Hughes Resigns After Eight Years As Eskymo Coach
Click the thumbnails to hear comments from Matt Hughes and Tony Perino
ESCANABA---The Escanaba High School hockey program is looking for a new head coach. Matt Hughes announced his resignation Monday night after eight years as the head coach, and 13 years of coaching all together.
“I just thought it was time,” Hughes told RRN Sports. “I started coaching with the Eskymos as an assistant 13 years ago, and I was a single guy doing my thing. I loved coaching and I still love coaching. But my family grew, with a wife and three kids. Now my kids are getting involved in things and I felt it was time to step down and support them and enjoy what they’re doing.”
“You never like these sort of days,” Perino told RRN Sports. “It’s bittersweet for him and I know it was a tough decision. We hate to see him go. Matt put in a lot of time here and I wish him well. The kids respond to him. He played the game. He’s obviously one of the top coaches to come through the Eskymo program. I just want to thank him, even though I wasn’t here for all of his years.”
Hughes counts the Eskymo run to the state semifinals in 2016 as the biggest success of his eight years as the head coach. It was the first (and only) regional championship in Eskymo history.
“That is the number one thing that stands out in my mind,” Hughes said. “But you know, all the close games we had in our conference over the years, and being able to go downstate and compete in showcases, playing against new competition.”
Hughes says one of the things he will miss the most is watching kids develop, both on and off the ice.
“One of the main things I took from coaching was seeing young kids come in and they work, but they’re not quite there yet,” he said. “They do some stuff in the off-season, and they start to grow and develop each year. They come in as freshmen and sophomores and they’re not very talkative, a lot of ‘yes, no’ one-word answers. But by the time they’re seniors, you can sit down at dinner and have a full conversation with them. That’s probably one of the coolest things I’ll take from coaching.”
Hughes is a 1999 Gladstone graduate and a 2004 graduate of Finlandia University in Hancock. Hughes played for the Eskymos for three seasons, from 1996 to 1999. He then played hockey for three seasons at Finlandia University, graduating in 2004. Hughes helped out on the FU coaching staff for two seasons, before coming home to Escanaba.
ESCANABA ESKYMOS UNDER HUGHES
2020-21: 9-10-0 (regional runners up, 1-1 playoffs)
2019-20: 14-12-0 (regional runners up, 1-1 playoffs)
2018-19: 12-15-0 (regional runners up, 1-1 playoffs)
2017-18: 8-18-0 (regional semifinals, 1-1 playoffs)
2016-17: 11-15-0 (first round exit, 0-1 playoffs)
2015-16: 15-7-4 (first round exit, 0-1 playoffs)
2014-15: 18-11-1 (state semifinals, 4-1 playoffs)
2013-14: 16-8-3 (regional semis, 1-1 playoffs)
TOTAL RECORD: 103-96-8 (9-8 playoffs)
