page_title: Lou Vairo
section_title: Return to U.S. national coaching duties
hierarchical_section_title: Lou Vairo / Return to U.S. national coaching duties
caption_attribution_description: English: USA vs Finland faceoff, Winter Olympics 2002.
context_page_description: Louis Joseph Vairo is an American retired ice hockey coach and administrator. He served as head coach of the United States men's junior team at five IIHF World U20 Championships, and the United States men's team at four Ice Hockey World Championships and the 1984 Winter Olympics. He was an advance scout for the United States gold medal team at the 1980 Winter Olympics, and was an assistant coach on the United States team at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He has also served as head coach of the Netherlands men's team and the Italy men's team at the Ice Hockey World Championships. Vairo has coached in professional hockey leagues in Europe, won a Serie A championship with HC Milano Saima, and served as an assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils. In junior ice hockey, he won five Metropolitan Junior Hockey League championships and the New York State junior championship, and coached the Austin Mavericks to two Midwest Junior Hockey League championships and one national championship.
  Vairo showed an early interest in the European style of hockey, and attended a coaching clinic taught by Anatoly Tarasov of the Soviet Union national team.
context_section_description: Vairo returned to the United States men's national ice hockey team as its head coach at the Ice Hockey World Championships from 2000 to 2003. His best result was fourth place in the 2001 IIHF World Championship, which was the closest the team came to a medal since the bronze at the 1996 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. He was an assistant coach on the national team in ice hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics, held in Salt Lake City. The team won a silver medal, its medal in Olympic ice hockey since the 1980 Winter Olympics. He also coached the United States men's national junior ice hockey team in 2003 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
caption: The United States versus Finland in men's hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics
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