Only a handful of collegiate coaches have done what Terry Watkins accomplished during the 2008-09 academic school year - lead two separate teams in two separate sports to an NCAA Division III championship round.
In 2010-11, Watkins, who will begin his 15th year as the UW-Stout men's hockey coach and his fifth as the UW-Stout men's golf coach, led both the hockey team and the men's golf team to the championship round. Both teams were nationally ranked throughout the year. For the hockey team, it was their second NCAA appearance; for the golf team, their first.
The hockey team advanced to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four, falling in overtime in the semi-final game at historic Lake Placid, NY. The men's golf team, in only their third year as a varsity program, finished 12th at the NCAA Division III men's golf championships.
Watkins involvement with Stout hockey stretches back almost to the beginning of the program.
Watkins, a native of St. Paul, Minn., has spent the last 30-plus years in Menomonie where he coached the Blue Devil hockey club for eight years before returning the Blue Devils to the varsity level. All told, Watkins will be starting his 22nd year as a head hockey coach at Stout.
A two-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) coach of the year, Watkins has taken the Blue Devils well into the mix of both the WIAC and the eight-team Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA). The 2006-07 Blue Devils put together what was then Stout's best ever hockey season, finishing with a school record 21 wins and were ranked nationally from Thanksgiving on. Watkins was also named NCHA Coach of the Year and was a national runner up for coach of the year as well. The 2007-08 team was the first Blue Devil hockey team to advance to the NCAA Division III tournament.
The 2008-09 team exceeded all of the previous years, playing well into March for the first time ever. The team finished with a 23-6-2 overall record, and were second in the NCHA, 10-2-2, but went on to win their first ever NCHA tournament title, thus earning the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Along the way, the Blue Devils had a 15-game unbeaten streak and had four players receive national individual honors.
Watkins formed a coaching staff that is made up entirely of UW-Stout graduates - himself, Ed Roethke, Bryan Cummings and Greg Slupe.
Watkins' goal is to continue to mold the Blue Devils into a team that will consistently stay in the fight for the upper echelon of the league.
A UW-Stout Hall of Fame inductee, Watkins ranks fourth on the all-time Blue Devil varsity scoring list, tallying 95 points with 41 goals and 54 assists from 1969-73. He ranks second in assists and 11th in goals scored. Watkins holds the single season record for most goals scored by a defenseman, 22 during the 1972-73 season. Watkins has also coached at the youth hockey and high school levels, as well as officiated.
Watkins literally built the men's golf team from scratch. A regional power in the late 1980s, the golf program was discontinued in the early 1990s.
When Watkins was tabbed as the coach to bring the team back, it was his second time of laying the groundwork to revive a discontinued program and has twice (2009, 2010) taken the Blue Devils to the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships, finishing 11th both times. Watkins also produced two-time All-American Derek Holmes (2009, 2010).
Watkins is excited about the popular Golf Enterprise Management major that Stout has in place and sees the varsity golf program as a way to build that major - and vice versa.
"With our major, we should have a good (varsity) program," Watkins said. "We have a major here that will attract very good players."
Watkins, who is a very familiar player in the Chippewa Valley area, has an ear to the ground for Stout's golf tradition - a program that won three consecutive conference titles in the late 1980s. Watkins' two sons, Jeff and Todd, both played for the Blue Devils and Todd was an all-conference performer during the Blue Devils' final season
Watkins and his wife, Doreen, who was an administrative assistant in the Stout physical education office but has since retired, have three adult children, Jeff, Todd and Kelly, and four grandchildren.
Todd played hockey under his father for four years and is the all-time leading club scorer with 205 points. Todd was also a top performer on the Stout men's golf team, a program that won three consecutive conference titles in the late 1980s. Jeff has been the Blue Devils' hockey team's official scorekeeper for nearly two decades and is the Blue Devils' public address announcer. Jeff was also a member of the Blue Devil varsity golf team.
Blue Devil Hockey Coaching Staff
Terry Watkins Hockey Record
| Year |
Overall |
NCHA |
| 2009-10 |
10-13-4 |
6-8-4 |
| 2008-09 |
23-6-2 |
10-2-2 |
| 2007-08 |
18-9-3 |
7-5-2 |
| 2006-07 |
21-5-2 |
10-3-1 |
| 2005-06 |
15-13-0 |
6-8-0 |
| 2004-05 |
10-13-4 |
2-9-3 |
| 2003-04 |
14-10-3 |
5-7-2 |
| 2002-03 |
6-21-0 |
2-12-0 |
| 2001-02 |
11-15-1 |
4-10-0 |
| 2000-01 |
15-11-1 |
9-5-0 |
1999-2000
|
5-21-1 |
1-12-1 |
| 1998-99 |
9-16-2 |
6-9-1 |
| 1997-98 |
7-19-1 |
3-16-1 |
| 1996-97 |
9-18-0 |
6-14-0 |
| Total |
173-190-24
|
77-120-17
|
(updated, July 2010)