U.S. College Hockey Online officially announced its Coach of the Year recipient on Friday — Penn State women’s hockey’s very own Jeff Kampersal.

The announcement marks Kampersal’s second coach of the year award this season, after being named the AHCA Women’s University Division Coach of the Year, and after coaching the Nittany Lions through a historic 2025-26 season. This marked Kampersal’s fifth overall and fourth consecutive AHCA Coach of the Year accolade.

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This season, Kampersal led the historic group to its first-ever Frozen Four appearance on home ice and guided the team to a top-three national ranking in both USA Hockey and USCHO—the highest in program history.

Despite a gritty loss in the national semifinal to the eventual National Champion Wisconsin Badgers, Kampersal and the Nittany Lions contributed to setting records at this year’s Frozen Four, drawing in a record-setting 5,176 fans.

Prior to this, Penn State had clinched its first-ever NC Championship after hitting and defeating UConn, 3-0, to send them to the Frozen Four.

Adding to leading his team to the program’s longest postseason run, Kampersal clinched his fourth consecutive AHA Championship with the team and set the single-season program win record for a second year in a row, with 33 wins.

Along the ride with him was one of nine Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award nominees whom he has coached, Tessa Janecke, who later would be named as the program’s first AHCA First-Team All-American and an Olympic gold-medalist.

Penn State has tallied 113 wins in the last four seasons, which is the third-most by any program in the country under his helm.

Recently, on January 23, Kampersal reached his 500th career win, becoming one of just five coaches in the sport to do so.

He currently sits with a record of 183-91-41 at Penn State.

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