Nichols College Athletics

Lou Izzi

The winningest hockey coach in Nichols College history, Lou Izzi returns for his sixth season behind the bench in 2009-10. Last season, Izzi guided Nichols to a school-record 25 wins, its first ECAC Northeast championship, its first national ranking, and its first appearance in the NCAA tournament.  For the second time in his career, Izzi was named ECAC Northeast Coach of the Year and was named New England Hockey Writers Association’s ECAC Northeast Coach of the Year for the third time in the last nine years.

In five seasons at the helm of the program, Izzi has brought Nichols College hockey from the bottom of the ECAC Northeast to the top after the College suffered through 26 straight losing seasons, having won only 18 games in five seasons prior to his arrival.

In his first year behind the bench, Izzi guided the Bison to a 4-17-2 season.  He quickly turned the program around the following year, as the Bison won a then-school record 18 games and led the country in scoring with 152 goals.  The Bison reached the ECAC Northeast playoffs for the first time in the program’s history, and advanced to the conference semifinals after defeating Wentworth, 6-5 in overtime, in the first round.

Following a second consecutive winning season and another ECAC Northeast playoff appearance in 2006-07, Izzi led the Bison to another record-setting performance in 2007-08, this time winning a school-record 20 games and advancing to the ECAC Northeast championship game.

In 2008-09, Izzi led the Nichols hockey program to new heights, as the Bison finished the season with a 25-4-0 record, and won its first ECAC Northeast championship with a 4-3 win over Wentworth in front of a capacity crowd at Levy Arena.  The 13th-ranked Bison earned its first berth in the 11-team NCAA tournament, and lost in the first round to #6 Hobart, 3-0.

Izzi began his coaching career in 1997 at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., where he started the program and guided the Wildcats to six consecutive ECAC playoff appearances.  In 2000, he led Johnson & Wales to an 18-7-2 record and was named ECAC Northeast and New England Coach of the Year.

In five seasons at Nichols, Izzi has amassed a record of 80-46-7 (.628), including an ECAC Northeast mark of 48-25-5 (.647). In 11 college seasons, Izzi holds an overall record of 166-111-10 (.596).

A 1987 graduate of Providence College with a B.A. in English, Izzi currently resides in Greenville, R.I.