WATERBURY, Conn. -- With the return of fall sports about two months away and the ice hockey season kicking off in about three months, Post University Women's Ice Hockey has a new coach at the helm of the program as Pat Bingham was named the third Head Coach in program history this week. Bingham's arrival comes after the departure of Head Coach Gretchen Silverman following the end of her second season with the Eagles during the 2023-24 athletic year.
Speaking on taking over the role, Bingham said, "I am incredibly excited and grateful to accept the position as the head coach of the Division I Women's Ice Hockey team at Post University. The wonderful people at Post have been so welcoming and I am honored to join such a passionate group of players and an outstanding athletic department. I want to give a special thanks to AJ McNamara for his exceptional leadership, passion for the women's team, and dedication to the school. Together, we will strive for excellence on and off the ice, and I cannot wait to get started!"
Coming to the East Coast is familiar territory for Bingham who has a plethora of experience at the professional hockey level both as a player and a coach. Bingham's playing days began back in 1985 with the Kamloop Blazers of the Western Hockey League before bouncing to the New Westminster Bruins for a couple seasons and back to the Blazers for one more in 1988. During the 1989-90 season, Bingham split time with the Nashville Knights of the East Coast Hockey League and American Hockey League's Binghamton Whalers who were the Hartford Whalers affiliate at the time.
From 1990-92, Bingham would play in the ECHL for the Nashville Knights, Hampton Roads Admirals, and Richmond Renegades along with a brief stint in the Central Ontario Hockey League's Brantford Smoke. The Vancouver native closed out his playing days with the Lakeland Ice Warriors, Jacksonville Bullets, and Lakeland Prowlers all of the Sunshine Hockey League until 1996. In all, Bingham appeared in 532 games, scoring 115 goals and adding 206 assists as a defenseman.
Two years following the end of his playing career, Bingham began to climb the coaching ranks as he started as the Southern Hockey League's Huntsville Channel Cats' Assistant Coach before being named the Head Coach and General Manager a year later, a role he would hold for one season in which his team went 37-27-6 overall before falling in the first round of the playoffs to the Columbus Cottonmouths in five games. From there, Bingham joined the Asheville Smoke in the United Hockey League as their Head Coach and General Manager for a season where he went 45-22-7 to capture their only division title in team history.
From 2001-05, Bingham went from the Assistant Coach of the Wheeling Nailers to the Head Coach of the Adirondack Ice Hawks in the UHL where he went 44-28-0-4 to help the team to their fourth straight playoff appearance, and then back to the Nailers as their Head Coach for two seasons. In his first season with the Nailers, Bingham was named the ECHL Coach of the Year after his team went 51-17-4 and earned a First Round Playoff Bye. The following season would bring about a 38-29-5 record for the Nailers under his guidance before the next stop on his journey with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the AHL.
While Bingham would only spend a season as the Assistant Coach of the Sound Tigers before a year at the CHL Fort Wayne Komet's Head Coach where he had another 50-win season, he would return to Bridgeport after that year-long stint in Fort Wayne for the next four years in Connecticut. Primarily serving as the Assistant Coach, Bingham would take over the Head Coach position after they started the 2010-11 season with a 6-9-0 record and pieced together a 24-30-4-7 campaign while working with 63 players throughout the season.
That role allowed Bingham to make the leap back to Head Coach again with the Elmira Jackals in the ECHL where he led them to a 45-22-5 record to win the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference's top seed before falling in the Conference Semifinals. Since then, Bingham has been the President and Hockey Director of the Colorado Rampage and as a coach has led the Rampage to nine Colorado State Championships and four Rocky Mountain District Championships while producing 25 professional hockey players, 77 NCAA players, and over 110 Tier 1 and Tier 2 Junior players as of this year.
Across his seven seasons as the head coach of professional hockey organizations, Bingham has amassed a 335-196-48 record, good for a .620 winning percentage.
