John Harrington

Named the head coach of the Minnesota State women's hockey program in May 2015, John Harrington now has seven seasons under his belt at the helm of the Mavericks. Following the conclusion of the 2021-22 campaign, the Mavericks owned a 57-153-24 record including a 31-128-17 clip in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play under the tutelage of Harrington.

After his first season at the helm of the Minnesota State women's hockey program in 2015-16, the Mavericks boasted a 3-29-4 record in 2015-16 and a 0-25-3 in the WCHA. A few key games during the season featured the Mavericks taking two one-goal losses to the eventual-national champions, the Minnesota Gophers, as well as a 5-5 tie to the eighth-rated North Dakota Fighting Hawks.

During his second year as head coach of Minnesota State women's hockey, Harrington's squad finished 7-26-4, 4-21-3 WCHA. The win total eclipsed the previous two seasons combined. Harrington's first WCHA victory came as Minnesota State defeated Ohio State 2-1 on Nov. 19, 2016. In addition, the Mavericks knocked off Minnesota Duluth 2-1, which was ranked third at the time, on Dec. 10, 2016.

In his third year as head coach of Minnesota State women's hockey, Harrington's team finished 5-28-1, 3-21-0 WCHA. Minnesota State won an exhibition game against the South Korean National Team 3-0 on Jan. 1, 2018. The Mavericks were also able to knock off Ohio State 4-1, who was ranked five at the time, on Feb. 9, 2018.

His fourth season as head coach for the Mavericks proved to be the best to date as Harrington's team finished 9-19-7, 3-16-5 WCHA. This was the most wins in a season since the 2013-14 season and the seven ties were the most in program history. Minnesota State opened the season with a home series sweep over Rensselaer, which was the first home series sweep since the 2016-17 season. On Nov. 23 - Dec. 1, the Mavericks shutout three straight opponents for the first time in program history, including a 3-0 win over the No. 6 Ohio State at Verizon Center.

In his fifth season behind the bench for Minnesota State, Harrington's squad finished with double digit wins which is the first time the Maverick women's hockey team had ten wins or more since the 2013-14 season. The 11-20-6, 4-16-4 WCHA, record included a road sweep over St. Cloud State on Oct. 25-26 for the first sweep over a WCHA opponent since sweeping then-#4 North Dakota on Feb. 15-16, 2014. Harrington also captured his first win over Wisconsin by defeating the then-#1 Badgers 3-1 at Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.
Harrington’s sixth season saw him lead the Mavericks to a 7-12-1 record in overall and conference contests in a year shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Coached the Mavericks first-ever WCHA Rookie of the Year in Jamie Nelson during the 2020-21 campaign.
Harrington's seventh season in charge of the Mavericks featured a breakthrough in success. The Mavericks finished with a 15-9-1 (.443) record, marking their best showing win-percentage wise since the 2006-07 team finished 16-17-2 (.486). Minnesota State also won its first WCHA playoff game in nearly seven years by way of a 3-1 victory over Minnesota Duluth that evened a best-of-three series. It ended the playoff victory drought that dated back to March 1, 2014 (3-0 win at Wisconsin).
Harrington has had three players selected to the WCHA All-Conference Teams and five selections to WCHA All-Rookie Teams in his tenure, while also having 97 players named to the WCHA All-Academic Team and 67 have been named WCHA Scholar-Athletes. Corbin Boyd was also honored as the WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year in Harrington's fourth season.

Before Minnesota State: The former men's hockey coach at St. John's (1993-2008) led the Johnnies to a 241-142-31 record with four Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play-off and five regular-season titles, along with five NCAA tournament appearances.

Harrington, who spent the four years prior to MSU serving as an amateur scout for the National Hockey League's Colorado Avalanche, was the head coach of Asiago in the Italian National League from 2009-11 and head coach for Ambri-Piotta in the Swiss National League in 2008. Harrington also served a stint as associate head coach with the men's program at St. Cloud State from 1990-93 and as an assistant coach with the University of Denver men's program from 1984-1990.

A 1979 Minnesota Duluth grad where he played four seasons with the men's hockey program, Harrington was a member of the United States men's hockey team that captured a gold medal at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid and tallied an assist on the game-winning goal against the Russians.

The Virginia, Minn., native is married and has three children. He is the father of Chris Harrington, a team captain and four-year letter winner on the Minnesota Golden Gopher men's hockey team from 2002–06 and a former DEG Metro Stars defenseman.