Jay Pandolfo, one of the all-time greats in the storied history of Boston University men's ice hockey, was named the 13th head coach in program history on May 5, 2022, and has made an immediate impact in his first three seasons in charge.
In three seasons at the helm of the program, Pandolfo has taken the Terriers to three straight Frozen Fours, with BU finishing as national runner-up this past April. He led BU to its 32nd Beanpot title in February 2025 and was named Hockey East Coach of the Year in 2023 after leading the Terriers to Hockey East regular-season and tournament championships during his first season in charge. A three-time finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award, given annually to the national coach of the year, Pandolfo is the only active head coach to win an NCAA Tournament game in each of the last three years. In fact, no other active head coach has won more games in his first three seasons than Pandolfo, who will enter the 2025-26 season with an 81-35-4 record. He was also the fastest active head coach to reach 50 wins at his current school en route to finishing the 2023-24 campaign at 28-10-2.
Pandolfo has never missed the Frozen Four as a head coach or as a player, as he played in four consecutive Frozen Fours from 1993-96, winning the 1995 national title. The Terriers' current streak of three straight trips to the NCAA semifinals is the first time BU has advanced to three straight Frozen Fours since a stretch of five straight appearances from 1993-97. In 2024-25, Pandolfo led the Terriers to their 25th Frozen Four in their 40th NCAA Tournament appearance.Â
Under Pandolfo's tutelage, freshman Macklin Celebrini won the 2024 Hobey Baker Award as the top player in men's college hockey. Celebrini, the National Rookie of the Year, also became the fourth man in Hockey East history to be named the league's Player and Rookie of the Year in the same season, joining Terrier great Jack Eichel (2014-15), Maine's Paul Kariya (1992-93) and Boston College's Brian Leetch (1986-87). Celebrini became just the fifth NCAA player (and nation-leading second Terrier) to be selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL Draft when the San Jose Sharks selected him first in 2024.
Not only has Pandolfo coached four different Terriers to a combined five All-America accolades in his first three years in charge, a Terrier freshman has earned First Team All-America status in each of those seasons. After an impressive 2024-25 campaign, Hockey East and National Rookie of the Year Cole Hutson joined Celebrini and Lane Hutson on that prestigious list. Lane Hutson, the 2025 Calder Trophy winner as NHL Rookie of the Year, was a two-time First Team All-American, a two-time top 10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award and became a two-time Hockey East First Team All-Star.
Across his first three years at the helm, Pandolfo has coached five All-Americans, two National Rookies of the Year, three Hockey East Rookies of the Year, three New England Rookies of the Year, three New England Defensemen of the Year, nine New England All-Stars, 12 Hockey East All-Stars and one Walter Brown Award winner as the best American-born player in New England. Seven of his skaters have gone on to play in the NHL and two Terriers (Celebrini and Sascha Boumedienne) were drafted in the first round of the NHL Draft after playing as 17-year-olds for Pandolfo at BU.
Not only has Pandolfo developed incredible talent on the ice, but the Terriers have also shined in the classroom during the past three seasons. BU has placed 49 student-athletes on the Hockey East All-Academic Team since Pandolfo took over, including a program-record 19 academic standouts in 2024-25. The last two National Rookies of the Year, Celebrini and Cole Hutson, were both named to the Hockey East All-Academic squad.
In 2024-25, Pandolfo led the Terriers to the 2024 Friendship Four title, as BU bested Merrimack and Notre Dame to claim the Belpot in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He then won the Beanpot for the first time as a head coach, leading the Terriers past Boston College, 4-1, in the 2025 title game before guiding the Terriers back to the Frozen Four for a third straight year. Four Terriers were named Hockey East All-Stars, including two-time honoree, sophomore Tom Willander. Junior captain Ryan Greene joined classmate Quinn Hutson and freshman Cole Hutson as a Hockey East All-Star, with Willander and the Hutson brothers also securing New England All-Star accolades. Freshman Cole Eiserman led all NCAA rookies with 25 goals en route to joining Cole Hutson on the Hockey East All-Rookie Team. Hutson, the National Rookie of the Year, also led all NCAA freshmen in points and assists.
In his first season in charge, Pandolfo guided the Terriers to their first Frozen Four since 2015, winning the Hockey East regular-season and tournament titles along the way for the seventh league "double" in program history. For his efforts, Pandolfo was selected as Hockey East Coach of the Year and New England Coach of the Year in addition to being named a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award. Pandolfo was just the second person to be named Hockey East Coach of the Year in his first season. BU improved its win total by 10 in Pandolfo's first season at the helm, going 29-11-0 overall and 18-6-0 in Hockey East play to win the Terriers' 11th Hockey East regular-season title and first since 2017. The Terriers then lifted the Lamoriello Trophy for the 10th time after a pair of thrilling overtime wins in the semifinals and championship game.Â
The first Division I men’s ice hockey coach to have won an NCAA championship and two Stanley Cups as a player, Pandolfo returned to BU as associate head coach for the 2021-22 season, helping guide BU to the program’s first Beanpot since 2015. Prior to entering the college coaching ranks, Pandolfo worked with the Boston Bruins, first as a player development coach in the 2014-15 season and in 2015-16 as the team's director of player development, during which time he worked with the team's drafted prospects throughout their system. He then spent five years as an assistant coach with the Bruins and helped them reach the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in each of his final four seasons.
Drafted by the New Jersey Devils as the 32nd overall pick in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, Pandolfo played 899 NHL games with New Jersey, the New York Islanders and Boston during his 15-year playing career and had career NHL totals of 100 goals, 126 assists and 226 points. The Burlington, Massachusetts, native won two Stanley Cup championships with the Devils in 2000 and 2003 and formally retired as a player in January 2014 after playing his last season with Boston in 2012-13.
Pandolfo was a standout for the Terriers during his four-year collegiate career, totaling 169 points (79g, 90a). As captain of the Terriers, Pandolfo was runner-up for the 1996 Hobey Baker Award after recording 67 points (38g, 29a) and was an instrumental part of the Terriers' 1995 national championship while helping lead the Terriers to four straight Frozen Fours, two Beanpot titles and two Hockey East championships.
A 1996 AHCA First-Team All-American, Pandolfo was a first-ballot inductee into the BU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.
Pandolfo, who earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the College of Arts & Sciences, resides in Winchester with his wife, Juliane, and their three children, Sam, Liv and Rowan.
