# Jim Culhane

Jim Culhane (born March 13, 1965) is a Canadian retired ice hockey defenceman. He played for the Hartford Whalers. Culhane coached the Western Michigan Broncos men's ice hockey team from 1999 to 2010.

## Career

Culhane played at Western Michigan during one of the most successful periods in program history. After graduating in 1987 he embarked on a short professional career, before retiring in 1992. In 1993 he returned to his alma mater and served as an assistant under Bill Wilkinson until the latter was fired in the midst of an investigation into the program after two players were arrested at a team party.
For a brief time Culhane was able to right the ship in Kalamazoo but once Wilkinson's last recruiting class left the team sunk towards the bottom of the conference and never had a winning record under Culhane's stewardship again. Over the course of his 11 full seasons Culhane could only get the Broncos out of the CCHA first round only twice and lost all four quarterfinal games his team played in. Western Michigan announced that they were firing Culhane in February 2010 but allowed the coach to finish out the season.

## Career Statistics

| | | | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs | Playoffs |
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 1983–84 | Western Michigan Broncos | CCHA | 42 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 88 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1984–85 | Western Michigan Broncos | CCHA | 37 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 84 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1985–86 | Western Michigan Broncos | CCHA | 40 | 1 | 21 | 22 | 61 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1986–87 | Western Michigan Broncos | CCHA | 43 | 9 | 24 | 33 | 163 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1987–88 | Binghamton Whalers | AHL | 76 | 5 | 17 | 22 | 169 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 1988–89 | Binghamton Whalers | AHL | 72 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 200 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1989–90 | Binghamton Whalers | AHL | 73 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 69 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1989–90 | Hartford Whalers | NHL | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1990–91 | Capital District Islanders | AHL | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1990–91 | Kansas City Blades | IHL | 59 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 50 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1991–92 | Capital District Islanders | AHL | 37 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 58 | — | — | — | — | — |
| NHL totals | NHL totals | NHL totals | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — |

## Head Coaching Record

Statistics overview :
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason |
| Western Michigan Broncos (CCHA) (1999–2010) ||||||
| 1998–99 | Western Michigan | 3–4–2† | 3–4–2† | 10th† | |
| 1999–00 | Western Michigan | 12–21–3 | 10–15–3 | T–9th | CCHA First Round |
| 2000–01 | Western Michigan | 20–13–6 | 12–10–6 | T–5th | CCHA First Round |
| 2001–02 | Western Michigan | 19–15–4 | 13–12–3 | 6th | CCHA First Round |
| 2002–03 | Western Michigan | 15–21–2 | 13–14–1 | T–8th | CCHA First Round |
| 2003–04 | Western Michigan | 17–18–4 | 12–13–3 | 8th | CCHA First Round |
| 2004–05 | Western Michigan | 14–21–2 | 8–18–2 | T–10th | CCHA First Round |
| 2005–06 | Western Michigan | 10–24–6 | 7–16–5 | 11th | CCHA Quarterfinals |
| 2006–07 | Western Michigan | 18–18–1 | 14–13–1 | 6th | CCHA First Round |
| 2007–08 | Western Michigan | 8–27–3 | 4–22–2 | 12th | CCHA First Round |
| 2008–09 | Western Michigan | 14–20–7 | 9–13–6–2 | T–7th | CCHA Quarterfinals |
| 2009–10 | Western Michigan | 8–20–8 | 4–17–7–2 | 12th | CCHA First Round |
| Western Michigan: | Western Michigan: | 158–222–48 | 109–167–32 | | |
| Total: | Total: | 158–222–48 | | | |
| National champion   Postseason invitational champion   Conference regular season champion   Conference regular season and conference tournament champion  Division regular season champion  Division regular season and conference tournament champion  Conference tournament champion ||||||
† Culhane replaced Bill Wilkinson in February 1999