Kris Mayotte enters his fifth season at Colorado College in 2025-26 after being named the 15th head coach in the history of the hockey program on April 7, 2021.
In just four seasons, Mayotte has instilled confidence and a championship culture back into the storied Tiger program.
In 2023-24, Mayotte guided the Tigers to their best season in over a decade, producing a 21-13-3 record, the most wins in one season since the 2010-11 campaign.
CC tied for third place in the NCHC standings, hosted its first playoff series since 2012 and completed a four-game season sweep of North Dakota for the first time in program history.
In addition to sophomores Kaidan Mbereko and Noah Laba earning first- and second-team All-America honors, respectively, Mayotte was named the NCHC Coach of the Year and a finalist for the Spencer Penrose National Coach of the Year award.
Mbereko, who was one of three finalists for the Mike Richter Award as the nation’s top goalie, was unanimously selected as the NCHC Goaltender of the Year, while Laba was the league’s Defensive Forward of the Year.
The Tigers entered the national Top 20 polls in December for the first time in 11 years and remained ranked for the rest of the season. CC posted a season-high ranking of No. 10 in February, finished the season ranked No. 15 and led the nation in faceoff winning percentage at 55.7 percent.
Mayotte guided CC to an 18-18-1 record in '24-25 and had the Tigers in the national polls for most of the season, including a season-high ranking of No. 7. Colorado College finished sixth in the NCHC, sophomore defenseman Max Burkholder was a second-team all-NCHC selection and the team finished third in the nation in faceoff percentage at 54.5%.
The momentum for the impressive ’23-24 campaign started at the end of the previous season when Mayotte led the Tigers to their first-ever appearance in the NCHC Championship Game after defeating 3rd-ranked Denver, 1-0, in the semifinal. The weekend prior, CC posted its first postseason road sweep in program history, defeating 7th-ranked Western Michigan, 3-1 and 3-2(ot), in the first round of the NCHC playoffs.
Mayotte has solidified his reputation as a top recruiter with three outstanding classes. In addition to Mbereko and Laba, a fourth-round selection of the New York Rangers in the 2022 NHL Draft, the 2023 incoming class included a pair of NHL Draft picks; Klavs Veinbergs, a seventh-round selection of the Tampa Bay Lightning in '22, and Zaccharya Wisdom, a seventh-round pick of the Seattle Kraken in '23.
Last year’s incoming class included six draft picks, including three transfers; Brady Cleveland (Univ. of Wisconsin), a second-round pick by Detroit in 2023, Ty Gallagher (Boston Univ.), selected in the seventh round by Boston in 2021 and Chase McLane (Penn State), a seventh-round selection by Nashville in 2020. Incoming freshmen Owen Beckner (Ottawa) and Carsen Musser (Utah) were selected in 2023 and Fisher Scott (Detroit) in 2024.
In his first season in Colorado Springs, Mayotte led the Tigers to several convincing victories, including a 5-3 road win over 10th-ranked Boston College and CC’s first four-game season sweep of an opponent (Miami) since the 2007-08 campaign.
In addition, Colorado College improved its team offense from 1.57 goals per game in 2020-21 to 2.19 in 2021-22, and the power play from 5.6 percent to 16.8 percent in Mayotte’s inaugural season.
Mayotte brought a wealth of success as one of the top assistant coaches and recruiters in the nation to Colorado Springs. Throughout his 10 years as a Division I assistant and associate head coach, he helped his teams to an NCAA National Championship in 2015, two Frozen Fours and seven NCAA Tournament appearances. In addition, Mayotte won a pair of gold medals and a bronze in three stints as an assistant coach with Team USA at the World Junior Championships.
Prior to taking over the CC program, Mayotte spent two seasons at the University of Michigan with head coach Mel Pearson after five years under Nate Leaman at Providence College. During that time, he recruited six players that became All-Americans and prepared several from both schools for the National Hockey League.
In 2020-21, Michigan ranked No. 3 in the nation allowing just 1.96 goals per game and ninth scoring 3.5 goals per contest. The Wolverines completed the 2019-20 campaign ranked seventh in the nation allowing just 2.00 goals per game, while netminder Strauss Mann was named the Big Ten Goaltender of the Year and a finalist for the Mike Richter Award.
Some of Mayotte's main responsibilities upon his arrival in Ann Arbor were goaltending and the penalty kill. In his first season with the Wolverines, they tied for third in the country in save percentage and 15th in penalty-kill percentage.
Mayotte served as an assistant coach under Leaman on the gold-medal winning U.S. National Junior Team at the 2021 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Canada. Mayotte, who also helped the U.S. win gold in 2017 and bronze in 2018, was also on Team USA’s bench for the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championships this past August.
From 2014-19, Mayotte spent five seasons with Leaman at Providence College and was elevated to associate head coach in 2017. A member of the 2015 NCAA National Championship coaching staff, Mayotte led the Friar goaltenders as well as the penalty-kill unit, while handling all aspects of many nationally-ranked recruiting classes. Providence earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament each of his five years at the school.
Under his guidance, Friar goaltenders and penalty-kill units ranked among the nation's best each of his last three seasons. In '18-19, the Friars finished tied for sixth in the nation for fewest goals against per game (2.00) while its penalty-kill unit ranked fourth (87 percent).
Mayotte spent two seasons (2012-13 and 2013-14) as an assistant coach at St. Lawrence University under head coach Greg Carvel, serving as the primary recruiter and working with the goaltenders and penalty-kill unit during his time with the Saints. He also was a volunteer assistant coach at Cornell University under Mike Schafer (2011-12).
As a collegian, Mayotte was Union College's starting goaltender from 2002-06. His final three seasons coincided with the first three seasons of Leaman's tenure as Union's head coach. Mayotte finished his college career with 116 games played and a 2.69 goals-against average while earning ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team (2003) and ECAC Second All-Star Team (2006) honors.
After graduation, Mayotte spent four seasons playing professionally, which included American Hockey League stints with Lowell, Hershey, Bridgeport and Adirondack. He also played in the East Coast Hockey League for San Diego, Fresno and Johnstown and in the Central Hockey League for Arizona.
Mayotte and his wife, Juli, are natives of Pittsburgh, Pa., and the proud parents of a son, Locke, who was born in April of 2022, and a daughter, Madden, who was born October 2, 2024.
