Jackson’s Chad Kennedy named MAHA Coach of the Year
By @StefanKubus –
After his Jackson Fightin’ Parrots fell to Iron River in the MAHA Bantam B State Championship by a lopsided 8-0 score this past March, head coach Chad Kennedy walked into a dejected locker room with just one thing to say: “Where’s the AC/DC?”
It’s that uplifting optimism and fun-first mentality that saw Kennedy named the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association Coach of the Year during the organization’s Awards Banquet as part of their annual Summer Meeting in Mount Pleasant.
“Best honor I’ve ever had in my life,” Kennedy told MiHockey following the banquet.
In addition to coaching the Fightin’ Parrots, Kennedy also served as an assistant coach on the B&M Tower Pee Wee AA team in Jackson last year and will be taking over as head coach of the Bantam A team for the 2015-16 season.
When his named was announced as the winner, Kennedy immediately motioned to have not only his family – his wife Amanda; sons Bear, Aaron and Kavin; daughter Haley; nephew Brock Fitzpatrick – but even some players he has coached for several years join him up on stage to receive the plaque.
“Everything, everything,” Kennedy said of what it meant to have his players in attendance. “And to have their parents come up here and stay, and the congratulations that I’ve gotten from the whole team… I’ve had ten of these kids for ten years, and I’ve had some for four, some for three.”
That speaks volumes to just how highly the kids, and parents alike, think of Kennedy as a mentor.
After being initially nominated for the honor, 16 out of 17 parents from within the Jackson Area Hockey Association wrote letters to MAHA in support of Kennedy, which blew him away.
“When they called me up on this, honestly, I coach a B team; there’s AAA coaches, there’s coaches way better than me, way better,” Kennedy said. “Why’d they pick me? It’s the parents.
“Bigger than this award, way better, was I got to read the letters from all the parents. Sixteen out of 17 wrote letters to MAHA. You forget stuff that you did, you forget stuff that you were a part of eight, nine, ten years ago. These parents are writing, ‘I remember back when my son did this and coach did this.”
Kennedy also credited his mother Joann; father Ford; parents-in-law Jerry and Sue Fitzpatrick; Paige and Mike Duncan with son Connor Girard whom he coached; Jeff and Tiffany Myers with son Brendan whom he also coached; assistant coach Norm Marsh and his wife Allison; JAHA president Jeff Mazur and JAHA registrar Aimee Fedore for comprising his fortified support group who were on-hand.