General | 5/21/2025 10:08:47 AM
The University of North Dakota announced Waterloo Black Hawks Head Coach Matt Smaby has been named the program's associate head coach.
Smaby guided Waterloo to the 2025 Clark Cup Final, where the Black Hawks fell in a best-of-five series to the Muskegon Lumberjacks on Tuesday. Through four seasons in Waterloo, Smaby helped guide the team to a 137-94-10-7 (W-L-OTL-SOL) regular-season record and a .587 winning percentage. The Black Hawks had winning records in each of his last three seasons.
Smaby joins former Waterloo General Manager Bryn Chyzyk, who was named the Fighting Hawks general manager earlier this season.
After playing for North Dakota and graduating in 2006, Smaby returned to his alma mater to kickstart his coaching career, where he spent two years as a volunteer assistant coach for the Fighting Hawks from 2017-19. Internationally, he represented the U.S. at the World Junior A Challenge, where he captured gold in three seasons behind the bench. He was head coach of the U.S. team in 2023 and 2024.
As a player, Smaby played 11 seasons of professional hockey across the NHL, AHL and DEL. He played more than 120 games in the NHL for the Tampa Bay Lighting between 2007 and 2011.
About the USHL
The United States Hockey League and its 16 member clubs are committed to being the world's leading 16–20-year-old junior hockey league. During the 2024-25 season, USHL alumni held over 50% of NCAA Division I roster spots, and over 25% of NHL players had USHL experience. With 10 first-round selections and 49 total picks in the 2024 NHL Draft, the USHL has developed the most draft choices of any junior hockey league since 2012.
Elevated through the recently announced Declaration of Excellence with the NHL and USA Hockey, the league's player-first approach, including a 2:1 practice-to-game ratio and a schedule with 92% of games played on weekends, provides its players with the optimal environment for athletic and personal growth, creating pathways for the next generation of stars like Kyle Connor (Youngstown Phantoms), Macklin Celebrini (Chicago Steel), Matthew Knies (Tri-City Storm), Adam Fantilli (Chicago Steel) and Jeremy Swayman (Sioux Falls Stampede). More.