“It’s obvious that Harvard is a very special place for me and it has always held a special place in my heart,” Donato said. “I embrace the history and tradition of Harvard hockey and the quality of people that are involved and have been involved with Harvard hockey.”

Unlike Mazzoleni, a Michigan State alum whose coaching experience was limited to Midwestern schools, many of the candidates seeking to replace him had spent time in Cambridge as players, assistants or both.

Ex-assistants Ron Rolston and Nate Leaman were granted interviews, as was current assistant Gene Reilly. Former Crimson captain and Hobey Baker finalist Sean McCann ’94—who is currently also an assistant—sat down with Scalise’s search committee, as did St. Sebastian’s coach and former Harvard skater Steve Dagdigian ’75.

But, unlike Donato, each of those Crimson-affiliated candidates has experience coaching at the college level, with Union head coach Leaman and Maine’s former interim head coach Reilly highlighting the list.

“I think it’ll definitely be a challenge,” Donato said. “I wouldn’t dare underscore the fact that I don’t have previous coaching experience.”

Donato admitted that he has some catching up to do before the season starts, but also made it quite clear that he knows exactly what he is getting into.

Before accepting Harvard’s offer, Donato spoke with friend and Bruins teammate Dave Poulin, who similarly returned to his alma mater, Notre Dame, from the NHL as head coach despite having no prior experience behind the bench. Poulin has had just one winning season since taking over the Fighting Irish in 1995.

And while the defending ECAC champion squad he inherits is far stronger than the sub-.500 club Poulin took on—making a similarly poor start very unlikely—Donato will have at least one prominent alum to turn to for advice: his former coach, Bill Cleary ’56.

“I absolutely look forward to him terrorizing me on certain days,” Donato said.

Irrespective of his direct level of involvement, Cleary’s handiwork figures to be noticeable in his student’s product. Donato expressed the highest respect for his coach as both a strategist and mentor yesterday and said he’d be a “fool” not to pick Cleary’s brain to improve his own coaching.

“If I could model myself on any college hockey coach, [Cleary] would be it,” Donato said. “I think Coach Cleary had a tradition here of highly-skilled, entertaining teams that played hockey the way it was meant to be played, the way it was meant to be watched, and I want to get back to that. I think that was a great recipe for success in a lot of ways.”

While Donato has undoubtedly internalized Cleary’s Olympic style, whether he possesses Cleary’s knack for imparting the game is as yet unclear. According to Welch, though, the question is almost irrelevant.

“I know the big knock is that he’s never coached before,” Welch said. “But, worst case scenario is he can’t communicate that well, so we’ll have him throw his equipment on and just go out and skate. Then we’ll take notes.”

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.

The press conference is available online through Crimson OnAir.