Nachbaur named Chiefs coach
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 15 years, 10 months AGO
SPOKANE - The Spokane Chiefs named Don Nachbaur the organization's 11th head coach in franchise history Wednesday afternoon.
Nachbaur, who is ninth on the Western Hockey League's all-time coaching list, has won 431 games in 12 seasons, with six coming in Seattle and Tri-City. He is a two-time winner of the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy for the WHL's Coach of the Year, winning the award in Seattle in 1995 and Tri-City in 2008.
The contract is a five-year agreement.
"When coaching against Spokane I thought they were always one of the toughest teams to play," Nachbaur said. "The word professional comes to mind. It is a great building, Spokane has good teams and you always want to be a part of something like that."
Nachbaur's first season as a head coach, 1994-95, resulted in a 42-win campaign and his first coach of the year honor with the Seattle Thunderbirds. In 1996-97, the Thunderbirds won 41 games and the Western Conference championship. They advanced to the WHL finals for the only time in franchise history.
"The thing I remember most was how both teams went into each other's building and won," Nachbaur said
"It was a close, close series and there are a lot of memories from it. There was good jockeying going on between the coaches with the systems but at the end of the day neither team wanted to lose. It is a credit to both teams and the culture they had in the locker room.
"It goes hand in hand with every team's rival. We didn't like losing to them and they didn't like losing to us and you have to respect that," Nachbaur said.
Nachbaur helped the Americans win their first two U.S. Division regular season titles in 2007-08 and 2008-09. His WHL teams have qualified for the playoffs each season and he stands as one of 11 coaches in WHL history with over 400 career wins.
As a player, Nachbaur spent two seasons in the WHL, both with the Billings Bighorns, and scored 67 goals and 146 points in 137 games from 1977-79. He still shares the WHL record with five goals in one playoff game helping lead Billings to a 7-4 win over New Westminster in 1978.