Beaney graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1973, captaining the ice hockey team his senior year. He has been coaching ever since.

"I try to create an atmosphere on a team where players are going to challenge each other to become the best players that they can be," Beaney said. "I'd like to give as much ownership to the program to the players. This has been the secret to my success at Middlebury."

The Lake Placid native has also coached for a number of hockey programs, including the U.S. national women's junior team, where he crossed paths with Crimson superstar A.J. Mleczko '99.

If offered the top hockey job at Harvard, Beaney said he would play a style that was "up-tempo" and "aggressive offensively."

"My style is to look to try and play a real transition-orientated game and allowplayers to be creative," he said.

"There is such a great tradition of hockey atHarvard," Beaney added. "My goal would be tocreate excitement in the rink."

While Harvard athletes compete in the higherprofile Division I, Beaney said his Division IIIsquad is similar to the Harvard program.

"Students come to Middlebury for theacademics," Beaney said.

"Because of that, it has been a rewardingexperience to deal with student-athletes who havea real perspective," he added