Sean Flanagan is entering his 10th season as a member of the Cornell men's hockey coaching staff, and the 2025-26 season will be his first as the Big Red's associate head coach. During Flanagan's time on East Hill, the Big Red has posted an impressive 170-67-33 (.691) record.
One of Flanagan's main duties is overseeing Cornell's power play unit, which has converted at a 20 percent clip or better in four of the last seven seasons. The 2022-23 season featured Cornell being successful on 24.6 percent of its power plays, which ranked seventh nationally and led all ECAC Hockey programs. Cornell posted a 26.4 conversion rate in 2019-20, concluding the season ranking fifth in Division I hockey and second in ECAC Hockey.
In addition to overseeing Cornell's power play, Flanagan has played a pivotal role in working with centers on faceoffs. The Big Red has ranked in the top 10 nationally in faceoff win percentage each of the last four years and six of the last seven campaigns. Cornell has won had at least a 54 percent faceoff win percentage in each of its last three seasons, highlighted by having the sixth-best faceoff win percentage in 2024-25 (54.4 percent) It also had the fifth-highest conversion rate in 2022-23 (54.4 percent). The 2023-24 campaign saw Cornell win 54.2 percent of its draws, highlighted by Gabriel Seger '24 winning 488 faceoffs, good for fifth nationally, and had the seventh-best faceoff win percentage (.588)Â among Division I players with 600-plus faceoffs taken.
Flanagan has helped Cornell post the nation's highest winning percentage in 2017-18 (.788) and 2019-20 (.862), as well as winning three Cleary Cups, awarded annually to the team that wins the circuit's regular-season championship, and claiming consecutive ECAC Hockey Championship titles in 2024 and 2025.
Joining the Big Red after serving as the director of hockey operations at UMass Lowell in 2015-16, Flanagan also served as an assistant coach at Hobart — a Division III school in Geneva, N.Y. — for three seasons (2012-15), working under former Cornell assistant coach Mark Taylor.
With the Statesmen, Flanagan helped build a team that won ECAC West titles in 2015 and 2016 and reached the NCAA Tournament, where it was the No. 1 seed in the East Region in 2016.
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No stranger to ECAC Hockey, Flanagan appeared in 121 career games over his five-year playing career with St. Lawrence, amassing 52 points (12 goals, 40 assists) with the Skating Saints. During his time in Canton, where he was born and raised, Flanagan was apart of three St. Lawrence teams that made championship weekend appearances at the ECAC Hockey Championship (2007, 2009, and 2010). Flanagan served as an alternate captain during his final season at St. Lawrence before playing professionally in part of two seasons with the Las Vegas Wranglers and Quad City Mallards in the ECHL (2011-13).
Flanagan graduated from St. Lawrence in 2010 with a bachelor of arts degree in history and a minor in sports studies and exercise sciences. He also earned a master of education degree from St. Lawrence in 2011.
Flanagan and his wife, Heather, have two children, a daughter, Shea, and a son, Cam.
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