Red Gendron enters his eighth season as head coach of the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team. The 2019-20 Black Bears finished the season with a 18-11-5 record and a national ranking of #15, a tenure best for Gendron. With a 4th place finish in the conference, UMaine was set to host UConn in the Hockey East Quarterfinal Round. The COVID-19 pandemic forced a cancellation of what looked like a promising postseason run for the Black Bears.
Gendron coached the Black Bears to a 16-15-4 record and a spot in the Hockey East quarterfinals in his inaugural 2013-14 season. During the 2014-15 season, he coached a pair of Second Team All-American selections in Ben Hutton and Devin Shore during the 2014-15 season. The duo also earned Hockey East First Team honors and were each selected All-New England as well. During the 2016-17 season, Gendron guided the Black Bears to a 11-21-4 record. At the end of the 2017-18 season, Coach and the Black Bears earned a 18-16-4 record. They hosted and defeated New Hampshire in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs. Providence College, who played in the conference championship series, knocked off the Black Bears in the second round. He led the Black Bears to a mark of 15-17-4 and a 6th place finish in the confer- ence during the 2018-19 season. #9 Northeastern hosted UMaine in the Hockey East Quarterfinal Round. The Huskies defeated the Black Bears 2-1 in each of the two games in Boston.
Gendron, who has won two NCAA Hockey National Championships and a NHL Stanley Cup as an assistant coach, was named University of Maine head men’s ice hockey coach on May 28, 2013. The hiring of Gendron linked the success of Maine’s past with the promise of the future, as his first college hockey coaching experience was with the Black Bears, where he assisted Coach Shawn Walsh with the 1993 NCAA Division I National Championship team.
“I am fully aware of what this program means to our current players, our alumni, the university and to our fans throughout the state, and I am equally aware of the championship-caliber results they demand from their Black Bears,” said Gendron, adding how life-changing the experience was.
“All of the wonderful things that have happened to us since that time would not have been possible if not for the University of Maine, Shawn Walsh, Grant Standbrook, and all of the champion players and coaches who were part of our first Maine experience. The energy and passion within and surrounding this program are inspiring and have not diminished in my absence,” Gendron said.
In his 34-year coaching career, Gendron has worked with championship teams at all levels.
Before being named the head coach of the Black Bears, Gendron was associate head coach at Yale University; the Bulldogs earned the 2013 NCAA Division I National Championship. Prior to Gendron’s two seasons at Yale, from 2005-11, he was an assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts, helping the Minutemen reach the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
Gendron spent 11 seasons in professional hockey with the New Jersey Devils organization. From 2002-04, he coached the Albany River Rats of the American Hockey League. From 2000-02, he scouted for the Devils and from 1996–2000, Gendron was an assistant coach of the Albany River Rats, leading the team to two appearances in the AHL conference finals.
From 1994-96, Gendron was assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils, where his responsibilities included on-ice practice and video/statistical analysis. The team won the 1995 Stanley Cup after finishing as Eastern Conference finalist in 1994. During the 1993–94 season, he was a technological specialist for the Devils. Gendron earned three NHL championship rings as a coach and has twice had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. He was an assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils when they captured the Stanley Cup in 1995, and was an assistant and head coach, respectively, with their AHL team in Albany when the Devils won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and 2003.
Gendron’s previous stint at UMaine began in the fall of 1990, where he was an assistant coach for three seasons. His responsibilities included bench coaching, practice planning, and coaching the forwards and power play on one of the best teams in college hockey history.
For 11 years, Gendron was a head and assistant coach in Vermont and New Hampshire. Gendron also has international coaching experience. He has guided eight USA Hockey Teams, including the U.S. National Junior Team on three occasions. In the 2004–05 season, Gendron was head coach and general manager of the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League. At Bellows Free Academy in Vermont, he guided squads to four state championships in the 1980s.
Gendron earned a master’s degree in education from UMaine in 1993. USA Hockey uses Gendron’s book, “Coaching Hockey Successfully,” as the advanced-level manual for its coaching education program.
Gendron is fluent in French and speaks some Russian. He graduated in 1979 from New England College in Henniker, N.H, where he was a three-year hockey captain.
He and his wife, Janet have two daughters, Katelyn and Allison.
