Tennessee State University made history last summer when it announced the introduction of ice hockey, making it the first HBCU to do so.
The team will begin as a club-level program with aspirations to ascend to NCAA Division I status for both men’s and women’s teams.
Although the Tigers will take the ice for its inaugural season in 2024-25, the school has yet to name a coach.
However, that will not be the case for much longer.
#3 is already done…#4 is being posted in a few days.
— Tennessee State Hockey (@TSUTigersHockey) January 16, 2024
Tennessee State-focused website 28th and Jefferson, posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that a Hockey Director of Operations as well as the head coach needed to be filled.
In response to that post, The Tennessee State Hockey account indicated the Director of Hockey Operations had been filled, with news on a head coach forthcoming in the next few days.
“#3 is already done … #4 is being posted in a few days,” the account noted.
According to sources, Nicholas Guerriero will be one of the people who will lead the Tennessee State hockey program as its first director of hockey operations.
Guerriero, a former hockey administrator at Division III Manhattanville from 2009-11, has been working at Tennessee State since 2021 as assistant athletic director for communications and creative content.
In the years prior to his time at Tennessee State, Guerriero spent time in a similar role at George Washington, American, Dartmouth, Iona, and St. Francis-Brooklyn.
Guerriero will have the chance to put his immediate stamp on the program and make recommendations to Athletic Director Dr. Mikki Allen and school President Dr. Glenda Glover for the vacant head coach position.
Currently, none of the 109 HBCUs across America offer organized hockey at any level.
Tennessee State announced in 2021 that it would conduct a feasibility study to determine whether the school could start a Division I hockey program.
TSU already has established a relationship with the Nashville Predators through a “$1 million in 1 month” fundraising scholarship campaign for Tennessee State students.
“The idea of establishing a collegiate hockey program at TSU is a tremendous opportunity as the nation’s first HBCU to take on this endeavor,” TSU President Glenda Glover said then. “This allows us to expand the sport, increase diversity, and introduce a new fan base.”
Last February, Tennessee State athletics director Mikki Allen and Predators president and CEO Sean Henry announced a fundraising campaign to launch men’s and women’s hockey programs.
The funding will go toward scholarships, an on-campus venue, equipment, travel, and other expenses. The school, however, has not publicly disclosed a dollar figure needed to support hockey or a timeline for when the program would start.
Mike Snee, the director of College Hockey Inc., explained during a press conference at the Frozen Four in April that there is a desire to expand the sport at the collegiate level, and HBCUs would be a target.
