Now entering his seventh season on the Hobart bench, Mark Taylor has directed a renaissance of the Hobart hockey program. A two-time finalist for the AHCA Division III Coach of the Year Award, he was named the ECAC West Coach of the Year in 2003, 2004, and again in 2006. Prior to joining the Hobart family, he served five seasons as the top assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Taylor enters the 2006-07 season with a 79-63-15 record.

When Taylor was hired in July of 2000 to lead the Statesmen, he inherited a program that had suffered seven consecutive losing seasons. In five of his six seasons, Taylor has registered at least 10 wins, including last season’s 20-8 record, which set a Hobart hockey record for wins in a season.

A tremendous motivator and recruiter, Taylor has mentored 11 All-ECAC West selections, nine All-ECAC West Rookie Team selections, including 2003 ECAC West Co-Rookie of the Year, Jonathan Swift, and 15 players on All-ECAC West All-Academic Team.

Strongly committed to furthering the experiences of his student-athletes, Taylor supervised the 2004-05 Statesmen eight-day European trip, which included sightseeing in Germany and the Czech Republic. Along with experiencing the both countries culture’s first-hand, Hobart played four exhibition games against local teams. Every four years, the Statesmen will travel overseas to Europe.

An active member of the hockey community, Taylor has coached in the USA Hockey Development program for several years, most recently the 2003 Select 14 Development Camp in Rochester, and mentored monthly clinics for Geneva Youth Hockey.

In the summer of 2005, Taylor was a featured coach at the A.P.O.C. Aboriginal Prospects Opportunity Camp, in Quebec. The mission of the summer camp is to expose Cree and Aboriginal players to Junior A and college coaches.

At Division I UMass-Lowell, Taylor was involved in all aspects of coaching and was in charge of recruiting. A highly successful recruiter, he attracted five players to the River Hawks program who were selected in the NHL draft, including the Montreal Canadiens 1999 first round pick (13th overall), Ron Hainsey.

Prior to joining the staff at UMass-Lowell, Taylor spent five seasons as the top assistant coach at Cornell University. Under the supervision of then Cornell head coach and former Buffalo Sabres assistant coach Brian McCutcheon, he helped guide the Big Red to an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Taylor began his coaching career in 1987 with single season stints at Middlebury College, Brown University, and the University of Vermont. A 1985 graduate of Elmira College, Taylor was the Soaring Eagles MVP and an All-ECAC selection as a senior. He transferred to Elmira after a pair of National Junior College Athletic Association Championships at SUNY Canton, earning All-American defenseman honors for the Northstars. Following his graduation from Elmira, Taylor played two seasons for Ange in the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation.

A native of Canton, N.Y., Taylor and his wife, Lauren, have three sons, Alexander, Dylan, and Jonathan.

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