Tom Eccleston

Tom Eccleston
Biographical details
Born	1910
Died	December 20, 2000
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1956–1964	Providence
Head coaching record
Overall	94–72–5
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
	1964 ECAC Hockey regular season ; 1964 ECAC Hockey Tournament
Awards
	1964 Spencer Penrose Award; 1988 Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame; Providence Athletic Hall of Fame 2019 RI Hockey Hall of Fame

Thomas E. Eccleston Jr. (1910 – December 20, 2000) was an American ice hockey, football and baseball coach. Eccleston spent most of his career at Burrillville High School in some capacity but was also the head coach for Providence for eight seasons.^[1]

Career

Tom Eccleston graduated from Brown University in 1932, playing four years of soccer, and immediately moved into a teaching position at Burrillville High in Burrillville, Rhode Island.^[2] Initially a history teacher and football coach, Eccleston eventually added the coaching duties of baseball and ice hockey to his responsibilities, winning state championships in all three sports.^[3] For 23 years Eccleston declined all offers to coach at the collegiate level but finally accepted an offer from Providence in 1956 to alleviate issues that had arisen while coaching his sons.^[4]

Eccleston became the fifth head coach at Providence (the second since the program restarted after World War II) and immediately provided the school with its best record in 1956-57 at 11–7.^[5] Eccleston continued to keep the Friars in a strong position for the duration of his tenure, including its transition into ECAC Hockey in the early 1960s, recruiting players like Lou Lamoriello, Bob Bellemore and Larry Kish. In eight seasons behind the bench Eccleston had only one losing season and in 1963-64 gave Providence its first conference title and NCAA tournament appearance. The '64 season was the best in Providence's history to that point and very few have topped it. For the outstanding year Eccleston received the Spencer Penrose Award and then stepped down from his position to devote more attention to being the school superintendent in Burrillville.^[2]

In 1987, after 32 years away, Eccleston returned to Burrillville High to coach the ice hockey team when it was in jeopardy and revived the program.^[4] He was enshrined in the Rhode Island Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Providence Friars Independent (1956–1961)
1956-57	Providence	11-7-0
1957-58	Providence	11-11-0
1958-59	Providence	7-13-1
1959-60	Providence	11-9-0
1960-61	Providence	11-9-0
Providence:		51-49-1
Providence Friars (ECAC Hockey) (1961–1964)
1961-62	Providence	11-8-2	8-7-2	14th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1962-63	Providence	13-8-2	13-4-2	5th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1963-64	Providence	19-7-0	16-3-0	1st	NCAA Consolation (Loss)
Providence:		43-23-4	37-14-4
Total:		94-72-5
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

^[5]

References

^ "Providence Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
^ ^a ^b "Thomas Eccleston, Jr". Brown Bears. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
^ "Current, Former Hockey Friars To Take Part In Two Special Events As Part Of Museum Exhibit". Providence Friars. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
^ ^a ^b "PLAYERS; Still Coaching Hockey at 76". The New York Times. 1987-01-17. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
^ ^a ^b "2012-13 Providence Friars Media Guide". ISSUU.com. Retrieved 2014-07-24.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Tony Frasca	Spencer Penrose Award 1963–64	Succeeded by James Fullerton

[1] "Providence Men's Hockey Team History". USCHO.com. Retrieved 2014-07-24.

[brown-2] "Thomas Eccleston, Jr". Brown Bears. Retrieved 2014-07-24.

[3] "Current, Former Hockey Friars To Take Part In Two Special Events As Part Of Museum Exhibit". Providence Friars. Retrieved 2014-07-24.

[NY-4] "PLAYERS; Still Coaching Hockey at 76". The New York Times. 1987-01-17. Retrieved 2014-07-24.

[media-5] "2012-13 Providence Friars Media Guide". ISSUU.com. Retrieved 2014-07-24.

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[5]

v t e Providence Friars men's ice hockey
Playing venues	Rhode Island Auditorium (1952–1973) Schneider Arena (1973–present)
Head coaches	Joseph T. Landry (1926–1927) John Graham (1926–1927) Clement Trihey (1926–1927) Dick Rondeau (1952–1956) Tom Eccleston (1956–1964) Zellio Toppazzini (1964–1968) Lou Lamoriello (1968–1983) Steve Stirling (1983–1985) Mike McShane (1985–1994) Paul Pooley (1994–2005) Tim Army (2005–2011) Nate Leaman (2011–present)
Seasons	1926–27 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	ECAC Hockey (1961–1984) Hockey East (1984–Present)
Rivalries	Brown
Culture & lore	Mayor's Cup
All-time leaders	Ron Wilson (250 Points) Rob Gaudreau (103 Goals) Hayden Hawkey (72 Wins)
National championships	2015
Frozen Four appearances	1964 1983 1985 2015 2019
NCAA Tournament appearances	1964 1978 1981 1983 1985 1989 1991 1996 2001 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC Hockey: 1964 1981 Hockey East: 1985 1996
Providence College · Providence, RI