Northeastern Next Podcast
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Northeastern Next Podcast Coach Jim Madigan, DMSB’86 6 Beanpots, 1 Chicken Lou Aired on September 14, 2020 Meghan Brisson: Hi Coach Madigan. Welcome to the Northeastern Next podcast. Coach Jim Madigan: Pleasure to be with you. Thanks for having me. Meghan Brisson: I think whether you are a sports fan or not, Northeastern hockey is ingrained in the campus culture, the traditions and memories, and we have three consecutive Beanpot wins. And this past spring, a season that ended too soon due to the pandemic. But beyond coaching, you are a member of the Northeastern family from student to alumni, staff to parent, and I’d just love to dive into where it all began. Coach Jim Madigan: It's 39 years ago this month when I first set foot onto our campus. I was volunteering, helping out with our move in process, and I walked by White Hall, and that's where I moved in as a freshman in the fall, September of 1981. And I had flashbacks about pulling up the car -- and my mom and dad, we drove down from Toronto and moved in. And it was a different Northeastern of course back then, but it was great memories. And it was in that building, White Hall, where I actually met my wife. And this time of the year is always exciting because it's a brand new, fresh faces and crop of new freshmen who are excited to begin their journey at Northeastern and their educational and college journey. You see it's very vibrant around campus, even amongst a different type of move in this year because of COVID-19. Meghan Brisson: Page 1 of 14 It's nice to see. I mean, I haven't been on campus myself, but watching the pictures and students and there's still energy there, even though things have to be done a little differently. When you think back to your student experience in the 80s, what stands out to you as the biggest difference than the one we see today? Coach Jim Madigan: Northeastern back then, we had probably 20,000 full time undergraduates and we had a housing capacity of probably 3,300. We really catered towards the commuters and only the freshmen for the most part, and some of the athletes were on campus. It was more of a transient experience back then. And saying that, we still all had a great time. We got a great education. We had a chance to meet some wonderful people and relationships and friendships that I hold to this day. And the university did a great job of educating and co-op was a big part. And that was the one connector, for all of us at the university back then was co-op and you used your co-op experience, which helped gain you a foot into the door professionally. Now, this campus, it's just taken off. The difference from then to now -- the physical campus for one is just tremendous and to see all the beautification and landscaping that the university undertook beginning in 1986 and Jack Malone and the physical plant people and the facilities have just done a great job with the beautification. And then the residential experience now is on campus with all of the new dorms. We’re no longer that commuter school, residential-based campus and a campus that has plenty of opportunities and amenities to offer our students. And then the academic experience and again, we got a solid foundation, academic foundation back in the 80s and 90s, but it transformed itself academically, to the point where we changed our model. Where instead of bringing in 4,000 freshmen students every year, we brought it down to 2,800 and focus more on quality versus quantity. And it's paid off. With that, you can attract better students, quality students. And the academic side of it is just tremendous. And we can cite the numbers of 70,000 almost applications every year for 2,800 spots, but when you combine all three of those, the academics, the social components and opportunities, and the beautification, the aesthetics of the university, it's a home run. And then under this leadership -- President Aoun has just taken our university to another level over the last 14 years where, hey, we're a hot school and we've been a hot Page 2 of 14 school for awhile. I know we're going to continue to be a hot school for our students over the next few years. Meghan Brisson: Personally, I've actually worked at Northeastern for the past seven years. But when we think about loyalty and tenure at a university, you definitely beat me tenfold on that. And so, when you graduated, did you start right away on the coaching staff? Talk us through your career path up until now. Coach Jim Madigan: What I was able to do while I was a student is get ahead of myself academically -- a few classes. My last co-op job, I worked at the university of Vermont as an assistant hockey coach. I wanted to get into coaching. I had a great experience with two fabulous coaches in Fernie Flaman and Don McKenney, who were my coaches and I learned a lot from them. And they taught us a lot about growing up and being men and so, coaching was something I wanted to continue. I grew up in Montreal and Toronto so I've been around the sport for a long time. And that experience through co-op allowed me to go to Vermont for a full two and a half semesters. Back then, we're on the quarter system so it was the fall quarter, it was the winter quarter, a little bit of the spring quarter, I stole a little bit of time there. And then I only needed to go to one quarter my senior year, which was my last year and graduate. Co-op really helped launch my career and opportunities into coaching. And then I finished off my education, graduated in '86, and then an opportunity opened up with Fernie Flaman and Don McKenney -- my two coaches, the gentleman who I'd been around and learned so much from, now to work with them full time. And I was very fortunate to be able to do that and get a full time coaching position. And it tied into the same time when I've mentioned before my wife, we were engaged through my last year, my fifth year at Northeastern, then we got married that late August. And so I finished 34 full time years at Northeastern in full time capacity. And then we just celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary on August 30th. Page 3 of 14 Meghan Brisson: Oh, wow, Congratulations! Coach Jim Madigan: So a lot happened in that end of August, beginning of September time for us as a family. Meghan Brisson: That's amazing. So you worked also, I mean, now you're head coach and you've had probably a lot of different coaching responsibilities working your way up the ranks, and you've also worked in advancement and other positions. So tell me about your different roles at Northeastern and process of then getting that head coach job. Coach Jim Madigan: I often say that there's so many of us -- when we graduate are very fortunate to have the Northeastern experience. I think I'm the luckiest of all our graduates out there because not only did I have a great experience as a student and as a student athlete, I continue to be able to come back to Northeastern each and every day. And I call it the Center of Excellence on Huntington Avenue. And I've also been able to have different experiences, I haven't just been in one role at Northeastern. So as you mentioned, I was an assistant coach when I came back coaching for seven years. And then I was able to work in facilities and spend a lot of time in athletic facilities -- and learn a new skill set there under Jack Malone, who's one of my mentors and one of our assistant vice presidents right now in the facilities department -- who's been at Northeastern for 40 plus years. So I worked for Jack for six years and then learned a lot on the facility side of the house and did some project management work at the arena. So I never was far from arena, through all my different tenures. And then at that point, two gentlemen who were trustees at the university, Bunny Solomon and Bill Cotter, who I got to know really well thought that, thought the athletic development role in advancement would be something that I would do well in. So there was an opportunity and I moved over to advancement and it was the best thing that I did here in my career. Page 4 of 14 So I was in advancement, but I worked in the business school after athletic development and the experiences and learning about the faculty, working with the faculty, partnering with the faculty really helped me as a person and as a professional to grow. And then it coincided with the time when Diane McGillvery came in, the presence started in August 15th of 2006 and Diane came the following year and it coincided just as I was moving into development for the business school. Coach Jim Madigan: [08:13] And then ultimately to come back to hockey and I always stayed at my passion, I was at the cross section of my passion of hockey and Northeastern University.