It's been years in the making and an opportunity former Canisius Hockey Head Coach Dave Smith was grooming Trevor Large for.
"He's been preparing me for three solid years for this moment," Large said of Smith. "He's done things to get me ready to be a head coach. His advice was, 'get ready for the chaos because it's about to begin.'
"I'm excited and ready for that."
Large was officially introduced as the seventh head coach in program history, standing in front of a packed conference room holding up a jersey with his name on it and a "7" embroidered on the back.
"In reality, we needed someone who understood how we got where we are and who could continue to lead us on a successful path" Athletic Director Bill Maher said. "A coach once said, 'Once you have a good culture, you need to guard it every day.' The culture of our program is very important to me and something we considered when hiring our next coach."
Large inherits a program that is fresh off capturing the regular season crown in the Atlantic Hockey Conference.
While serving as an assistant with the program the last three years the Griffs have gone 51-45-19, including a 17-game unbeaten streak this past year and two wins shy of advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
"We are really close," Large said. "There's the continued focus on developing players and I think that's something we've done a great job at and one we'll continue to do. They're the driving force, they're what are going to get us to multiple NCAA Tournaments."
