From The Providence Journal
By Dave Lavallee
SOUTH KINGSTOWN — How do you measure a college coach’s success? By wins and losses, the number of national championships or players sent to pro leagues?
University of Rhode Island men’s hockey coach Joe Augustine meets the victory standard, with 758 wins, which include overtime and shootout victories, and 373 regulation losses, not including the program’s 81 overtime/shootout losses and ties. Earlier in Augustine’s lengthy career with the club team, there were no overtime sessions or shootouts. Games ended in ties.
The Scituate resident has coached and mentored 514 student-athletes. This year, the Rams are 14-6-2 overall and 9-1 in the Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association. The league’s title winner gets a berth in the club hockey national playoffs.
Other less-tangible measures also mark a successful coach’s career — loyalty and longevity among them. Unlike many big-time college coaches who move from school to school to fatten their wallets, Augustine has logged 36 years with the Rams.
“I am still having fun,” said Augustine, the winningest coach in URI history. “I wouldn’t come to the rink every day if I weren’t [enjoying it]. We’ve come a long way.”
Sophomore Cam Cyr credits Augustine with turning the team into a family, which holds each member accountable. “It comes first from our coach, but then is embedded in the players. We’re also big on academics on this team,” said the Exeter resident.
A taciturn man, Augustine deflects credit for his success to his players, support staff and alumni. He goes out of his way to help players and others linked to URI hockey.
“He checks in with me all of the time about how school is going,” said student team manager Grace Allexon, a sophomore marine biology major. “He made some calls that helped me with some roommate issues that started last year. He is a great guy.”
Chris Porter, a 2016 URI kinesiology graduate and URI hockey alumnus, is in his fourth year as an assistant physical therapist with the Boston Bruins. He earned his doctor of physical therapy degree in 2012 at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.
“I was cut as a freshman,” Porter said. “Even though I didn’t make the team, coach Augustine believed in me and gave me the motivation to improve.”
Augustine did another thing for Porter. He called the junior team, the Cranston Reds, to see if it had room for Porter so he could experience a game with bigger and faster athletes. Porter joined the Reds well into the season, but it was enough to help him make the Rams as a sophomore.
The Rams play at least 40 games a season and practice four times a week. Those who make the team out of the 70 to 80 players who try out each year pay $3,200 in dues and for their own equipment. Returning players aren’t guaranteed spots.
Brad Boss, a URI graduate and honorary degree recipient, is one of Augustine’s most ardent fans. The founder of the Rhody men’s club hockey team in 1951, his freshman year, he was honored when URI named its rink the Bradford R. Boss Arena. His No. 8 jersey was retired in February 2025.
“Joe is a superb human being, and I don’t say that lightly,” Boss said. “He is a great leader who is also exceedingly loyal. He doesn’t want you to tell him how great he is. He is a great family man who cares about people, the sport and the reputation of the URI hockey team.
“I’ve known Joe since his first year with the team, and in my opinion he saved URI hockey,” Boss said. “He changed the team’s attitude and brought a professional approach to the program.”
Boss said that under Augustine, student-athletes better abide by his rules, which include working hard on the ice and in the classroom, being on time, wearing jackets and ties to home and away games as well as representing URI in a positive manner.
“Mr. Boss was one of the major reasons I stayed,” Augustine said. “I don’t know if there is anyone out there who is more committed to URI. He always texts me after games to find out what the score was.”
Although he coaches at the club level, Augustine is a national figure, capturing the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I club national title in 2006 against Penn State, now a Division I varsity program. A two-time ACHA Men’s Division I Coach of The Year, and member of the Boston College and Rhode Island Hockey Halls of Fame, he was the head coach of Team USA at the 2009 World University Games in China.
Augustine built much of URI’s success while working full time for the Coca-Cola Co. He retired 10 years ago.
“When he worked as a merchandiser for Coca-Cola, he started his day at 4 a.m. and finished at 2:30 p.m.,” said his wife, Jewell, a former member of the Ice Capades.
She met Augustine at Lynch Arena in Pawtucket when he was an assistant coach at Tolman High School and she was running a learn-to-skate program.
“After finishing work, Joe went to the [URI] rink. He got home at 7 and went to bed at 9. He is a hard-working guy and dad,” said Jewell Augustine, who has two adult children with Joe. “He had opportunities to move up at Coca-Cola and in hockey, but he wanted to be free for his family, and make sure he had time for the team.”
“It’s an honor to coach at URI,” Augustine said. “The things we have at URI are outstanding. The university is one of our greatest resources and most people don’t know it.”
But hockey players from across the United States and other countries are keenly aware of the URI men’s hockey team’s reputation.
“I came to play hockey for a great coach,” said James Hunt, a freshman goalie from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. “The campus is beautiful and the professors are great. I was looking on the internet for places where I could continue my hockey career. Since last March I have been talking with coach Augustine. I was nervous because I had to try out, but he [Augustine] said you have to have self-confidence.”
The team will resume its slate of home games at 7 p.m. Jan. 23 against New York University at the Boss Arena.
(Originally published at https://www.providencejournal.com/story/sports/college/2025/12/17/meet-joe-augustine-head-coach-of-the-uri-club-mens-hockey-team/87684678007/)
