
Former Spartan and brother of MSU head coach lands AHL head coaching job
Former Spartan and brother of MSU head coach lands AHL head coaching job
A former Spartan, and brother of head coach Adam Nightingale, is getting his shot at a professional hockey head coaching job.
Jared Nightingale spent 2002-2006 patrolling the blue line in East Lansing, before going on to have a 13-year professional playing career. Now, at 41-years-old, he is following in his older brother's footsteps as a coach in the sport.
Nightingale has now been hired by the Rockford IceHogs, the AHL affiliate for the Chicago Blackhawks, propelling his career in a very favorable motion forward.
In his coaching career, Nightingale has served as an assistant coach for the Omaha Lancers of the USHL, the OHL's Flint Firebirds and Saginaw Spirit, and the IceHogs. He got his first taste of a head coaching gig in the 2024-25 season, running the bench for the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays, where he won the Brabham Cup and was South Division champions with a 52-15-3 record.
Having the opportunity to head coach in the AHL will be massive for Nightingale, who will most likely be able to parlay that into an NHL or NCAA gig, if he chooses to do so.
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