The first-ever head men' hockey coach at Nazareth, George Roll announced in September of 2024 that the 2024-25 season would be his last behind the benches. Assistant coach James McDonald '20 has been named the coach in waiting.
Roll has helped establish a competitive men's hockey program at Nazareth since its inaugural season in 2012-13. In 12 seasons, Nazareth has compiled a 110-161-32 overall record, including 75 conference wins.
Roll has guided the Golden Flyers to the postseason in the UCHC in each of the last six seasons. Nazareth's best season came in 2022-23 when the Golden Flyers went 18-8-2 overall and 14-5-1 in the UCHC to earn the second seed for the conference tournament. Nazareth advanced all the way to the UCHC final, falling to #1 Utica 5-3.
Roll helped guide steady improvement the first three seasons, going from 6-19-1 in '12-13 to 8-16-2 in 2013-14. Nazareth had its first winning season in 2014-15 by finishing 12-10-5 overall and 7-4-4 in the ECAC West. In '14-15, Nazareth also gained its first post-season win, a 5-1 home-ice triumph over Manhattanville in the first round of the ECAC West playoffs.
The Golden Flyers made the playoffs again in 2018-19, 2019-20 (this time in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference) and 2021-22. They finished 12-9-7 overall in '18-19 and 12-13-3 in 2019-20 with first-round playoffs wins each season. They finished 9-15-2 overall in 2021-22 with a mark of 8-9-1 in the UCHC.
Roll, who completed his 12th season at Nazareth in 2023-24, was selected as Nazareth's first coach following a nationwide search and he brought to Nazareth 15 seasons of college head coaching experience, including eight at Division I Clarkson.
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He posted a 130-142-33 record at Clarkson and guided the Golden Knights to the ECAC regular-season title in 2008 and the ECAC tournament title in 2007. The Knights won more than 20 games and reached the NCAA Tournament in each of those seasons.
Before that, Roll compiled a 118-74-16 record in seven seasons at Division III Oswego. His best season there was in 2002-03 when the Lakers finished 25-7-1, won the SUNYAC championship and were national runners-up in the NCAA Tournament. Roll was named Division III Coach of the Year.
A native of Blue Island, Ill. (near Chicago) and a 1986 graduate of Bowling Green University, Roll has an overall coaching record of 334-351-77 over 25 seasons. He also served as an assistant coach at Clarkson for eight seasons (1988-96) – the Golden Knights were 176-82-26 during that stretch – before taking the position at Oswego.
Roll was a graduate assistant coach for one season at Bowling Green (1987-88), where he worked under the direction of legendary coach Jerry York, winner of more than 1,000 games over 47 seasons at three different schools. As a player at Bowling Green, Roll amassed 152 career points on 62 goals and 90 assists and helped the Falcons to a 34-8-2 record and a national title in 1983-84. He has a bachelor's degree in Communications and a Master's degree in Athletic Administration from Bowling Green.
At Clarkson, Roll recruited and coached several players who went on to professional careers, including several National Hockey League veterans. Roll also has coaching experience with USA Hockey, having served as a coach at the Select 17 Festival in St. Cloud, Minn. and as a coach at the Select 16 Festival in Rochester. Roll resides in Pittsford and is the father of a son, Chris, and a daughter, Sarah, who graduated from Nazareth in 2016.
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