Augsburg alum May back on campus after being named new men’s hockey coach

MAY

Greg May, a 2007 Augsburg graduate, has been named the new head coach for the Auggies’ men’s hockey team.

May replaces Chris Brown, who resigned in August after a 15-season tenure at Augsburg to take an associate head coach position at Alaska.

“I am incredibly honored and grateful for the opportunity to be the next head coach at Augsburg University,” May said in a statement. “The school and its hockey program have a lot of meaning to me as an alum. I went there, my wife went there, my brother went there, his wife went there, and a lot of my best friends to this day are guys I played with over those four years. To be the head coach at your alma mater is not something everybody gets to do. I want to thank athletic director Jeff Swenson for this unbelievable opportunity, and I cannot wait to get back on campus and begin to work with our current players and coaches.”

A four-year player with the Auggies from 2003 to 2007, May returns to the school after a successful career as a coach and administrator at both the high school and collegiate levels. Most recently, he had served as the director of athletics and activities at St. Thomas Academy, a private high school in Mendota Heights, Minn.

“We’re excited to have Greg May coming home to Augsburg to lead our men’s hockey program,” Swenson said. “Greg has been part of the great tradition of Augsburg men’s hockey as a player, and we’re excited to have him move us into the future, carrying on the success we’ve had and building on it as our new coach.”

As a player at Augsburg, May earned All-MIAC honorable mention accolades as a forward in his senior year of 2006-07. He played in 100 games in his collegiate career, scoring 22 goals with 24 assists for 46 points. He set career-highs in his senior year with 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points, as part of an Auggies squad that went 12-10-4 and reached the MIAC postseason playoffs.

In his most recent position at St. Thomas Academy, May was in charge of 15 varsity sports and more than 50 activities at the all-male school, where 93 percent of its student body participated in at least one sport or activity. He was in a supervisory role for more than 120 coaches and moderators in athletics and activities.

Prior to going to STA, May had worked for two seasons as director of operations for the men’s hockey program at Minnesota, managing much of the Golden Gophers’ behind-the-scenes operations, including budgets, travel, compliance, recruiting visits, video, scouting, and conference and NCAA contacts, in addition to participating on the Minnesota coaching staff.

From 2016 to 2019, he served as the boys hockey coach and associate athletic director at the Blake School in Hopkins, Minn., where he led the Bears to back-to-back Independent Metro Athletic Conference titles (2017-18, 2018-19). He had a 46-31-3 record during his years there.

From 2014 to 2016, May coached boys hockey at Farmington (Minn.) High School, compiling a 38-18-2 record and leading the Tigers to their first-ever Class AA Minnesota State Hockey Tournament appearance (2015-16). He was named Section 1AA Coach of the Year in the Tigers’ section title season of 2015-16. His Tigers were section runners-up in 2014-15.

May worked as a health and physical education teacher in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District from 2008 to 2016.

In addition, May has served as a lead evaluator for the USA Hockey/Minnesota High Performance program since 2017, and was treasurer of the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association from 2018 to 2020. He owns his own hockey skill development business, May and Co., and also served as a scout for the USHL’s Chicago Steel from 2014 to 2017.

A native of Burnsville, Minn., May earned his bachelor’s degree in health education and physical education from Augsburg in 2007, and later earned his master’s degree in educational leadership from Concordia (Minn.).