DULUTH — The Western Collegiate Hockey Association celebrates its 25th season as a women's hockey league in 2023-24, and for 21 of those 25 seasons, the premier conference in women's hockey has been led by a woman.
It's time for women to take control again.
It's been more than two years since Jennifer Flowers stepped down as WCHA commissioner to become athletic director at Southwest Minnesota State University, and now, nearly 28 months after Flowers announced her departure, the league has finally opened an open search for her replacement.
The WCHA has operated under an interim commissioner for the past two seasons, a role held by retired Bemidji State University athletic director Tracy Dill, who was scheduled to remain as full-time commissioner through the 2025-26 season but stepped down last month for personal reasons.
Given the current state of women's hockey, the timing of Dill's departure is perfect.
Women's hockey is more popular than ever before, thanks to the rise of professional women's hockey leagues, which means there should be plenty of female candidates willing and qualified to capitalize on this boom and help the WCHA.
College hockey has a lack of female representation at the top, both in league offices and on the coaching staff: Of the eight commissioners and administrators overseeing college hockey, only two are women: Michelle Morgan heads the mixed-gender Atlantic Hockey Americas and Heather Weems heads the men's-only National Collegiate Hockey Conference.
Of the leagues that sponsor women's hockey — the WCHA, NEWHA, ECAC, Hockey East and AHA — only the AHA, with Morgan, and Hockey East, with Katie McAfee as associate commissioner, employ women full-time on their staffs.
Contributed / File / Bryan Singer / WCHA
The WCHA has a four-person staff — commissioner, deputy commissioner, director of public relations and director of refereeing — that was 50% female when Flowers left office, but all four positions will be filled by men in 2023-24. The three-person WCHA advisory committee, which oversees the league's day-to-day operations, was also all-male last season.
In the 2023-24 school year, there are only three women on the league’s eight board of directors, which are made up of athletic directors, faculty athletic representatives and chancellors/presidents, and just eight women out of 24 head coaches, ADs and FARs on the Executive Council.
One area where female representation is increasing within the WCHA is on the coaching staff.
In 2023-24, there were just two women among the WCHA's eight head coaches: Ohio State's Nadine Muzeral and Minnesota Duluth's Maura Crowell. In 2024-25, that number will double, with Bemidji State and Minnesota State promoting women to replace men. Amber Fryklund will lead the Beavers and Shari Dickerman will lead the Mavericks. UMD promoted Laura Schuler to replace Crowell.
As for assistant coaches and associate head coaches, 10 of the league's 17 are currently women, with several teams, such as the Bulldogs, still solidifying their staff makeup. The Beavers are the only school with an all-female coaching staff, two years after Ohio State and UMD's all-female coaching staffs faced off in the 2022 NCAA championship game at Penn State.
In a lengthy job description posted in early July, the WCHA reiterated that the next commissioner needs to be an advocate for women's hockey and someone who can grow the sport at all levels.
Of the thousands of women who have played in the WCHA over the past 25 seasons, 111 have competed in the Olympics and 30 have won gold medals. WCHA alumni have gone on to coach at the NCAA and international levels and have worked in scouting departments and front offices for NHL franchises.
Many WCHA alumni helped found the PWHL, one of whom served as general manager and led Minnesota to its first championship in the league.
Among the league's thousands of alumni, there is bound to be someone who will be the next leader of the WCHA and advocate for women's hockey. Give her a chance.
Matt Wellens
He has covered the Minnesota Duluth men's and women's hockey programs for the past 10 seasons since joining the Duluth News Tribune in the summer of 2015. He can be contacted at
mwellens@duluthnews.com,
or
Matt Werns
On social media channels.
