Tennessee’s Nashville (AP) — By appointing Duanté Abercrombie as head coach of the Tigers, Tennessee State has made the largest move yet toward becoming the first historically Black institution or university to offer ice hockey.
The hire was announced on Thursday by Mikki Allen, the athletic director, and President Glenda Glover. The HBCU first made its plans known in June 2023 during the NHL draft in Nashville, with the goal of fielding Division I men’s and women’s teams after starting play at the club level this year.
“I am convinced that at some point in time, TSU will be acknowledged not only as a dominant force in hockey but also as a program whose student-athletes enrich the world with the knowledge they acquire here,” Abercrombie said in a release.
He is the first participant in the NHL Coaches’ Association’s BIPOC Coaches Program, which offers possibilities for professional progression and assists coaches of color in strengthening their leadership, communication, networking, and skill-building.
Abercrombie worked on the coaching staffs of the Maple Leafs, the team’s AHL and ECHL affiliates, during the 2022–2023 NHL season when he was with Toronto. Along with players on the ice, he collaborated with video coaches to create scouting and player analysis packages.
In 2023, he served as a guest coach with the Sharks during their training camp in San Jose as part of the NHL’s BIPOC project. He served as a coaching intern in Arizona in 2021 and as a member of Boston’s scouting mentorship program in 2021–2022.
At the Townshend Hockey School, which is directed by Graeme Townshend, the first player from Jamaica to be in the NHL, the native of Washington, D.C., has been a senior teacher working with prospects from the NCAA and the NHL.
Abercrombie co-founded and served as the head teacher of the Rising Stars Academy, which is for players of color, and he was also a founding member of the Black Hockey Committee of the Washington Capitals.
“We are excited to welcome our first-ever head coach in hockey today, which is a historic moment for Tennessee State University Athletics and a major step toward our program launch,” Allen said.
In 2019, Abercrombie joined the Division III Stevenson men’s hockey coaching staff, making him one of just four Black coaches in the NCAA. Before an accident cut short his track career, he competed as a sprinter for Hampton University. Following Hampton, he played for a few seasons with the Steele City Warriors and the Brewster Bulldogs in the Federal Hockey League and the New Zealand Ice Hockey League.