While Anthony Noreen’s USHL Tri-City team was eliminated from the playoffs this week, that doesn’t mean the recently-hired Miami head coach is leaving the Nebraska-based program entirely.
“I’m going to stay onboard, I’m going to move into an ownership role,” Noreen told ESPN Tri-Cities on Thursday. “That’s obviously got to go through some approvals, but that’s the plan, and we’ll help kind of spearhead what’s going to happen here moving forward.”
Miami announced Noreen’s hiring on April 1, and Noreen was allowed to continue coaching Tri-City through the balance of its regular season and playoffs.
In seven years as the Storm’s head coach, Noreen was twice named USHL coach of the year, winning league points titles both seasons. Tri-City advanced to the second round of the playoffs this spring and was swept by top-seeded Fargo earlier this week.
“I’ve always thought this: To me, the sign of a really good leader is they make sure their replacement is as good or better than them and that things get moving in the same direction,” Noreen said. “I want this (Tri-City) team to be as good as it’s ever been the next couple years.”
Having an active Division I coach also hold an ownership stake in a juniors team — especially one that feeds its top-end players directly into the NCAA — is highly unusual, but it could help the RedHawks’ recruiting if players are funneled to Oxford through Tri-City.
Noreen was asked about his timeline for the next couple of months, and he said he will attend a couple days of the NCAA meetings in Florida next week.
In mid-May he will be involved in Tri-City’s USHL draft, and the Storm will also need to prepare for camp and hire a new head coach to replace him.
“For me on the other side of things, it’s getting some recruits in town, getting a staff put together, getting some more face time with the current players at Miami and making sure to kind of set the tone there as well,” Noreen said.
The ESPN Tri-Cities interview is available here on Spotify.
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