COLUMBUS -- Nadine Muzerall, the winningest head coach in Ohio State University women’s hockey history, has signed a contract extension through the 2028-29 season. In her first eight seasons as head coach of the Buckeyes, Muzerall has developed the Buckeye program into one of the country’s elite programs in women’s college hockey.
Since she took over the program at the beginning of the 2016-17 season, Ohio State has won two national championships, two Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Faceoff championships and two WCHA regular season championships. The team has appeared in the national title game the last three years, advanced to the Frozen Four the last four seasons and made five straight NCAA Tournaments.
“We are thrilled to extend Nadine’s contract and have her continue to lead our women’s hockey program,” Janine Oman, Ohio State Senior Deputy Director of Athletics and SWA, said. “She has set a new standard for women’s hockey at Ohio State and in a short time shaped this program into a perennial national title contender. Not only has she developed great hockey players, but also excellent students and leaders off the ice. We are excited to see what’s to come for this program and its student-athletes under her continued leadership.”
This past season, the Buckeyes set a program record with 35 wins on their way to the 2024 national title. Prior to Muzerall’s arrival in Columbus, Ohio State had not won 20 games in a season. Now, the team has earned 20+ win seasons in six of the last seven campaigns and 30+ wins the last three seasons. Muzerall is 195-73-19 at the helm of the Buckeyes.
“It’s truly an honor to get to lead this program and I want to thank Janine Oman and Gene Smith for trusting me with that responsibility,” Muzerall said. “I am proud of what we’ve built here over the last eight seasons but know that there is still much for us to achieve as a program. I look forward to continuing to develop our program into one of the nation’s elite.”
Muzerall is a five-time WCHA Coach of the Year award recipient and five-time American Hockey Coaches Association Coach of the Year finalist.
In her tenure at Ohio State, Muzerall has guided players to nine All-America honors and 33 All-WCHA awards. Under Muzerall’s tutelage, Sophie Jaques became the program’s first Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner in 2023 after earning top three honors the year before. Jenn Gardiner and Emma Maltais joined Jaques as top-10 finalists for the award. Muzerall’s players have combined for seven conference player of the year and position player of the year honors.
Not only are the Buckeyes successful on the ice, but in the classroom as well. For the last four academic years, the women’s ice hockey program has won the Varsity O Cup for the highest large roster team grade point average at Ohio State. Muzerall has had 31 players combine for 58 AHCA All-American Scholar awards and 42 players combine for 87 WCHA Scholar-Athlete honors.
In the first year of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, seven Buckeyes coached by Muzerall were drafted and rostered in the league with that number expected to nearly double in the 2024 draft.
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