KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The American Hockey Coaches Association announced Pat Ferschweiler as the 2025 Spencer Penrose Award winner this afternoon. The award is given annually to the Division I Men's Hockey Coach of the Year. 

Ferschweiler is the first Bronco head coach to win the award and comes after he was recognized as the College Hockey News Coach of the Year last week. The Broncos have an NCAA leading and program record 32 wins this season. 

Along with those wins, Ferschweiler has helped lead the Brown and Gold to various program firsts this season. WMU won its first regular season conference championship in program history, while also claiming the school's first ever NCHC Frozen Faceoff title. The Broncos are just the second team in NCHC history to win the regular season and tournament championships in the same season. 

The Rochester, Minn. native has carried that success into the NCAA Tournament, as Western Michigan is making a program record fourth straight appearance. Ferschweiler and the Broncos won the Fargo Regional and advanced to the Frozen Four for the first time in program history. 

Prior to this season, WMU had one NCAA Tournament win in program history. Ferschweiler has been the coach for all three of the Broncos' NCAA Tournament victories. He was aided by Associate Head Coach Jason Herter and Assistant Coaches J.J. Crew and Jared Brown this season. 

The Brown and Gold will square off with Denver on Thursday night at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Mo. Western Michigan is 2-1-0 against the Pioneers this season, with all three games being decided by one goal. Puck drop for the national semifinal matchup is set for 5 PM ET/4 PM CT.