Ron Mason

Ronald Herbert Mason (January 14, 1940 – June 13, 2016) was a Canadian ice hockey player, head coach, and university executive. A head coach of various American universities, most notably Michigan State University (MSU), he was the most successful coach in NCAA ice hockey history between 1993 and 2012 with 924 wins, until Jerry York (Boston College) became the new winningest coach with his 925th career win on December 29, 2012. On December 2, 2013, Mason was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

Family Ron Mason was born the son of Harvey Mason, a salesman, and Agnes Mackay Mason, an elementary school teacher. He married the former Marion Bell on June 8, 1963. They had two daughters, Tracey (born 1963) and Cindy (born 1968) and two grandsons, Tyler and Travis. Mason had one sister, Marion Mason Rowe.

Education Mason earned a B.A. in physical education from St. Lawrence University in 1964 and a Masters in physical education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1965. Michigan State University awarded Mason an honorary doctorate in 2001.

Career as player Mason played junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey Association’s Peterborough Petes and the Ottawa Junior Canadians. From there Mason enrolled at St. Lawrence University in the upstate town of Canton, New York where he lettered in hockey for three years. In his first season at SLU in 1960–61, Mason and the Skating Saints were NCAA national finalists. In 1961–62, Mason and SLU won the school's first Eastern College Athletic Conference championship and made the NCAA Frozen Four.

Career as coach Mason coached one NAIA program, Lake Superior State, and two NCAA programs, Bowling Green State and Michigan State in 36 seasons from 1966 to 2002. He won two national titles: NAIA in 1972 with Lake Superior State and NCAA in 1986 with Michigan State. Ron Mason finished his coaching career as the all-time career victories leader in college hockey history with 924 wins. Boston College's Jerry York surpassed Mason's win total on December 31, 2012. Mason is also the career coaching victories leader at Michigan State with 635 wins. He is Bowling Green State's winningest coach by percentage winning over 71 percent of his 229 games at BGSU.

Mason had 33 seasons with a winning record, 30 seasons winning 20 or more games and 11 seasons winning 30 or more games. Mason won ten CCHA regular season championships and a record 13 CCHA tournament titles. He advanced his teams to the NCAA tournament 22 times—six times as the No. 1 seed—making the Frozen Four eight times. Mason was the CCHA coach of the year six times. He won the Spencer Penrose Memorial Trophy as the national coach of the year in 1992.

On January 26, 2002, a media report stated Mason would step down as coach at Michigan State to take over the athletic director position at MSU. On January 28, 2002, Mason made it official that he would leave his post as head ice hockey coach to become athletic director.

Lake Superior State Mason started the hockey program at Lake Superior State University in 1966. In seven seasons at LSSU he produced four 20-win seasons and never lost more than 10 games. He guided the Lakers to the 1972 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national championship. The record would be broken in 1984-85 by Mason's own Michigan State team.

Michigan State Michigan State University Athletic Director Joseph Kearney hired Mason to replace the retiring Amo Bessone on April 1, 1979. Michigan State returned to the championship game the following season but lost to North Dakota. On March 12, 1993, with a 6-5 win over Kent State, Mason passed former Boston College coach Len Ceglarski to become college hockey's all-time winningest coach with 674 wins. While at MSU, Mason won a conference-record 10 CCHA tournament championships, including a conference-record four straight from 1982 to 1985. In addition, MSU won seven CCHA regular season titles under mason, earned 19 NCAA tournament appearances, and earned seven NCAA Frozen Four appearances.

Career as athletic director Ron Mason began his duties as athletic director on July 1, 2002. Before he officially became athletic director, Mason chose Rick Comley as his successor as hockey coach.

On November 4, 2002, after a disappointing season and a series of off-the-field incidents with players, Mason fired head football coach Bobby Williams with three games left in the season and eventually hired John L. Smith away from Louisville as his permanent replacement. Mason fired Smith after three consecutive losing seasons, and Mason then hired Mark Dantonio away from Cincinnati, who brought the Spartans to football prominence.

While athletic director, the Michigan State hockey team won the school's third national title in 2007. Mason is the only person to have won NCAA ice hockey titles as head coach and athletic director. Mason also placed a priority seat licensing program in Spartan Stadium based on years of holding season tickets, contribution to the Ralph Young Fund, and a licensing fee for better seats on top of the price of season tickets. Further updates to increase revenue in Spartan Stadium included a $64 million USD expansion and improvements which include:

Legacy with the CCHA In addition to his success as a coach, Mason was involved in organizing the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) and helping it to grow into one of the most powerful college hockey conferences of the 1980s, '90s, and 2000s. Mason's coaching tenure at Bowling Green State produced the CCHA's first NCAA tournament berth, first appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four, and first national No. 1 ranking.

Philanthropy Mason volunteered with the Sparrow Foundation, where he established the Ron Mason Fund for Pediatric Rehabilitation, which helps children with disabilities. The fund has raised $675,000 for the foundation since 1998.

Notable players coached In his 36 years, Mason coached a number of outstanding players.

Hobey Baker Award winners Ryan Miller 2001 Goalie Michigan State Won award as a sophomore goaltender. Cousin of 1990 winner Kip Miller. Kip Miller 1990 Forward Michigan State Michigan State's first Hobey Baker Award winner. George McPhee 1982 Forward Bowling Green State Mason recruited McPhee to BGSU and coached him for one season.

Hobey Baker Award finalists Ron Scott 1982 and 1983 Kelly Miller 1985 Craig Simpson 1985 Mike Donnelly 1986 Bobby Reynolds 1989 Bryan Smolinski 1993 Anson Carter 1995 Chad Alban 1998 Mike York 1998 and 1999 Shawn Horcoff 2000 Ryan Miller 2002

AHCA All-America Don Muio 1972 Goalie Lake Superior State College Division Jim Wiley 1972 Forward Lake Superior State College Division Ken Morrow 1978 Defense Bowling Green State Ron Scott 1982 Goalie Michigan State Ron Scott 1983 Goalie Michigan State Dan McFall 1984 Defense Michigan State Second Team Dan McFall 1985 Defense Michigan State Kelly Miller 1985 Forward Michigan State Craig Simpson 1985 Forward Michigan State Gary Haight 1985 Defense Michigan State Second Team Mike Donnelly 1986 Forward Michigan State Don McSween 1986 Defense Michigan State Second Team Mitch Messier 1987 Forward Michigan State Don McSween 1987 Defense Michigan State Second Team Kip Miller 1989 Forward Michigan State Bobby Reynolds 1989 Forward Michigan State Kip Miller 1990 Forward Michigan State Jason Muzzatti 1990 Goalie Michigan State Second Team Jason Woolley 1991 Defense Michigan State Joby Messier 1992 Defense Michigan State Dwayne Norris 1992 Forward Michigan State Bryan Smolinski 1993 Forward Michigan State Steve Guolla 1994 Forward Michigan State Second Team Anson Carter 1995 Forward Michigan State Second Team Chad Alban 1998 Goalie Michigan State Mike York 1998 Forward Michigan State Tyler Harlton 1998 Defense Michigan State Second Team Sean Berens 1998 Forward Michigan State Second Team Joe Blackburn 1999 Goalie Michigan State Mike York 1999 Forward Michigan State Mike Weaver 1999 Defense Michigan State Second Team Shawn Horcoff 2000 Forward Michigan State Mike Weaver 2000 Defense Michigan State Ryan Miller 2001 Goalie Michigan State Ryan Miller 2002 Goalie Michigan State Andrew Hutchinson 2002 Defense Michigan State Second Team John-Michael Liles 2002 Defense Michigan State Second Team

CCHA Player of the Year Mike Liut 1977 Goalie Bowling Green State John Markell 1978 Forward Bowling Green State Ken Morrow 1979 Defense Bowling Green State Kip Miller 1990 Forward Michigan State Dwayne Norris 1992 Forward Michigan State Chad Alban 1998 Goalie Michigan State Mike York 1999 Forward Michigan State Shawn Horcoff 2000 Forward Michigan State Ryan Miller 2001 Goalie Michigan State Ryan Miller 2002 Goalie Michigan State

NHL first round draft picks Craig Simpson 1985 Pittsburgh Penguins 2nd Joe Murphy* 1986 Detroit Red Wings 1st Jason Muzzatti 1988 Calgary Flames 21st Rod Brind'Amour 1988 St. Louis Blues 9th Bryan Smolinski 1990 Boston Bruins 21st Michael Stewart 1990 New York Rangers 13th Jim Slater 2002 Atlanta Thrashers 30th Joe Murphy was first NCAA player selected first overall

Select NHL players Rod Brind'Amour Michigan State 21 seasons Anson Carter Michigan State 12 seasons Danton Cole Michigan State 7 seasons Jim Cummins Michigan State 12 seasons Bob Essensa Michigan State 12 seasons Steve Guolla Michigan State 6 seasons Adam Hall Michigan State 10 seasons Shawn Horcoff Michigan State 11 seasons Andrew Hutchinson Michigan State 6 seasons Duncan Keith Michigan State 6 seasons John-Michael Liles Michigan State 8 seasons Mike Liut Bowling Green State 13 seasons Chris Luongo Michigan State 4 seasons Brian MacLellan Bowling Green State 10 seasons George McPhee Bowling Green State 7 seasons Kelly Miller Michigan State 16 seasons Kevin Miller Michigan State 12 seasons Kip Miller Michigan State 12 seasons Ryan Miller Michigan State 18 seasons Ken Morrow Bowling Green State 10 seasons Joe Murphy Michigan State 15 seasons Rem Murray Michigan State 9 seasons Craig Simpson Michigan State 10 seasons Jim Slater Michigan State 7 seasons Bryan Smolinski Michigan State 17 seasons Mike Watt Michigan State 5 seasons Mike Weaver Michigan State 10 seasons Peter White Michigan State 10 seasons Jim Wiley Lake Superior State 4 seasons Neil Wilkinson Michigan State 10 seasons Jason Woolley Michigan State 14 seasons Mike York Michigan State 10 seasons

Olympians Bob Dobek 1976 USA Doug Ross 1976 USA Ken Morrow 1980 USA Gold Mark Wells 1980 USA Gold Gary Haight 1984 USA Kevin Miller 1988 USA Geir Hoff 1988 Norway Brian Stankiewicz 1988 Austria Jason Woolley 1992 Canada Silver Geir Hoff 1992 Norway Dwayne Norris 1994 Canada Silver Geir Hoff 1994 Norway Brian Stankiewicz 1994 Austria Rod Brind'Amour 1998 Canada Mike York 2002 USA Silver John-Michael Liles 2006 USA Jason Muzzatti 2006 Italy Tony Tuzzolino 2006 Italy Ryan Miller 2010, 2014 USA Silver ('10) Duncan Keith 2010, 2014 Canada Gold ('10, '14)

Head coaching record