The Western Michigan Broncos have hired for­mer Ferris goalie and assis­tant coach Jeff Blashill as the fifth head coach in the hockey program’s history.

Prior to accept­ing the job at Western Michigan, Blashill served as the head coach of the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League for the pre­vi­ous two sea­sons. The Ice fin­ished as USHL cham­pi­ons in his first sea­son with the team and Blashill has com­piled a 72−43−5 record in two seasons.

Blashill served as an assis­tant under Bulldog head coach Bob Daniels from 1998–2001 before serv­ing as an assis­tant coach at Miami from 2002–2008. Blashill replaces Jim Culhane who was relieved of his coach­ing duties at the con­clu­sion of the 2009–2010 season.

Daniels said Blashill’s com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills and knowl­edge of the game of hockey will help him be suc­cess­ful as a col­le­giate coach. Blashill was a goal­tender at Ferris from 1994–1998, where he ranks in the top 12 in school his­tory in goals-against aver­age, vic­to­ries, and saves.

“I also think he will do an out­stand­ing job as he directs the recruit­ing efforts for Western Michigan,” said Daniels.

The lin­eage of col­lege head and assis­tant coaches runs deep through the Bob Daniels tree of coach­ing. Six for­mer Bulldog play­ers or assis­tant coaches have become assis­tants and head coaches at NCAA Division I hockey pro­grams after learn­ing under Daniels.