ALLEN, Texas — When the CHL opens it’s 18th season this Fall, the Allen Americans will take the ice as their 18th and newest franchise. Team President Steve Duchesne announced the coaching staff that will lead the team during their inaugural 2009-10 season.
Dwight Mullins has been tapped to be the team’s head coach and general manager. He will be joined by Bill McDonald, who will serve as assistant head coach and director of hockey operations. ” We are excited to have two quality individuals directing our hockey operations,” Duchesne said. “Dwight brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to coaching our hockey club, and Bill compliments that with his experience and winning ways. Both have had tremendous success together in the past and we feel confident in the direction they will lead the Allen Americans.”
Mullins, 42, most recently served as director of player development for the Dallas Stars Selects youth hockey program. He was the head coach and general manager of the Texas Tornado (NAHL) Junior A hockey franchise for the 2007-08 season. Mullins previously served as head coach for the Dallas Stars Midget AAA team for six seasons. In 2007, Mullins was named National Coach of the Year by US Hockey News for leading the Stars to their best season ever which included a record 50+ wins, five tournament championships, and a state championship. A former right wing from Calgary, Alberta, Mullins was drafted in the 5th round of the 1985 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota North Stars and played six seasons in the Western Hockey League. He spent three seasons with the CHL’s Fort Worth Fire and in his final season, won the Central Hockey League Championship while playing for McDonald. McDonald, 56, has over 19 years of professional hockey experience on the ice, on the bench and in the front office. He served as head coach and director of hockey operations for the Dayton Bombers (ECHL) for the past two seasons.
McDonald played for four seasons with the Thunder Bay Twins (USHL) including the 1974-75 teams that won the Allan Cup. He began his coaching career with the Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks (CoHL) in 1991-92, winning three Colonial Cup championships in four seasons. He then moved to the Central Hockey League as head coach of the Fort Worth Fire and won the Ray Miron Cup in his second season. He took the WPHL’s Fort Worth Brahmas to the finals the following season.
After the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup, McDonald served as an assistant coach with the team and coached their affiliate, the IHL’s Michigan K-Wings. McDonald returned to the WPHL in 2000 and led the Lubbock Cotton Kings to the finals in his first season. After two and a half seasons in Lubbock, he finished the 2002-03 season with the CHL’s New Mexico Scorpions. He spent one more season with the Scorpions before joining the Austin Ice Bats for the 2005-06 season.
The Americans will begin their inaugural season on the road but will make their home at the new Allen Events Center, located in the mammoth 200-acre Village at Allen complex. The $50 million event center is scheduled to open in November and will feature 6,275 fixed seats, with capacity for 8,500 seats, along with 26 luxury and club suites.
Independence, Missouri. Both teams will be integrated into the league after a re-alignment of divisions at the league’s summer conference, to be held June 4-6th
in Chandler, Arizona. They will benefit from an expansion draft, in which the new coaching staffs will be able to choose players off a list compiled by the 16 other CHL franchises.
The team, which has numerous ties to the Dallas Stars, will be a developmental affiliate of the NHL franchise.
Contact the author at robert.keith@prohockeynews.com
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