAA West Regional Semifinals
2010–11	Northern Michigan	15–19–5	12–13–3–0	6th	CCHA First Round
2011–12	Northern Michigan	17–14–6	11–11–6–3	6th	CCHA First Round
2012–13	Northern Michigan	15–19–4	9–15–4–1	10th	CCHA First Round
Northern Michigan:		208–186–49	136–135–37
Northern Michigan Wildcats (WCHA) (2013–2017)
2013–14	Northern Michigan	15–21–2	13–14–1	7th	WCHA First Round
2014–15	Northern Michigan	14–18–6	11–13–4	7th	WCHA First Round
2015–16	Northern Michigan	15–16–7	12–11–5	5th	WCHA First Round
2016–17	Northern Michigan	13–22–4	10–15–3–1	8th	WCHA First Round
Northern Michigan:		57–77–19	46–53–13
Total:		265–263–68
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. "Walt Kyle Year-by-Year Coaching Record". USCHO.com. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
2. http://www.nmuwildcats.com/sports/mice/coaches/kyle_walt
3. "Comley Named New MSU Coach". USCHO.com. March 24, 2002. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
4. "Kyle Named New NMU Coach". USCHO.com. June 13, 2002. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
5. "Northern Michigan puts Kyle on administrative leave; assistants to take charge". USCHO.com. January 21, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
6. "Former Northern Michigan coach Kyle arrested on fraud charges". USCHO.com. March 12, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
7. Pietila, Alissa (April 13, 2017). "Prosecutor dismisses charges against Walt Kyle". Upper Michigans Source. Negaunee, MI: WLUC-TV. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
8. "Kyle out after 15 years as Northern Michigan head coach". USCHO.com. March 10, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.

External links

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