Staff Directory

Joe Howe

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:

Joe Howe enters his first season on staff with St. Cloud State in 2026-27, and brings more than a decade of coaching experience, including a national championship with Denver and a season as the interim head coach at Yale.

Howe comes to St. Cloud after five seasons at Yale where he served as an assistant coach from 2021-25 before serving as the interim head coach in 2025-26 following the retirement of Keith Allain. With Howe on staff, goaltender Jack Stark earned 2023-24 All-ECAC Rookie Team honors while David Chen was named the 2026 ECAC Hockey Men’s Scholar Athlete of the Year. In total, 97 Bulldogs earned ECAC Hockey All-Academic recognition with the 2025-26 list still to be announced.

While on staff with Yale, Howe was chosen to two USA Hockey coaching staffs, serving as an assistant coach for the 2025 U-18 Men’s Select Team and the 2024 U-17 Men’s Select Team. He helped the Americans capture gold at both events, winning the 2024 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament in Slovakia and the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Czechia, which was Team USA’s first championship at the event since 2003, and only the second in the tournament's history.

Prior to joining Yale, Howe spent three seasons with Alaska (2018-21), where he worked with all three positions as well as the power play for the Nanooks. Before UAF, he spent three seasons with Denver, serving as the team's volunteer assistant coach and goalie coach (2015-17) before being promoted to Director of Operations (2017-18). Howe helped the Pioneers claim the 2017 NCAA Championship after winning the NCHC regular season title. Denver also made it to the 2016 Frozen Four and won the 2018 NCHC Tournament. While working as the goaltender coach for DU, his netminders improved in goals against average, save percentage, games played and wins from the previous seasons. Howe coached Tanner Jaillet, who was the 2017 Mike Richter Award winner, the NCHC Goalie of the Year and a second-team All-American.

Hailing from Plymouth, Minn., Howe was a standout goaltender with Colorado College from 2009-2013. He appeared in 119 career games with the Tigers and is currently ranked third in career saves at CC. Howe was a three-time Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) All-Academic Team selection before graduating with a bachelor's degree in mathematical economics in May 2013. From 2013-15, Howe played professionally in the Central Hockey League (CHL), the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) and the American Hockey League (AHL).