DULUTH — This week on the News Tribune’s Bulldog Insider Podcast, it wasn’t just the new WCHA commissioner joining Matt Wellens and Zach Schneider.
Michelle McAteer is an original Bulldog — or OG as she likes to tell people — whose college career began in 1999-2000 with the first varsity women’s hockey team at UMD. The WCHA also began play that season, and a year later the NCAA started awarding a national championship in the sport.
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McAteer and her fellow Bulldogs teammates won the first three NCAA titles while sweeping the WCHA’s regular and postseason championships in 2002-03. McAteer did it again at UMD in 2009-10 — winning WCHA regular and postseason titles, plus a national championship — but this time as an assistant coach.
On the podcast this week, McAteer spoke about those early years of UMD and WCHA women’s hockey. She also shared the challenges ahead of her as WCHA commissioner, and how the universe almost pulled her in an entirely different direction back to Duluth.
Below is an edited excerpt from this week’s episode.
Bulldog Insider: What enticed you to finally make that jump, leaving coaching and going into an an administrative role?
Michelle McAteer: I've been in coaching since I finished playing. I was really fortunate that when I was done, I was the first ever graduate assistant coach at Duluth — before those were even really commonplace — from 2003 to 2005. So I've been in a coaching role for 20 years, which is crazy. I've really enjoyed it. I was just at the point where I'm now 20 years into my career trying to think, ‘Am I going to be a white-haired, old biddy coach on the ice?’ — which would be cool and great. I was really trying to think about which path I wanted to take for my future. I wanted to be prepared. That was why I sought out the administrative responsibilities at Augsburg. I wanted to have an option. I wanted to know that I could continue to coach if I wanted to, but also try to make myself marketable so that I could do other things, as well, if coaching wasn't going to be the forever job for me. That was really mainly it. I was trying to really think about where I wanted to grow. This is a great opportunity to lead. It’s a different type of leadership, one that was really exciting.
It's also really an honor. That's why this job was so special and the right time. Having been an alum, having coached in the league, being the first former player to serve in this position is historic. That isn't lost on me that I was part of that first OG group. Now to be part of the group that is actively leading this league is really special.
BI: I had some sources tell me you were a finalist for the head coach job at UMD, and maybe even a candidate to join Laura Schuler’s staff once she was hired. You had all these options. What was that like for you?
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McAteer: It was a whirlwind because that was where I was. I was literally describing it as a crossroads. How am I going to grow? Am I going to grow in coaching?
The Duluth job, as an alum, that was a no-brainer. I got to throw my hat in the ring for that and having so many connections to the program over the years. It was an honor to be a part of that process because I just care so deeply about that program and the team is phenomenal. Maura (Crowell) did a phenomenal job. (Laura Bellamy) did a phenomenal job. Schuler obviously did a phenomenal job. It was surreal and I was invested in that, I would say, for probably a good couple of weeks, but you got to trust the universe. I was invested for a couple of weeks. Schuler's been invested for a decade, so that was Schuler's job all along, and I am so thrilled with her.
She had to go through that process. I think that was good for her to really earn that. I certainly was not heartbroken because I just knew that's what should have happened. I was really grateful for her.
And, yeah, she had considered me for an associate head coaching job. When that happened, that's when the WCHA job opened up. I was really like, ‘Do I pursue Division I coaching again? Or do I pursue the administrative side?’ All along I've been thinking that I was going to be pursuing the administrative side after I was done coaching. I've done the Division I thing and I didn't have the same draw to go back to it.
Just everything, the timing, everything just happened for a reason. I just trust the universe when in doubt.
BI: You mentioned you're the first former student-athlete to be commissioner of the WCHA. You've also got the coaching background. We've seen good administrators that never played college hockey or never coached college hockey, and they're good at what they do. But how much benefit even early on in this process for you in the new job is there to having lived that life both as a student athlete and as a coach in the league that now you're in charge of creating an atmosphere for the next generation of student athletes and coaches?
McAteer: I think it was a big benefit. I obviously know the league. I know the coaches really well. There isn't one coach I don't know. The hockey world is so small. You're constantly running into each other at rinks and scouting events. I’m very familiar with so many of the stakeholders in our league.
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I understand what we're talking about when it comes to officiating and video services and the rules updates. So much about the game is just second nature. That's been really good in this short turnaround from being hired and starting and the season starting. That been an easy acclimation period for me.
The challenges for me are the things that are non-hockey related. A big part of this job is growing our marketing, growing our brand, growing our revenue. Our previous commissioner, Tracy Dill, he did a phenomenal job in securing sponsorships and increasing the revenue. That's a great legacy that he's left and he's been really wonderful in his transition in helping me. But those are areas that are new to me. The hockey side is what comes natural, but that's not the area that I'm probably thinking about and working on the most. I'm really working on those areas. I know that I need to figure that piece out and I need to do it relatively quickly.
Check out the full episode for more from WCHA commissioner Michelle McAteer. You can find the Bulldog Insider Podcast at DuluthNewsTribune.com/BulldogInsider , and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop almost every Thursday throughout the UMD men's and women's hockey seasons.
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