North Olmsted coach steps down

The hockey community of Northeast Ohio is a family.

So, what better reason to take a step back from hockey than to take care of your family?

On April 30, North Olmsted coach T.J. Murray announced via email that he has stepped down as the coach of the Eagles after four years.

“After meeting with our A.D. last Friday, I informed our players and parents tonight that I was stepping down as head coach,” Murray wrote. “I have another child on the way this summer and I believed it was going to be hard to make a 100 percent commitment to the N Olmsted program.”

Murray, The Morning Journal’s 2017 Coach of the Murray Year, leaves the program on a high note.

North Olmsted was promoted to the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League’s Red South last season, and the Eagles responded by winning the division title with a 8-1-1 Red South record (15-12-3 overall) and advancing to the final of the Baron Cup I tournament.

It was the final of the successful seasons under Murray’s watch.

In Murray’s four years — two spent in the GCHSHL White Division and two spent in the Red Division — the Eagles went 60-55-5 with the only losing record coming in his first year (2013-14), when North Olmsted went 3-20-1 in the Red South.

Murray led the Eagles to a 25-6-0 record in 2015-16, which included an 11-1-0 White West record to win the division title, a Southwestern Conference Championship and an appearance in the Baron Cup II final.