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Ron Mason

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Ron Mason (born January 14, 1940, in Blyth, Ontario, Canada) is the winningest coach in NCAA history (924 college wins). He is a former men's ice hockey coach, and current athletic director at Michigan State University.

Biography

Ron received a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence in 1964, where he lettered in hockey three times leading the team in scoring twice, and also leading them to a 26-1-0 record. Before he played at St. Lawrence he played junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey League’s Peterborough Petes, and the Ottawa Junior Canadians. He went on to get his masters degree from Pittsburgh in 1965. Michigan State University bestowed him an honorary doctorate in 2001.

He has two daughters, Tracy and Cindy, with his wife Marion. He also has two grandsons, Tyler and Travis.

Career as Coach

Ron Mason coached at three different colleges in his career. Lake Superior State University's first coach was Mason, who coached five seasons for the Lakers from 1966-73. He then moved on to Bowling Green State University (1973-1979) where he won three Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular season titles and three consecutive CCHA tournament titles from 1977-79. Mason also gave Bowling Green State and the CCHA their first birth in the NCAA tournament in 1977. Bowling Green State made three consecutive NCAA tournaments under Mason winning the third place game over Wisconsin in the 1978 NCAA Frozen Four.

After Amo Bessone retired from Michigan State University, the Spartans grabbed Mason as their new head coach. Mason would have unparalleled success with Michigan State for the next 23 seasons (1979-2002). It was a rough start in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for Mason, but when Michigan State switched to the CCHA in 1981-82 Michigan State, under Mason, became one of the most successful NCAA hockey programs. Mason and the Spartnas would win a national title in 1986, seven CCHA regular season titles and a record 10 CCHA tournament titles. In addition, MSU under Mason made 21 NCAA tournament appearances, an all-time record for a single coach at one school, seven NCAA Frozen Fours and two National Title appearances.

Over his 36-year career Mason coached two Hobey Baker Memorial Award winners, Kip Miller in 1990 and Ryan Miller in 2001, and 15 Hobey Baker finalists. 1982 Hobey Baker award winner George McPhee was a 1978 recruit of Mason at Bowling Green State. He coached 34 AHCA First and Second Team All-Americans, 10 CCHA players of the year, 93 First and Second Team All-CCHA selections, one First Team All-WCHA selection, 54 players who went on to play in the NHL and two members of the 1980 Gold Medal U.S. Olympic team (Ken Morrow and Mark Wells). He won ten CCHA regular season championships, and 13 CCHA tournament titles. He advanced to the NCAA tournament 24 times 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.

Ron Mason finished his coaching career following the 2001-02 season as the all-time winningest coach in college hockey history with 924 wins. He is followed by active coach Jerry York (Boston College, 749 wins), retired Bob Peters (Bemidji State, 744 wins), active coach Jack Parker (Boston University, 741 wins), and retired Len Ceglarski (Boston College, 674 wins).

Career as Athletic Director

In the winter of 2002, it was leaked to the press that Ron Mason would retire as head coach of ice hockey and become athletic director at Michigan State University. He began his duties as athletic director July, 1, 2002. He chose Rick Comley as his successor as hockey coach. In the fall of 2002 after a dissappointing season and a series of off-the-field incidents with players, Mason made the tough decision to fire head football coach Bobby Williams on Nov. 4 with three games left in the season. Interim coach Morris Watts was replaced at the end of the season by John L. Smith.

Mason has placed a priority seat licensing 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 include a $64,000,000 USD expansion and improvements which include:

  • 24 luxury suites
  • 800 club seats
  • The "Grand Entrance" featuring high ceilings, glass walls, marble floors and a new home for the original Sparty statue
  • 18,000 square foot luxury concourse
  • Office space for the MSU alumni association and Spartan Athletic Office
  • State of the art recruiting lounge
  • Upgraded stadium wide bathroom and concourse renovations
  • An increase of 3000 seats, bringing the total stadium capacity to 75,005

In August 2006 Mason was recommended for contract extension as athletic director.

Legacy

In addition to his success as a coach, Mason helped shape what college hockey is today. When Mason began coaching in 1966 there were only two major conferences in the NCAA, the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Helping build the ice hockey program at Lake Superior State, Mason was left without a conference. In 1972 Mason along with Bowling Green State University's Jack Vivian, St. Louis University's Bill Selman, Ohio State University's Dave Chambers, Ohio University's John McComb and the CCHA's first commissioner Fred Jacoby formed the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Mason's tenure at Bowling Green State produced the CCHA's first NCAA tournament birth, first appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four and the first national No. 1 ranking.

For his contributions in helping build the CCHA, the conference renamed their tournament trophy the Mason Cup in 2000-01.

Coaching Tree

Ron Mason has produced a long list of former players and assistant coaches who went on to be successful head coaches.

  • Jeff Jackson - former player - Michigan State
  • John Markell - former player - Bowling Green State
  • John Mason (no relation) - former assistant coach - Bowling Green State and Michigan State
  • Tom Newton - former player and assistant coach - Bowling Green State and Michigan State
  • Shawn Walsh - former player and assistant coach - Bowling Green State and Michigan State
    • Head coach: University of Maine 1984-2001
      • Hockey East champions: 1988, 1992, 1993, 1995
      • Hockey East playoff champions: 1989, 1992, 1993, 2000
      • NCAA National Finalist: 1995
      • NCAA National Champions: 1993, 1999

Philanthropy

Mason volunteers with the Sparrow Foundation where he established the Ron Mason Fund for Pediatric Rehabilitation which helps children with disabilities. He has raised $300,000+ for the foundation. He was also honorary chairperson for the Children’s Miracle Network which has raised $1.9 million+.

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