Union men's hockey's Josh Hauge on contract extension: "It was an easy decision"

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- When Union College men's hockey head coach Josh Hauge was presented with a contract extension, the decision to stay in the Capital Region was an easy one.

"My kids love their sports teams, their schools; my wife is really comfortable, and every day when I'm driving into work, I'm really grateful," said Hauge. "When it (the contract) was put in front us us, obviously, you want to talk about it as a family. But it was...pretty easy to come to a conclusion."

Union announced Thursday Hauge signed an extension that will keep him on as head coach through the 2028-'29 season. Hauge has a 30-37-5 record in his two seasons at the helm thus far, but the Garnet Chargers are coming off a sixth-place finish in the Eastern College Athletic Conference - their highest finish since 2018.

Union has also earned home ice in the opening round of the last two conference tournaments. And maybe just as important - Hauge is 2-0 in the Mayor's Cup against RPI.

Hauge expressed Friday morning his disappointment in the team's loss to Dartmouth in the quarterfinals of last season's ECAC Tournament. But overall, he expects the program to continue trending upward.

"I'm really excited about the step we're going to take this next year," said Hauge. "I mean, a core group of our team are juniors. We're going to have 12 this season. So, you know, we're expecting those guys to take a big step for us. And just overall...we're really excited about where we're headed."

Recruiting is a major priority for Hauge and his vision to continue building up the program over the next few years. He believes this long-term deal will help with that process.

"The whole landscape of college hockey is really changing, and just college athletics in general. So, it's really important for us to show our commitment to them. They know now that I'm going to be here for, you know, the next five years. It's [about] retaining our recruits and just keep building. It's a scary world with the transfer portal, NIL and all these things that are going on in college athletics. But at the same point, like, we got to show our commitment to the players every single day and how much we value them as people."

We're just under 100 days until the start of the college hockey season. Union opens up the 2024-'25 campaign with Providence on Oct. 5.