Rick Comley Rick Comley ( born January 20 , 1947 ) is a former collegiate ice hockey player and current head coach at Michigan State University . Following the 2005 - 06 season , Comley has an overall coaching record of 768 - 596 - 106 ( . 561 ) . In 2007 , he became the third coach in NCAA history to win a national championship at two different schools . Playing career . Comley played at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste . Marie , Michigan ( 1967 - 1971 ) under head coach Ron Mason , college hockey ' s career coaching victories leader . In his senior season , Comley was named LSSU team captain and Most Valuable Player and was selected NAIA All - American . He was also named LSSU ' s Most Outstanding Athlete that year . Coaching career . Lake Superior State . Comley rejoined the LSSU program as an assistant coach for the 1972 - 73 season . When head coach Ron Mason took the head coaching position at Bowling Green State University , Comley was named his successor . Comley compiled a 59 - 46 - 3 mark in the three seasons at Lake Superior winning the CCHA regular - season title and NAIA national championship in 1974 . Northern Michigan . With an offer from Northern Michigan University that included a recruiting budget twice the size of LSSU , Comley departed Sault Ste . Marie for Marquette to start NMU ' s varsity ice hockey program . Northern Michigan completed its first season in 1977 with a winning record of 19 - 13 - 1 . In the program ' s fourth season , Comley guided NMU to their first of two consecutive CCHA regular - season and play - off championships . With those championships in 1980 and 1981 , Northern Michigan earned automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament . The 34 - 6 - 1 1980 team defeated University of Minnesota in Minneapolis advancing to the NCAA Frozen Four where they defeated No . 1 seed Cornell University to make the national championship game . The team lost the national championship to University of North Dakota , 5 - 2 . Again , Comley guided NMU to the NCAA Frozen Four in 1981 with a victory over Cornell before losing to eventual national champion Wisconsin and archrival Michigan Tech in the consolation game . In 1984 Comley and Northern Michigan followed Michigan Tech to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association . In the WCHA , Comley coached NMU to seven 20 - win season in nine years . He won the WCHA MacNaughton Cup as regular - season champions in 1991 and won the Broadmoor Trophy as play - off champions in 1989 , 1991 and 1992 . During Northern Michigan ' s time in the WCHA , the Wildcats made the NCAA tournament in 1989 , 1991 , 1992 and 1993 winning the 1991 NCAA National Championship in a dramatic triple overtime game against Boston University . In a university - wide effort to gain more presence in the lower peninsula of Michigan , Comley switched NMU ' s hockey program back to the CCHA in 1997 . The move proved to re - energize hockey at Northern Michigan which had three straight losing seasons prior to 1997 - 98 . Comley coached NMU to five straight winning seasons and three trips to Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA championships . In 1999 , Northern Michigan made the CCHA title game , but lost to University of Michigan . The championship appearance earned Comley and NMU their first berth in the NCAA tournament since 1993 . During his time at NMU , Comley also served as athletic director from 1987 - 2000 highlighted by : major improvements in facilities including the building and completion of Superior Dome and Berry Events Center , several Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships , two NCAA Division II titles in women ' s volleyball , and the establishment of the U . S . Olympic Educational Center . Michigan State . Rick Comley was announced as Ron Mason ' s successor as head ice hockey coach at Michigan State University in March 2002 . Comley was succeeded at NMU by former player and New York Rangers assistant Walt Kyle . Previously , Comley declined head coaching offers at Bowling Green State University in 1979 and 1994 and at University of Denver in 1994 . Comley ' s tenure at MSU has been turbulent replacing the iconic Ron Mason . While Mason ' s final five years produced no less than 27 wins in a single season , Comley has yet to win more than 26 games in a single season in his first five years . Inconsistent play , sub - par records , missing the NCAA Tournament twice in his first three seasons and no CCHA regular season titles have left doubt in MSU hockey fans ' minds that Comley is an acceptable replacement as coach . The unwillingness by MSU to make a coaching change has left those fans with the thought that Mason , former athletic director at MSU , hired and keeps Comley as part of a friend helping a friend . Comley is slowly erasing doubts with improvements in 2006 and 2007 . After missing the NCAA Tournament in 2005 , Comley guided MSU to a second - place CCHA finish and a CCHA play - off championship in 2005 - 06 . In 2006 - 07 , Michigan State was preseason ranked No . 5 , which was MSU ' s highest preseason ranking since October 2001 . The team was , again , inconsistent but earned an NCAA Tournament bid . In a stunning series of games , the Comley - led MSU team defeated three higher - ranked teams en route to the national championship including No . 1 - ranked Notre Dame in the Midwest Regional final and No . 4 - ranked Boston College in the National Championship game . The NCAA championship has secured Comley ' s ability to guide MSU as one of the top programs in the country . Legacy . Rick Comley is one of only five coaches to have won more than 700 games , and one of only three to have won NCAA Championships at two separate schools . Comley was the CCHA coach of the year twice ( 1980 and 1981 ) and WCHA coach of the year twice ( 1989 and 1991 ) . He has won the Spencer Penrose Award as the national coach of the year twice ( 1980 and 1991 ) . He was runner - up for the Spencer Penrose Award in 2007 . In his 33 seasons as a head coach , Rick Comley coached 1991 Hobey Baker Memorial Award runner - up Brad Werenka and nine Hobey Baker finalists . He has coached 14 AHCA First and Second Team All - Americans , three CCHA players of the year , one WCHA player of the year , 20 First and Second Team All - CCHA selections , 13 First Team and Second Team All - WCHA selection and 19 players who went on to play in the NHL . In addition Comley has 25 seasons with a winning record , 17 seasons winning 20 or more games and two seasons winning 30 or more games . Comley has won two CCHA regular - season championships , three CCHA play - off titles , one WCHA regular - season title and four WCHA play - off titles . His teams have advanced to the NCAA tournament nine times making the Frozen Four four times .