Sacred Heart University

Thomas O'Malley begins his 23rd season as the head coach of the Sacred Heart women's hockey program in 2025-26. O'Malley is the longest tenured active head coach in Division I women's hockey. Including stops at Boston College (1994-95-1998-99) and Wayne State (1999-00-2002-03) 2025-26 will be his 32nd season as a head coach. He has amassed 288 wins at Sacred Heart and 349 wins in his head coaching career. 

O'Malley has guided the Pioneers to a pair of New England Women's Hockey Alliance Tournament championships - the league's first in 2018 and again in 2025. His 2024-25 team won 21 games and made the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, falling to Minnesota Duluth in the regional semifinal at Cornell's Lynah Rink.

Before taking over at Sacred Heart, O'Malley was the head coach at Wayne State for four seasons and a coach at Boston College for 15 seasons. In taking over at Wayne State in 1999, he was saddled with the task of building a varsity program from the ground up for the second time in his career. He was an integral part of building the Boston College women's program in the 80's and was the coach when BC made the jump to Division I for the 1994-95 season.

O'Malley, a Boston native, graduated from Boston College with a bachelor's degree in economics from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1989. He played college hockey at BC under coaches Len Ceglarski and Steve Cedorchuk.

Coaching Accomplishments

• On November 14, 2014, he won his 100th career game in charge of the Pioneers as SHU opened up play in its new arena, The Sports Center of Connecticut, with a 4-0 victory over SUNY Canton.
• In 2005-06, O'Malley guided the Pioneers to the ECAC Open Tournament Championship, defeating Saint Anselm for the crown.
• Led SHU to the finals of the ECAC championship for three consecutive seasons, between 2004 and 2006. 
• Led SHU to the 2017-18 NEWHA Championship where the team defeated Saint Anselm 3-1 on Feb. 25, 2018, to capture the NEWHA title.
• Led SHU to the 2024-25 NEWHA Championship, winning 4-2 at Long Island in the tournament title game. The Pioneers then went on to play the first NCAA Tournament game in school history, falling to Minnesota Duluth in the regional semifinal.