Longtime coach Beaney retires from Southern Maine

The Bangor Daily News and Portland Press Herald have reported that Jeff Beaney has retired as Southern Maine’s men’s coach.

Beaney was in his 30th season on USM’s coaching staff and 28th as head coach.

Assistant coach Ed Harding has been named interim head coach for the Huskies and ran his first practice Wednesday.

“It would have been my preference to finish the year,” Beaney told the Press Herald. “I wanted to go out at the right time, like any coach wants to go out on their own terms.”

Beaney added in the Press Herald story that his retirement was “rushed.”

Southern Maine is 1-9-0 overall (0-7-0 in ECAC East) and has scored just nine goals in 10 games and just two in the seven ECAC East contests.

“The program needs to move ahead,” added USM athletic director Al Bean. “I’m not going to tell you a lot. It’s a personnel issue, a tough issue. Jeff has done a lot of good things here, helped an awful lot of guys grow. I certainly thank him for his commitment.”

Under Beaney, the Huskies were 260-380-50 and reached the ECAC Northwest title game in 1993, losing to Massachusetts-Dartmouth.