Naurato Named Assistant Coach for US Men's National Team
4/23/2026 1:06:00 PM | Ice Hockey
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- University of Michigan Graham Family Head Men's Ice Hockey Coach Brandon Naurato was named an assistant coach for the U.S. Men's National Team on Thursday (April 23).
A three-time finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award, Naurato has led the Wolverines to three Frozen Four appearances in his first four seasons as head coach. He has also guided Michigan to two Big Ten Tournament titles and owns 98 career wins, the most by any coach in program history through four seasons.
In his tenure, Naurato has coached a Hobey Baker Award winner, two additional Hobey Baker finalists, six All-Americans, 13 All-Big Ten selections, a Derek Hines Award recipient, an NCAA Elite Scholar-Athlete and 12 players who have gone on to make their NHL debuts.
Michigan's power play has ranked in the top 10 nationally in each of the past four seasons under Naurato, including No. 1 finishes in 2024-25 (31.9 percent) and 2023-24 (33.6 percent). The Wolverines have also boasted one of the nation's top offenses, finishing in the top three in three of the last four seasons: first in 2025-26 (4.53 goals per game), second in 2022-23 (4.17) and third in 2023-24 (4.12).
Naurato is the third former Wolverine to coach at the IIHF World Championship, joining Red Berenson, who was an assistant coach for Team Canada in 1982 and Vic Heyliger, who was head coach of West Germany in 1962 and 1963 before becoming head coach of Team USA in 1966.
The IIHF World Championship will be held May 15-31 in Zurich and Fribourg, Switzerland. All Team USA games will be televised live by NHL Network.
Team USA enters the tournament as the defending gold medalist.
