The longest-tenured head coach in Cornell men's hockey history, Mike Schafer '86, will be entering his 30th and final season at the helm of the Cornell men's hockey program in 2024-25.
When Schafer returned to his alma mater in the summer of 1995 to become Cornell's 12th head coach in men's hockey history, Schafer's goal was to bring the Big Red to a position of national prominence.
Schafer has accomplished that objective with his career coaching record of 542-289-111 entering the 2024-25 campaign. His 542 victories are the second-most by any Cornell coach with one team, trailing former softball head coach Dick Blood (623), and is tied with former Army West Point head coach Jack Riley (1950-86) for the 16th-most by a Division I men's hockey head coach.
Cornell has consistently been ranked among the nation's elite under Schafer, which includes the Big Red being ranked within the top 20 of the USCHO.com poll 429 times since its inception in 1997-98.
Along with being one of Cornell's legendary head coaches, Schafer's 542 wins career victories rank sixth among active head coaches at both the Division I and Division III levels, and his .632 win percentage is good for fourth among active Division I men's hockey coaches with at least 300 victories.
During his 29 seasons behind the Big Red bench, Schafer has guided Cornell to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, which featured a trip to Buffalo, N.Y., for the 2003 Frozen Four — the program's first since the 1979-80 campaign. Along with its Frozen Four appearance, the Big Red established the school record for wins (30), claiming one more victory than Cornell's 1969-70 national championship squad, who remains the lone Division I program to go undefeated in a season (29-0-0). In addition to its 30 wins in 2002-03, Cornell had a 19-2-1 mark in ECAC Hockey play, signifying the program's best league play record since going 21-0-0 in 1969-70.
With Schafer serving as the bench boss for Cornell, the Big Red has registered 14 20-win seasons and 17 campaigns with at least a .600 win percentage. In ECAC Hockey play, the Schafer-led Big Red has won at least 10 conference games on 23 occasions, including the last seven seasons in which the Big Red has competed.
In 2020, Schafer was named a co-winner of the Spencer Penrose Award, given to the nation's top head coach. He shared the honor with North Dakota's Brad Berry. It was the first time Schafer won the award after being named ECAC Hockey's Coach of the Year five times (2002, 2003, 2005, 2018, 2020).
Cornell has claimed six Whitelaw Cup (ECAC Hockey tournament titles), two more than the late legendary Ned Harkness for the most in Big Red history. Schafer also has guided Cornell to three Cleary Cups (ECAC's regular-season championships) over the past six years.
Over his illustrious coaching career for Cornell, Schafer has coached 10 different players who have been named a First Team All-American status on 11 occasions, eight Ivy League Players of the Year, six ECAC Hockey Ken Dryden Award winners (league's best goaltender), six Ivy League Rookies of the Year, five ECAC Hockey Rookies of the Year, and three ECAC Hockey Players of the Year.
In addition to the yearly recognitions at Cornell, there have been 25 players who have played for Schafer while he has been Cornell's head coach and have gone on to play in the National Hockey League (see list below), and 50 NHL draft picks to join the Big Red roster since Schafer's appointment as head coach.
Before being appointed head coach at Cornell prior to the 1995-96 season, Schafer was on the coaching staff at Western Michigan for five seasons, with the first four being as an assistant coach before elevating to an associate head coach in 1994-95. Schafer joined Western Michigan's coaching staff following a four-year tenure as an assistant coach with the Big Red, which he assumed following his 1986 graduation from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences with a degree with a degree in business management and marketing.
As a student-athlete, Schafer was a four-year letterman for the Big Red and was a two-year captain. He capped his collegiate career by leading the team to an ECAC Hockey championship and No. 5 national ranking as a senior. During his playing career, the Big Red won at least a share of the Ivy League crown three consecutive seasons. Schafer appeared in 107 games for Cornell, scoring 70 points (10 goals, 60 assists). In 1985-86, Schafer was named an Honorable Mention All-ECAC Hockey selection and earned All-Ivy Second Team honors for the second consecutive year. He was twice the recipient of the team’s Ironman Award, and was the winner of the Cornell Hockey Boosters Award as a sophomore. Schafer also served as president of the Red Key Athletic Honor Society and was the recipient of the ECAC Medallion for academic excellence and athletic prowess.
Schafer and his wife, Diane, have two sons, Luke and John '18, and a daughter, Michelle.
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| Players to Reach NHL After Playing Under Mike Schafer at Cornell |
| Player |
Years at Cornell |
Teams |
| Brad Chartrand |
1992-96 |
LA |
| P.C. Drouin |
1992-96 |
BOS |
| Jean-Marc Pelletier |
1995-97 |
PHI, PHX |
| Matt Underhill |
1998-02 |
CHI |
| Douglas Murray |
1999-03 |
SJ, PIT, MTL |
| Ryan Vesce |
2000-04 |
SJ |
| David LeNeveu |
2001-03 |
PHX, CBJ |
| Mike Iggulden |
2001-05 |
SJ, NYI |
| Matt Moulson |
2002-06 |
LA, NYI, BUF, MIN |
| Ryan O'Byrne |
2003-06 |
MTL, COL, TOR |
| Byron Bitz |
2003-07 |
BOS, FLA, VAN |
| Raymond Sawada |
2004-08 |
DAL |
| Colin Greening |
2006-10 |
OTT, TOR |
| Brendon Nash |
2006-10 |
MTL |
| Ben Scrivens |
2006-10 |
TOR, LA, EDM, MTL |
| Riley Nash |
2007-10 |
CAR, BOS, CBJ, WPG, TB, ARI |
| Sean Collins |
2008-12 |
CBJ, WSH |
| Brian Ferlin |
2011-14 |
BOS |
| Cole Bardreau |
2011-15 |
NYI |
| Jacob MacDonald |
2011-15 |
FLA, COL, SJ |
| Joakim Ryan |
2011-15 |
SJ, LA, CAR |
| Anthony Angello |
2015-18 |
PIT |
| Jeff Malott |
2016-20 |
WPG |
| Morgan Barron |
2017-20 |
NYR, WPG |
| Sam Malinski |
2019-23 |
COL |
