The 11th coach in Golden Knights history, Casey Jones enters his 13th year as Clarkson University's Head Coach.
Selected the Tim Taylor ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year in 2019 and named a finalist for the award several times during his career at Clarkson, Jones has established the Golden Knights program as one of the best in the nation. He has also been a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award, presented annually to the CCM/AHCA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Coach of the Year.
Through his first twelve seasons behind the Clarkson bench, Jones has guided the Green and Gold to a 216-169-55 overall record. The Knights have placed in the top two of the ECAC Hockey standings in three of the past four years and advanced to the league's championship tournament in Lake Placid in 4 times. Clarkson won the program's sixth ECAC Hockey Championship Tournament title in 2019. The Knights have participated in two NCAA Tournaments in the last 5 seasons and were poised for the tournament in 2020 before COVID shut down the sports world.
Faced with the challenge of integrating two new assistant coaches and 9 new players, the 2022-23 season was a challenging season that saw the Knights start slow but have a strong November and December seeing the Knights capture the 2022 KwikTrip Holiday Faceoff in Milwaukee, WI, with a 6-3 win over UMass and a 3-1 win over Wisconsin. The Knights would finish 6th in the ECAC and advance on to the ECAC Quarterfinals with a first-round win at home vs Brown (5-1) The Knights would eventually fall to Cornell in 2 games in Ithaca.
A sign of where the program has grown too under Jones, is the fact that 2 of his last 3 assistant coaches are now Head Coaches at the NCAA Div. I level. Brent Brekke, now the Head Coach at St. Lawrence and Josh Hauge, the Head Coach of Union are a strong example of the coaching talent that has come through Potsdam over Jones' time.
Renowned as a top recruiter, Jones and his staff have brought to Clarkson some of the finest student-athletes in the country. Eleven Golden Knights have been selected in the National Hockey League entry draft during Jones' time behind the Clarkson bench. The past four seasons, Clarkson has boasted some of the top freshman classes in the country, giving the Green and Gold a solid foundation for continued success in ECAC and NCAA Hockey.
Numerous Knights have earned postseason honors during Jones' tenure. The past several seasons Frank Marotte '20 was named an All-American along with earning ECAC Hockey's Goaltender of the Year award. Marotte joins Sheldon Rempal '18, Kelly Summers '18 and Nico Sturm '19 who have earned All-American honors over the past three seasons. For fifth consecutive season a Golden Knight was named ECAC Hockey's Best Defensive Forward as Zach Tsekos won his second in a row. Before Zach, Josh Dunne earned the honor in 2020, following two-time winner Sturm (2018, 2019).
The Knights have also excelled in the classroom with Jones as head coach. Clarkson was one of only two men's hockey teams in the country ranked in the top 10 in both the NCAA Academic Progress Rates and the final NCAA Pairwise. The Knights were recognized for academic excellence after scoring in the top 10 percent of their sport in the most recent NCAA Academic Progress Rates, the third year in a row the Knights gained this notice. Zach Tsekos became the third Clarkson player in the last eight years and second in the past two seasons to be honored with the prestigious ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year Award, joining Matt Zarbo (2013) and Devin Brosseau (2019).
After an extensive national search, Jones returned to the University after serving the previous three years as an associate coach at Cornell. A native of Temiscaming, Quebec, Jones has recruited players and/or coached teams that have participated in the NCAA Tournament nine times, including three schools and in two different leagues.
He worked as an assistant for the Golden Knights under head coach Mark Morris from 1993-95. He spent 13 years (1995-2008) at Ohio State as a coach before returning to ECAC Hockey when he joined the staff at his alma mater, Cornell, for the 2008-09 campaign.
The 11th head coach in the Knights' lengthy history, Jones stated about the position upon his hiring, "It's a fantastic opportunity here at Clarkson. The great thing about this opportunity is the program is rich in tradition. It's a job that has a history of winning and it's why I am coming here."
Prior to taking the head job at Clarkson, Jones helped Cornell return to the NCAA tournament twice, and the ECAC championship game each year. Jones also spent 13 years in the CCHA at Ohio State, as associate head coach for the Buckeyes before taking the associate head coach position with the Big Red.
At OSU, he recruited the talent that gave the institution its national place in college hockey as the Buckeyes qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven times with players that he recruited, including a Frozen Four appearance. During his tenure at OSU, Jones served as the program's recruiting coordinator, a position he excelled at as he had five players drafted in the first two rounds of the National Hockey League Entry Draft.
When Jones was at Clarkson from 1993 to 1995, he contributed to the Golden Knights 43-19-9 record, an ECAC Hockey championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament in 1995.
After graduating from Cornell in 1990, he served two years as an assistant coach for the Big Red from 1991-93. He recruited players that helped Cornell win back-to-back ECAC Tr. titles in 1996 and 1997.
Jones was a four-year letter winner as a player for the Big Red, serving as team captain in 1989-90. For his career, he scored 112 points on 30 goals and 82 assists while playing in 110 contests. He was selected by the Boston Bruins in the 10th-round of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft.
Jones and his wife, Kimberlee a Cornell graduate, make their home in Potsdam with their daughter, Gabrielle, and son, Bryan.
| Year |
Wins |
Losses |
Ties |
|
ECAC W |
ECAC L |
ECAC T |
|
Home W |
Home L |
Home T |
|
ECAC Playoff W |
ECAC Playoff L |
|
NCAA W |
NCAA L |
| 2011-12 |
16 |
17 |
6 |
|
9 |
9 |
4 |
|
11 |
5 |
2 |
|
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
| 2012-13 |
9 |
20 |
7 |
|
8 |
11 |
3 |
|
4 |
10 |
3 |
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
| 2013-14 |
21 |
17 |
4 |
|
11 |
9 |
2 |
|
12 |
6 |
2 |
|
3 |
3 |
|
|
|
| 2014-15 |
12 |
20 |
5 |
|
8 |
11 |
3 |
|
7 |
11 |
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
| 2015-16 |
20 |
15 |
3 |
|
10 |
9 |
3 |
|
15 |
2 |
2 |
|
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
| 2016-17 |
18 |
16 |
5 |
|
10 |
9 |
3 |
|
8 |
8 |
2 |
|
3 |
2 |
|
|
|
| 2017-18 |
23 |
11 |
6 |
|
12 |
5 |
5 |
|
11 |
3 |
5 |
|
3 |
2 |
|
0 |
1 |
| 2018-19 |
26 |
11 |
2 |
|
13 |
7 |
2 |
|
14 |
3 |
1 |
|
4 |
0 |
|
0 |
1 |
| 2019-20 |
23 |
8 |
3 |
|
16 |
5 |
1 |
|
12 |
5 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2020-21 |
11 |
7 |
4 |
|
6 |
4 |
4 |
|
4 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2021-22 |
21 |
10 |
6 |
|
14 |
4 |
4 |
|
14 |
2 |
2 |
|
2 |
1 |
|
|
|
| 2022-23 |
16 |
17 |
4 |
|
9 |
10 |
3 |
|
9 |
7 |
2 |
|
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Career |
216 |
169 |
55 |
|
126 |
93 |
37 |
|
121 |
65 |
25 |
|
20 |
18 |
|
0 |
2 |
