Third-year head coach Ben Barr, who has guided his nationally-ranked University of Maine men’s hockey team to the program’s best record after 22 games (16-4-2) in more than 20 years, has received a four-year contract extension with a hefty raise.
The 42-year-old Faribault, Minnesota native will be making $425,000 per year when the new contract kicks in on July 1. He is currently making $256,000 per year.
He will also receive a $15,000 raise each year, the university announced Wednesday.
The Black Bears are currently ranked fifth in one national poll and sixth in the other. UMaine, 8-3-1 in Hockey East and in third place, will visit Northeastern on Friday night and UMass on Saturday evening.
“It’s pretty humbling that the school stepped up (and made this possible),” said Barr, praising UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, UMS Chancellor Dannel Malloy, Athletic Director Jude Killy and associate AD Seth Woodcock.
“It’s pretty impressive what they have done for our program and hopefully set us up for sustainability,” said Barr, who also mentioned the Harold Alfond Foundation and its two gifts totaling $170 million for upgrades to all of the school’s athletic facilities including the Alfond Arena.
He said he was “thrilled” by the contract extension.
“It is an unbelievably special place to coach,” said Barr. “We’ve made a lot of friends in the community. You’re closer to the community as a coach here than anywhere that I’ve been just because of how much they support us.”
Before coming to Maine, Barr recruited players for national championship teams at Union College, Providence College and the University of Massachusetts when he was an assistant coach.
He was also an assistant coach at his alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and at Western Michigan.
Barr went 7-22-4 overall, 5-17-2 in Hockey East, in his first season at Maine and 15-16-5 (9-11-4 in Hockey East) last year.
Barr praised his “phenomenal staff” including assistant coaches Jason Fortier, Alfie Michaud and Eric Soltys; athletic trainer Paul Culina; head equipment manager Kevin Ritz; sports performance coach Codi Fitzgerald and director of hockey operations Nick Fonzi.
“I’m super fortunate to have them,” said Barr.
Killy said Barr has “got everything headed in the right direction. Part of what makes him so good is he is never satisfied.”
Killy sad that Barr knows the template for success because of his accomplishments as an assistant coach.
“He knows how to recruit talent and develop that talent at a high level. He has been able to do that his entire career,” said Killy. “He has also done a great job galvanizing the fan base. I can’t go anywhere without someone asking me about Maine hockey.”
The Black Bears have had seven sellouts in their nine games at Alfond Arena this season and they are averaging 1,137.4 fans more than last season. That is a 23 percent increase.
They are averaging 4,913.4 fans per game which represents 97.4 percent of capacity (5,043).
They averaged 3,776 a year ago and 3,446 two years ago.
Caleb Whittemore, the UMaine ticket office manager, said they sold $100,000 of season tickets in the first week of sales this past summer.
Killy said the hike in revenue generated by ticket sales could be in the vicinity of half a million dollars and that played a role in Barr’s salary boost.
His players were pleased to hear the news.
“He had led us in such a good direction. He makes all of us love being a Maine Black Bear and that’s the most important thing,” said senior center and co-captain Lynden Breen. “He creates an environment where we give it our all every day and we’re going to play with no regrets.
“He has built that family camaraderie with us. It has proven itself obviously on the ice and, off the ice, it’s everything as a group,” Breen added.
Breen said it wasn’t easy for Barr to come to a program with “so much chaos.”
Former head coach Red Gendron had died unexpectedly on the golf course at the Penobscot Valley Country Club.
“Over the years, it has evolved into something special. Even last year, we took one extra step,” Breen said.
Graduate student left wing Ben Poisson is in his fifth season at UMaine and said Barr has had “a huge hand in everything that has happened here.
“The way we do things, the way the culture is. That’s all on him,” said Poisson. “He has found the right formula: the mix between skill and hard work and what our focus should be. He brought that to us. He makes coming to the rink every day a good thing for us. It’s positive. He has created a culture which every guy has bought into and that’s not easy to do.”
