Ty Eigner, a former Bowling Green State University hockey captain, accepted the offer to be the eighth
hockey coach in program history over the weekend.
A significant part of the program’s revival over the past nine years as an assistant coach, Eigner was
formally introduced to a quaint crowd of staff, media and fans.
In a time of change, do not expect the program to look much different.
“What we established early is that Bowling Green hockey was going to be about people and relationships
and trust. We talked about that in every facet of this program,” Eigner said. “It’s going to continue to
be about people, relationships and trust. Because if you have the right people involved, then the rest
of the stuff will take care of itself.”
When Eigner joined former head coach Chris Bergeron — who left BG to take the same position at his alma
mater, Miami, this offseason — at Bowling Green in an attempt to revive the program, the team was coming
off of an abysmal five-win season. The program was teetering on elimination.
Over the past five seasons, BG had not won fewer than 21 games in a season, topping out at 25 wins and an
NCAA appearance this past season.
Eigner played a part in turning BGSU from an afterthought into a readymade coaching opportunity.
“Our body of work over nine years. We are incredibly proud of where we started and where we are today,”
Eigner said. “Anyone who would have walked into this job would have taken over a program that was ready
to go. It’s a living, breathing, legitimate top 15 program in the country that go any place and beat
anybody.
“It’s got everything you want.”
What BG has is 19 returning players from a nationally competitive roster.
Among those is elite defender Alec Rauhauser — who Eigner named as the team’s captain during his
introductory press conference. Forwards Frederic Letourneau and Connor Ford were named assistant
captains.
And while Eigner does not anticipate an overwhelming amount of change in the program, he expects to rely
on that group of players with one thing in mind.
“I’m going to lean on the players that are here now to talk to them. Sometimes when you’ve been at it for
as long as we have, nine years, you feel like you’re doing everything the right way. But you’re so deep
in it, you maybe don’t see the big picture,” Eigner said. “So I’m going to ask them.
“Talk to other people that have been involved on how do we make this better. Because ultimately, that’s
the goal. Nobody wants to stay where we’re at, we want to get better.”
Eigner, who has been a significant presence in the team’s recruiting over the past nine seasons, has also
been responsible for the team’s defense.
That defense was ranked No. 2 nationally this past season allowing just 1.83 goals per game, nearly two
goals fewer than the team allowed the year before his arrival.
He relied, not only on his production since coaching at BG, but his past coaching stops during the hiring
process. Eigner led championship high school teams in Minnesota and earned multiple coaching honors
before becoming the assistant at BGSU.
This helped separate Eigner.
“I talked to some people about going through this process, and one of the things someone mentioned to me
was just because you’re an alum and former captain and the internal candidate, you can’t take for
granted that this job is going to be yours,” he said. “So I wanted to make sure that everybody who was
involved in the decision knew how badly I wanted this position.
“I did not take for granted one second that this was my job to lose. I wanted to prove to them that I
deserved it.”
Eigner, who expressed much gratitude to Bergeron for ultimately earning this opportunity, will continue
working to prove he deserved the position on the road, Oct. 6 when the Falcons will square off against
Bergeron’s Miami RedHawks in next season’s opener.