Jeff Fuller on WDeV AM & FM: 2009-08-23

Tom Brennan
University of Vermont

The dean of America East coaches who retired in March of 2005, the last four seasons at Vermont for Tom Brennan were seasons for the record books. In 2005, UVM won its third straight America East Championship and made another trip to the nation’s premier collegiate sporting event, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.

On March 22, 2005, 13th-seeded Vermont stunned fourth-seeded Syracuse, the Big East champion, 60-57, in Worcester, Mass. for its first-ever post season victory and the school’s first-ever win over a ranked team. Although UVM lost in the second round to Michigan State, an eventual Final Four participant, in Brennan’s final game at Vermont the Catamounts effort captured the attention of the region as well as the nation as the Cinderella team of the entire NCAA tournament.

In 2004-05, UVM won a school-record 25 games (25-7), led the America East from wire-to-wire for its second-ever regular season crown, and became the third school in league history to win three straight conference titles. The win in the NCAAs was the first by an America East school since 1996. Vermont sold out all 13 home games at Patrick Gym (3,266 capacity) and won every home game for its first time in history. The Cats also set a program record with a 15-game winning streak including a 13-0 start in conference play.

Brennan wrapped up his career as the winningest coach in Vermont history with 263 victories. Hired in April of 1986, he announced in November 2004 that the 2004-05 campaign, his 19th at Vermont and 24th overall as a head coach, would be his last.

In 2003-04, Vermont went 22-9 and hosted the America East title game for the first time. In the first-ever nationally televised basketball game in the state of Vermont, the Catamounts topped Maine, 72-53, in front of a sellout crowd at Patrick Gym.

This came after the winter of 2002-03 when Vermont, in its 103rd year of basketball, won its first-ever America East Championship to earn its first trip to 'The Big Dance'. Brennan's Catamounts began this extraordinary run in 2001-02 when they went 21-8 and won the school's first-ever America East Regular Season title.

The four historic ‘banner’ years capped a complete turnaround of men's hoop at Vermont under Brennan. UVM won just 14 times in his first three years while in his last four, they won 89 times. Also after never posting a 20-win season, the Catamounts have won 21 or more games in four straight seasons.

Brennan was also honored as America East Coach of the Year three times, in 1992, 1998 and 2002, and the NABC District I (New England) Coach of the Year on two occasions, 1992 and 2002.

A very popular public speaker, he has formerly co-hosted the successful and popular morning drive-time radio show, 'Corm and the Coach', which aired statewide in Vermont. And he was also a College Basketball Sports Analyst for ESPN from 2005 through 2009.

Kevin Sneddon

Kevin Sneddon enters his seventh season as the head coach at the University of Vermont in 2009-10, and his 17th year in the coaching profession. He led Vermont to its second-ever Frozen Four appearance in 2008-09 on his way to being named a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award, given annually to the top Division I coach in the country. The Catamounts attained their highest-ever final ranking in 2008-09, finishing No. 3 in the USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Poll with a 22-12-5 record.

Under Sneddon’s leadership the Catamounts have asserted themselves as one of the premier programs in college hockey. Vermont posted a fifth straight winning season last year for the first time since moving to the Division I level in 1974-75. The Catamounts have won a total of 96 games and four in-season tournaments in the last five years.

In 2007-08, Sneddon was named the Bob Cullen Hockey East Coach of the Year and was a finalist for national coach of the year after leading the Catamounts to a 17-15-7 record and their first-ever trip to the Hockey East Championship Game at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, Mass.

Sneddon guided Vermont to an 18-16-5 record and a championship in the prestigious Ice Breaker Invitational in 2006-07. The Catamounts finished second in the country in scoring defense with a 2.00 goals against average and they ranked third nationally on the penalty kill at 88.8-percent.

In 2005-06, the Catamounts had an 18-14-6 record in their first year in Hockey East. Vermont established the best start to a season in school history by winning its first seven contests. The Catamounts went on to claim tournament titles in both the Nye Frontier Classic and Sheraton/TD Banknorth Catamount Cup.

During the month of December that season, Vermont was ranked as high as third in the country in both national polls, giving the Catamounts their highest ranking in a decade at the time. Vermont finished third in the nation in goals against average at 2.16 and won the Sportsmanship Award in Hockey East for the least amount of penalty minutes in conference play. In addition, captain Jaime Sifers ‘06 was one of seven finalists for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, given annually to college hockey’s finest citizen.

During the 2004-05 season, Sneddon led the Catamounts to their first 20-win season in eight years. With a 21-14-4 mark, Vermont was also the most improved team in the country winning 12 more games than it did the previous season.

Vermont was picked to finish 10th in the ECAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll that year. Instead, the Catamounts finished fourth in the ECAC and were ranked as high as 10th in USCHO.com/CSTV Poll that season. Vermont also advanced to the ECAC Championships in Albany, N.Y., for the first time since 1996 after defeating Dartmouth in the ECAC Quarterfinals. Vermont also defeated the No. 1 ranked team in the country for the first time in school history with a 3-2 victory at Minnesota-Duluth in October.

A 1992 graduate of Harvard University, Sneddon is just the third coach in the last 44 years at Vermont. He succeeded Mike Gilligan, who stepped down in April of 2003, after 19 years behind the Catamount bench.

The head coach at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., from 1998 to 2003, Sneddon was associated with the Union men's hockey program since 1993-94, when he was named assistant coach under former head coach Bruce Delventhal. He was named head coach in the summer of 1998, and in 2002-03 Sneddon led the Dutchmen to their first-ever ECACHL home-ice playoff series. Union qualified for the ECACHL Playoffs three of Sneddon's last four years with the Dutchmen. His career record at Union was 50-99-18 in five seasons.

Sneddon's first recruiting class at Vermont produced the ECAC Rookie of the Year in goalie Joe Fallon ‘08 and ECAC All-Rookie Team member in forward Torrey Mitchell.

Fallon, a sixth round pick in the 2005 NHL draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, finished his career ranked first or second in every major goaltending category at UVM. His 20 career shutouts rank second all-time in NCAA history and his 2.05 career goals against average is 11th best all-time in Division I. Fallon holds a total of 11 career, single-season and freshman records at Vermont. Fallon signed an NHL contract with Chicago in April of 2008.

Mitchell, a San Jose Sharks 2004 NHL draft choice, completed his career with 35 goals and 70 assists for 105 points. He signed an NHL contract with San Jose in March of 2007 and was one of the NHL’s top rookies in 2007-08.

Last season Viktor Stålberg, a sixth-round NHL Draft pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2006, became the fourth Catamount in program history to be named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the top college hockey player in the country. Stålberg was also named a First-Team NCAA All-American and signed a NHL contract with the Toronto in April of 2009.
Sophomores Drew MacKenzie (209 overall, 2007 NHL Draft, Buffalo) and Matt Marshall (150 overall, 2007 NHL Draft, Tampa Bay), junior Kyle Medvec (102 overall, 2006 NHL Draft, Minnesota) and freshman David Pacan (177 overall, 2009 NHL Draft, Chicago) are other Sneddon recruits to be selected in the NHL draft.

Off the ice, Sneddon works hard to develop his student-athletes. Whether its helping his players to achieve goals in the classroom or teaching them important values away from hockey, he takes pride in preparing his players for "life's greater challenges." Sneddon serves as the Executive Vice President for the Jarred Williams Foundation and has been involved with the organization for the last six years.

The Catamounts participate in several community service projects each year. Among them are: volunteering at the local Ronald McDonald House, visiting children at Fletcher Allen Health Care and residents in local nursing homes, the Jarred Williams Foundation Hawaiian Boat Cruise, the Travis Roy Foundation Wiffle Ball Tournament, Green Up Day and volunteering for the Burlington Amateur Hockey Association.

Sneddon has been very involved at the conference and national level in the sport of hockey. He served on the ECAC Executive Coaches Committee and the ECAC Strategic Planning Committee from 2001-03 and was Vice President of Convention Planning for the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) from 2003-06. Four year’s ago proceeds from Vermont's "Midnight Madness" went to Hockey Coaches Care, the official charitable organization of the AHCA. He also is a member of the Executive Board for the Hockey Humanitarian Foundation.

Before beginning his coaching career, Sneddon had a brief stint with the Los Angeles Kings. Back surgery cut short his career and he made the decision to become a coach shortly thereafter.
In the collegiate ranks, he was a four-year starter at Harvard University where he helped the Crimson win the NCAA Championship in 1988-89. That season he was named to the ECAC All-Rookie Team, the NCAA All-Tournament Team, and was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings. During his four years at Harvard, he was the 96th captain of the Harvard men's hockey team, participated in the World Junior Camp, and the Albany World Cup. Unfortunately, Sneddon suffered two season-ending injuries, and operations on his shoulder and back limited his playing time in each of his last two seasons.

Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, where he attended Nelson High School before heading to Harvard, Sneddon has been involved with hockey his entire life. His father, Robert, played professional hockey for the Chicago Blackhawks and the California Golden Seals. He spent much of his career playing in the AHL and IHL minor leagues.

Sneddon, his wife Toni, and daughter Gabrielle live in South Burlington.

I'd like to take this opportunity and publicly communicate how appreciative I am to all of those who have agreed to appear on my Sun. night sports rant.

It is a tremendous joy to be introduced and share in the journey.

Whether local AD's like Sue Duprat (HU) and Tim Messier (LU) or Vermont high school coaches such as Dan Gandin (U-32) and Jay Ransom (Websterville Baptist) to UVM men's basketball head coach Mike Lonergan or Will Voigt of the Vermont Frost Heaves to MLB All-Star Ben Zobrist (Tampa Bay Rays), NBA veteran Jake Voskuhl, the radio voice of the Boston Red Sox Joe Castiglione or ESPN's Buster Olney and Jerry Crasnick ... it is a privilege to bring their story to the listeners of Radio Vermont.

I will continue my commitment to bring the most interesting of interviews to this sports show, a program from a fan for fans.

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