Bob Gaudet, 38, enters his second season as head coach of the Big Green. Gaudet is a 1981 graduate of Dartmouth and played four years for the varsity hockey team as a goaltender. He comes to Dartmouth after nine successful seasons behind the Brown University bench. Last season, Gaudet lead the Big Green to an 11-13-5 overall record, tying the most wins by a Dartmouth team since the 1992-93 season.

Gaudet took over Brown's coaching reigns in 1988 and immediately went about transforming the Bears from a perennial cellar-dwellar into one of the ECAC's top programs. During his tenure, Brown steadily climbed in the ECAC standings, from 12th in '89 to 8th in '90 and '91, 5th in '92, 3rd in '93, 4th in '94 and all the way to 2nd in '95. During that time, the Bears were crowned Ivy League champions twice (1991 and 1995), and the team made its first NCAA appearance since 1976, in 1993. The Bears also made two semifinal appearances at Lake Placid in the ECAC playoffs.

In both 1993 and 1995, Gaudet was a finalist for Division I Coach of the Year honors. He was named ECAC Coach of the Year in 1995 after leading Brown to a second place finish in the league. The team significantly surpassed preseason expectations, when they were picked to finish sixth in the conference, by spending almost the entire season in first before finishing 1.5 games behind league leader Clarkson. They also spent much of the year in and out of the top 10 in national polls.

Gaudet's nine-season career coaching record, all at Brown, stands at a respectable 93-142-31; however, much of the deficit is due to a 1-25-0 record his first year in Providence.

Gaudet originally came to Brown in 1988 following a five-year tenure as an assistant coach at Dartmouth. He assisted in all aspects of the Big Green hockey program under head coaches George Crowe and Brian Mason, while coordinating recruiting efforts and serving as varsity goaltender coach. In addition, he directed the junior varsity program his first season at Dartmouth.

Gaudet graduated in 1981 with a degree in visual arts after four productive seasons for the Big Green hockey team. In 1979 and 1980, Gaudet led the Big Green to Ivy League titles and appearances in the NCAA final four. As a senior, he served as co-captain and was a recipient of the Philip D. McInnis Award for spirit, loyalty, and dedication to Dartmouth ice hockey. In 76 career games, he made a Dartmouth record 2,129 saves, while allowing only 299 goals for a 4.00 career goals against average and an .877 save percentage. He had his most successful campaign his sophomore season, one in which he recorded 2 of his 4 career shutouts to go along with a 3.03 goals against average. He was first-team All-Ivy 1978-80 and was a two-time recipient of the Canterbury Society Award for the best Ivy League goalie from 1978-80.

Following graduation, Gaudet signed a free agent contract with the Winnipeg Jets of the Naitonal Hockey League. He played for minor league affiliates of Winnipeg in the CHL and IHL for one year before a knee injury cut his promising career short.

In the summer of 1990 Gaudet served as the assistant coach of the East team in the Olympic Sports Festival, held in Minneapolis. In 1994, he served again as head coach of the East team, and also coached the East All-Star Team in the East-West Shrine College Hockey Classic. Gaudet spent the summer of 1998 behind the bench of the New England 16-Team at USA Hockey's Summer Festival in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Gaudet and his wife Lynne -- also a 1981 Dartmouth graduate -- reside in Hanover with their three children, Joey (11), Jimmy (9) and daughter Kelly (3).