EVERETT — Dennis Williams began his junior hockey coaching career in the arid flat lands of the Texas panhandle in Amarillo, Texas, before moving on to the rolling Midwest plains of Bloomington, Illinois.
But in recent days, he’s been sending his two young daughters pictures of the mountains that envelop his new home in Snohomish County where he will be the next head coach of the Everett Silvertips.
“They ask if we go surfing out here,” said Williams, who Monday was officially introduced as Everett’s next head coach at an afternoon press conference inside the Edward D. Hansen Conference Center at Xfinity Arena.
“I said I don’t know if we go surfing or not, but I know since I’ve been here the last few days I’ve encountered a lot of great people wherever I’ve gone throughout the last few days and obviously it’s a very passionate town for hockey,” he said. “We’re really excited. I’m excited to bring our girls out here and let them be a part of the community and continue to grow and go to school out here and call this home.”
Williams, 37, replaces Kevin Constantine, whose contract was not renewed last month. A finalist for the job four years ago when Constantine was hired, Williams spent the past three years as the head coach and general manager of the United States Hockey League’s Bloomington Thunder, where he built what was then an expansion team prior to the 2014-15 season. Williams spent the four years prior to Bloomington as head coach and general manager of the North American Hockey League’s Amarillo Bulls.
The Silvertips, Thunder and Bulls are all owned and operated by Bill Yuill’s Consolidated Sports Holdings (CSH) International. Williams’ deal is for four years.
“As we moved forward and decided we wanted to make a change he went right to the top of the list, and I couldn’t find anybody that I wanted to knock him off,” Everett general manager Garry Davidson said. “He meets all of the criteria that I was looking for in a guy to bring in here and lead us the next number of years.”
Williams, Davidson and CSH International chief operating officer Zoran Rajcic spoke at the news conference that was attended by local media and several dozen Silvertips fans.
In his new position Williams might actually see his workload decrease. He’s spent seven years as head coach and general manager in Amarillo and Bloomington. He’ll now surrender the latter job to Davidson.
“It was kind of weird — we were doing scheduling today and I’m used to going to camps, showcases and recruiting,” Williams said. “Not that I still won’t want to do that and help Garry and his staff, but it’s not quite as busy. It’s going to be nice to focus my attention on just the team and just the players, the systems, the skill sets and working with (assistant coach) Mitch (Love) and (stats analyst) Patrick (Pajak) I look forward to that part of it now.”
Speaking of Love, the former Silvertips defenseman and long-time fan favorite said Monday he will be returning next season behind Everett’s bench. Love has been offered a two-year extension that is expected to be formally announced in the coming days. With former assistant Brennan Sonne taking a head-coaching job in France, the Tips will move forward into next season with just one assistant, a plan Davidson envisioned when he became general manager in 2012.
Williams makes no bones about his goal to eventually coach in the professional ranks, but that’s not a problem for Davidson. In fact, it’s the opposite.
“I think that also for me is an important part of the criteria, that you’ve got somebody that is looking to grow and develop and move on to the highest level possible,” Davidson said. “That’s what he’s told me.”
This is Williams’ first foray into the Western Hockey League and, other than being selected by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the 1996 OHL draft, his first experience in the Canadian Hockey League. The CHL is the umbrella organization that oversees the WHL, OHL and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Instead Williams went the NCAA route as a player, skating four years at Bowling Green State University in Ohio from 1997-2001 before beginning his coaching career as a graduate assistant at BGSU for the 2002-03 season.
“Growing up in Canada, the Ontario Hockey League up there is the league to go to,” said Williams, who acknowledged he was ‘5-foot-7 and probably 130 pounds’ when he headed to Bowling Green. “So I was one of the ones that kind of went the opposite direction at the time where everybody was probably asking the question, ‘Why is he going there?’ But it was, at the time, the right thing for me and my family.”
After a year at BGSU, Williams had stints at NCAA Divison III Utica College and Neumann College, followed by a year at Division-I Alabama-Huntsville before returning to Bowling Green where he spent one year as an assistant and another as interim head coach. He then moved to the junior ranks in 2010-11 when he took over Amarillo.
The coming weeks will be busy as Williams will attend the NHL draft, move his young family to Snohomish County, reach out to the returning Silvertips players and begin preparing for the 2017-18 season.
Monday’s biggest takeaway? Williams can’t wait to get started.
“I just want to get going on it,” he said. “It’s Christmas Eve for 90 days and you’re ready to get up the next day and get after it and that’s how we’re wired. This is our job. We’re coaches.”
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.
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