Mike Schafer


Mike Schafer is the Men's Ice Hockey Coach at Cornell University. He graduated from Cornell in 1986 with a degree in business management after leading the team to its first conference tournament championship in six years. Schafer retired as a player after his senior season and immediately became an assistant with the Big Red. Schafer left his alma mater after the 1989–90 season, taking a similar position with the Western Michigan Broncos of the WCHA. Five years later, after a downturn in the program that saw three consecutive losing seasons Cornell replaced Brian McCutcheon with Schafer as head coach. Schafer quickly returned the Big Red to prominence, winning the ECAC Hockey conference tournament his first two season back in Ithaca. Schafer has remained with Cornell ever since, becoming the second-longest tenured head coach and the winningest in team history.
Schafer has been credited as one of college hockey's premier defensive coaches as his teams consistently produce among the lowest goals allowed annually. Two of Schafer's goaltenders hold the second and third lowest goals against averages in NCAA history for one season with the former backstopping the Big Red to their first frozen four since 1980 and first overall seed in 2003. Schafer has made more appearances in the ECAC tournament championship game than any other head coach with 11 and is tied for the most victories at 5. Schafer's 2003 team is thus far the only one to reach 30 wins in Cornell's history.
Schafer was named co-winner of the 2020 Spencer Penrose Award as Division 1 Coach of the Year with Brad Berry of University of North Dakota. The Big Red went 23-2-4 before the season was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.

Head coaching record