After one look at Gene Reilly’s crowded resume, Harvard men’s hockey coach Mark Mazzoleni knew he would be hard-pressed to find a more qualified candidate for a new assistant coach.

“He had every prerequisite we were looking for,” Mazzoleni said of Reilly, hired Aug. 20 to replace Nate Leaman, who left Harvard to become the head coach at Union. “I just think you look at his qualifications…He has an impeccable resume as a teacher, educator and coach.

“Everywhere he’s been, he’s had tremendous success.”

That’s a strong statement, since, well, he’s been everywhere.

Reilly, a 1986 Elmira (N.Y.) College graduate, spent the last two seasons assisting with AHL affiliates of the Ottawa Senators in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Binghamton, N.Y., both of which won division titles.

Before that, he was an assistant at Maine for three NCAA tournament seasons—the 1999 national championship among them—and was 2-1-1 in four games (including an exhibition) as interim head coach in the fall of 2000 while the late Shawn Walsh underwent immunotherapy treatment for kidney cancer.

Prior to his time at Maine, Reilly coached junior hockey in New England for 10 seasons, including seven years with the Springfield Pics.

Most recently, Reilly began at Harvard this week after returning from Slovakia, where he served as an assistant coach with the U.S. Under-17 team in the Five Nations Cup.

With the workload Mazzoleni has assigned him, he’ll have to draw on every one of his experiences.

Reilly will be responsible for working with the team’s forwards, as well as coordinating recruiting. Mazzoleni has yet to decide how he will divide special teams between Reilly and fellow assistant Sean McCann ’94, but it is possible Reilly will have some responsibilities there, too.

“He’s just a real solid guy,” Mazzoleni said. “I think he’ll excel in everything we ask him to do.”

Mazzoleni said neither McCann, who is in his second year as a Harvard assistant, nor Reilly will have the designation of principal assistant coach. 

Not Much of a Vacation

If a men’s hockey player was among the first people you saw upon your return to Cambridge, you shouldn’t have been surprised.

Many of them didn’t leave.