Avert your eyes, Michigan Hockey fans — program legend Jack Johnson was recently hired to be the associate head coach of the Ohio State women’s hockey program, the team’s social media account announced this week.
Johnson, 39, starred for the Wolverines under head coach Red Berenson during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 campaigns. He earned first team All-CCHA honors and was
selected third overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2005 NHL Draft before a contract dispute sent him to Los Angeles.
He played 19 NHL seasons, most notably for the Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets, the latter of whom Johnson finished his tenure with in 2024-25 before joining the Vancouver Canucks organization as a scout.
Now he makes the jump into coaching, and while it will be unsettling to see him rep the wrong Big Ten colors, there are few women’s programs with pedigree like the Buckeyes. They have played in five consecutive National Championships, winning in 2022 and 2024 and falling to Wisconsin in the other three attempts.
Perhaps if Michigan had a Division I women’s program, we would not have a Tony-Alford-in-reverse situation on our hands. But how could the Wolverines, a proud hockey school, only offer women’s hockey at the club level?
For one, there is no Big Ten. The Badgers, Ohio State and Minnesota play in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association along with Bemidji State, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State, St. Cloud State and St. Thomas. And unlike the men, there is no centralized option with conference foes such as Michigan State, Notre Dame and Penn State for more accessible travel.
Another obstacle is space. As illustrious as Yost Ice Arena is — hailed as the cathedral of college hockey — it is no spring chicken either. Yost became a full-time hockey arena in 1973; it would need to add another state-of-the-art locker room (unlike the visitor’s dressing chambers) and there is only so much ice time to go around.
Plus, according to the school’s 2024-25 Equity in Athletics Disclosure Act (EADA) report, the men’s program had over $4.7 million in expenses and generated a little more than $4 million in revenue.
Can you see the university overcoming these hurdles and finally bringing D1 hockey to Ann Arbor? Let us know in the comments section below. Perhaps it will keep figures like Johnson from going to rival programs in the future.
