Under the guidance of head coach George Roll and his staff, Clarkson University Hockey has regained its stature as one of the elite programs in the nation. With back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament, a pair of ECAC Hockey titles, and two 20-win campaigns over the past three seasons, the Golden Knights, with Roll directing the turnaround, have restored the excitement and prosperity to the tradition-laden program. After a down year in 2008-09 when injuries took a heavy toll on the Knights, Roll, along with associate coach Greg Drechsel and assistant coach Jean-Francois Houle, will look to guide the Green and Gold back to their accustomed perch near the top of the Division I rankings. The coaching triumvirate has brought to the Potsdam, NY campus 15 National Hockey League Draft choices since taking the reigns of the program in the spring of 2003, including five on this year’s roster.
Along with the success on the ice, the Knights have also excelled in the classroom, and play an integral role in the campus and town communities through various works with local charities. During his six-year tenure, Roll has graduated 98 percent of his players. Last year’s team maintained a 2.81 grade point average. He has mentored two All-Americans, in Nick Dodge ’08 and Grant Clitsome ’08, an ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I two-time honoree (Dodge), numerous ECAC Hockey All-Stars, and close to 20 selections to the ECAC All-Academic team. Four players from Roll’s heralded freshman class of 2005 – Clitsome, Dodge, Shawn Weller and Steve Zalewski - signed NHL contracts after completion of their collegiate careers.
Roll has encouraged his teams to take an active role within the local community throughout the school year. Clarkson hockey players are involved in reading programs at local schools, help out numerous minor hockey programs with free clinics, and take part in the Village of Potsdam’s Annual Spring Community Clean-Up. Clarkson’s annual "Skate With A Knight" is a very popular event held each season. Clarkson’s Knights for Kids campaign, which was started in 2003, has raised nearly $15,000 for Camp Ta Kum Ta, a camp for children battling the effects of cancer.
Through 2006-2008, Clarkson has enjoyed some of the finest success in the program’s 87-year history. In 2007-08, the Knights posted 22 victories, won the ECAC Regular Season title and claimed Clarkson’s first NCAA Tournament victory since 1996. In 2006-07, the Green and Gold posted 25 wins, won the ECAC Tr. championship, and earned the number one seed in the NCAA East Regional.
In his first season as the Knights' head coach, Roll guided Clarkson to an 18-18-5 overall record in 2003-04, but the Knights stellar play in the postseason, where they skated in the ECAC Tournament Championship game for the first time since 1999, defined the new coaching staff’s debut at Clarkson.
Through six seasons behind the Clarkson bench, Roll and his staff have compiled a 106-99-27 overall record. Roll’s overall 13-year collegiate coaching record, which includes seven years at Oswego State, stands at 225-173-43. A former assistant coach at Clarkson when the Golden Knights enjoyed some of their greatest success in the early 1990s, Roll was announced as Clarkson’s new coach on March 24, 2003. He came back to the University after a very successful tenure as the head coach at Oswego State. Roll completed his seven-year stint at Oswego when he guided the Great Lakers into the title game of the 2003 Division III National Championships, capping off a 25-7-1 season. In seven years at Oswego State, beginning in 1996, Roll amassed a 119-74-16 overall record and guided the Lakers to two NCAA Tournament appearances, two State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) championships, and one SUNYAC Tournament championship.
During his eight-year stretch as the Knights’ number one assistant under former Clarkson head coach Mark Morris, Roll was instrumental in helping to guide the Green and Gold to some of their most outstanding seasons ever in the early 1990s. He played an important role in bringing to the Northern New York campus some of the most talented players to ever lace up skates for the Knights. Several of the players that Roll played a large part in bringing to Clarkson included numerous ECAC and All-America All-Stars, and over 20 NHL draft choices. Among the players Roll helped to recruit to Clarkson included NHL players Erik Cole, Craig Conroy, Todd Marchant and Steve Dubinsky.
From 1988-1996, with Roll as an assistant coach, Clarkson complied a 176-82-26 overall record, won 19 ECAC playoff games, earned two conference regular season titles (1991, 1995), claimed two ECAC Tournament titles (1991, 1993) and participated in six NCAA postseason affairs, advancing all the way to the Frozen Four in 1991.
A native of the Chicago suburb of Blue Island, Illinois, Roll played four years at Bowling Green State University, under former Clarkson head coach Jerry York. Through 161 games with the Falcons, he totaled 62 goals and 90 assists for 152 points. As a junior, Roll made significant contributions to the 1983-84 Falcon squad, which won the national championship and finished with a 34-8-2 record. He served as Bowling Green’s captain in his senior campaign in 1984-85 and finished with a career-high 51 points on 20 goals and 31 assists. Roll received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowling Green in 1986 and his master’s degree in education in athletic administration in 1988.
Roll began his coaching career at his alma mater as a graduate assistant under York during the 1987-88 season prior to coming to Clarkson. He is also involved with the USA Hockey Program having served as a coach at the Select 17 Festival in St. Cloud, MN (2002-05) and as a coach at the Select 16 Festival in Rochester, NY. He also has coached in the Nike/Bauer Camp and the East Coast Select Camp, and served as the director of the Huron Hockey schools in the past.
The 10th head coach in Clarkson’s history, Roll, who also served as interim athletic director at Oswego State, makes his home in Potsdam with his wife, Paula, and their children, Chris and Sarah.