When Clarkson fans think of the modern era of Clarkson Hockey, many can point to the influence of Bill O’Flaherty on the winning culture he helped create.

Bill O’Flaherty began attending Clarkson in 1967, playing under legendary coach Len Ceglarski for two full seasons and graduating in 1971.  O’Flaherty transitioned immediately to coaching after graduation, taking a position at Clarkson first under Ceglarski, then Hall of Fame Coach,  Jerry York.  O’Flaherty remained as an assistant until York himself left to take over at Bowling Green and O’Flaherty was chosen as his successor.

O’Flaherty had immediate and consistent success with the Golden Knights, winning 21 games in his first season (1979–80) and continuing that trend for his entire time behind the bench at Walker Arena. In his second and third seasons, O’Flaherty got Clarkson 26-wins, which provided the team with their only 2 back-to-back ECAC Hockey regular season titles in school history and got them to their first NCAA tournament in over a decade.

In six seasons behind the bench, O’Flaherty achieved five 20-win seasons,  with a record of 134-59-12 (.683 winning percentage),  3 NCAA tournament berths, and 2 conference regular season titles. Billy O was selected as Spencer Penrose Award recipient as National Coach of the Year in 1981. His .683 winning percentage lands him 8th best all-time among NCAA Div. I coaches.

He coached several NHL’ers, when the path to the NHL was still difficult for college players, including Clarkson’s first Stanley Cup Champion, Colin Paterson.  Nine Golden Knights would achieve All-American status under Coach O’Flaherty.  In the ECAC, which included BU, BC, Northeastern, UNH among others at the time, O’Flaherty would coach two players named ECAC Player of the Year (Ed Small 1981 & Steve Cruickshank 1982), Rookie of the Year Don Sylvestri, and Dave Fretz, who was named to the ECAC Top 50 players of all time.  O’Flaherty was named ECAC Coach of the Year in 1981,

After his coaching career, O’Flaherty became Clarkson Athletic Director and held the post for more than a decade, where he would oversee the continued success of the Hockey program and the growth of sports offerings during his time.

Bill moved to the NHL to serve as Director of Player Personnel for the LA Kings. With Dave Taylor as the GM of LA Kings, they helped build the framework for what would become 2 Stanley Cup teams in the 2000’s.

O’Flaherty’s eye for the details of the game would lead him to stay in the game at the highest level as a scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Director of Pro Scouting for Florida Panthers until 2010.

Bill is the son of former NHLer John “Peanuts” O’Flaherty who spent most of his career in the minor leagues for the Pittsburgh Hornets. Bill’s brother Gerry O’Flaherty was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1970 and spent parts of 8 seasons in the NHL as a player, eventually winning 3 Stanley Cups as a scout.