CHAT LIVE With Notre Dame Head Coach Jeff Jackson

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On Tuesday, October 31 at 2:00 p.m. ET, Notre Dame Head Coach Jeff Jackson pays a visit to "Tuesday @ The Rink", presented by CSTV.com and USCHO.com. The Fighting Irish visit Ohio State in a CCHA clash on CSTV Friday, November 3.

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The 2006-07 season marks the second year of the Jeff Jackson era for the Notre Dame hockey program.

The highly respected hockey tactician took over the Irish hockey program on May 6, 2005 as the fourth coach since the program's Division I inception in 1968.

For Jackson, it was a return to his roots - coaching at the collegiate level - where he got his start behind the bench at Lake Superior State. Jackson inherited a team that struggled through a difficult 5-27-6 season in 2004-05 and had lost confidence in itself. The Roseville, Mich., native and his staff went right to work to change the team's attitude and perception.

They made giant strides on and off the ice in their first season directing the team's fortunes. After a slow start, his players began to buy into what the new coach was selling and after starting 3-9-1 over the first 13 games of the year, Notre Dame closed the year with a 10-10-3 record over its final 23 contests. In CCHA play, the Irish showed a 15-point improvement over `04-'05 - going from 3-20-5 to 11-13-4 - good for eighth place in the league and the final home-ice spot in the CCHA playoffs. Only Miami made a bigger jump in `05-'06 with a 16-point improvement.

The Irish played with poise and discipline in Jackson's first year behind the bench. Defense, strong goaltending and a tough-to-stop power play were the three keys to Notre Dame's success. They also laid the foundation for future seasons with major success on the recruiting trail.

Jackson heads into the `06-'07 season with a seven-year collegiate record of 195-70-29 for a .710 winning percentage, the best-winning percentage among all Division I coaches with five years or more in Division I. His 195 career wins ranks him 22nd among active coaches.

Success is nothing new for Jackson on the Division I level. He returned to college hockey after 10 years away. In six years at Lake Superior State, Jackson's teams won two NCAA titles in 1992 and 1994 (also advancing to the finals in 1993), two CCHA regular-season championships (`91 and `96) and four CCHA playoff trophies (`91, `92, `93 and `95). His 1992-93 team also advanced to the NCAA championship game, losing a 5-4 decision to Maine.

In taking over the Irish coaching duties in `05, Jackson became the first Notre Dame head coach to have won an NCAA Division I championship with another program before being hired as an Irish head coach.

The highly regarded Jackson brings over 20 years of coaching experience to the Irish as an assistant and a head coach at the NCAA Division I level, on the international level with the U.S. national program, in major junior hockey and at the National Hockey League level.

A 1978 graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in communications, Jackson followed with a degree in education in 1979. Jackson got his start in college hockey as an assistant coach at Lake Superior State in 1986 where he served four years under Frank Anzalone, helping guide the Lakers to one CCHA championship and the 1988 NCAA title.

During his six years guiding the Lakers, Jackson produced 12 All-Americans (five first team and seven second team) and one Academic All-American. In 1991, he was recognized as the CCHA coach of the year. He is just one of 12 coaches to win multiple NCAA championships (1992 and 1994). From 1993-96, he also served as the Director of Athletics at Lake Superior.

Several of Jackson's players advanced to play in the NHL. The list includes: Doug Weight (New York Rangers/Edmonton/ St. Louis), Brian Rolston (New Jersey/Colorado/Boston), Keith Aldridge (New York Islanders), Blaine Lacher (Boston Bruins), John Grahame (Boston Bruins/Tampa Bay Lightning), Bates Battaglia (Carolina/Colorado/Washington) and Jim Dowd (New Jersey/Vancouver/New York Islanders/Minnesota Wild).

On June 7, 1996, Jackson was named the national coach and senior director of the newly founded U.S. National Team Development program based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In his first season while putting the program in place, he served as the head coach for the United States Junior National Team that captured the silver medal at the 1997 World Junior Championships, at the time, the best finish ever for the U.S. team. Former Irish captain and current Columbus Blue Jacket, Ben Simon, was a member of that squad.

The following year, Jackson served as an assistant coach for Team USA at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. In his four years directing the national program, eight former Notre Dame players came from the developmental program. The list includes: Brett Henning, Michael Chin, Connor Dunlop, Paul Harris, John Wroblewski, Brett Lebda, Neil Komadoski and Rob Globke.

In 2000, Jackson left the U.S. program and took over as coach of the Ontario Hockey League's (OHL) Guelph Storm where he turned a losing franchise around, finishing in second place in his first season with a 34-23-9-2 record. In the 2001-02 season, the Storm went 37-23-7-1 and hosted the Memorial Cup, advancing to the tiebreaker game where they lost to Victoriaville. In two-and-a-half seasons in Guelph, Jackson had an 87-67-24-4 record.

From Guelph, Jackson moved on to the National Hockey League's (NHL) New York Islanders where he served as an assistant on Steve Stirling's staff from 2003-05. In 2003-04, the Islanders finished third in the NHL's Atlantic Division with a 38-29-11-4 record, good for 91 points. The Islanders lost in the first round of the playoffs to eventual Stanley Cup winner, Tampa, four games to one.

Born June 22, 1955, Jackson is a member of the USA Hockey Coaches Achievement Program, the American Hockey Coaches Association and the National Hockey League Coaches Association.