Photo courtesy UAF Athletics

DelCastillo emotionally resigned, last Thursday, from his position as the head coach of the Nanook hockey team.

UAF hockey coach, Doc DelCastillo announced his resignation from his post on Thursday.

DelCastillo was hired to coach the Nanooks to replace Tavis MacMillan who left UAF last year. DelCastillo’s resignation was effective immediately after the announcement. He will not be returning to work on campus.

DelCastillo provided some comments to The Daily News-miner regarding his decision. They reported, “DelCastillo, in a telephone interview, declined to take any questions about his resignation and he read a prepared statement, a few times fighting back tears.” In the statement, DelCastillo said that his reasons for resigning were family related.

Since his announcement, DelCastillo’s cell phone has been directing callers to his webmail account through UAF. The Sun Star has yet to receive a response from e-mail inquiries.

Forrest Karr, director of athletics at UAF said that DelCastillo’s resignation had nothing to do with the team’s performance this year. Karr said he is pleased with how the hockey team played this year. The Nanooks finished 9-21-5 overall. They placed ninth place in the 12-team CCHA with 8-16-4.

Karr would not comment further on other issues relating to the resignation. He said, “the university does not comment on personnel issues.”

Karr said UAF athletics is currently looking to the future for the hockey team. In the interim, Karr has appointed assistant coach Dallas Ferguson to the head coach position.

Karr said that as soon as news went out that DelCastillo was resigning, he received letters from people interested in the position. During the search for a new coach last summer, Karr said many hockey players weren’t around to evaluate the coaching candidates because the candidates visited during the summer when players weren’t around. Karr hopes that this time around the athletes will have more input to “find the best teacher and mentor that we can.”

Though DelCastillo’s resignation came only a year after he was hired, Karr is confident about the future of UAF hockey. “We have a good staff here in place,” he said.