University of Guelph Athletics

In October of 2023, Rachel Flanagan announced she would be taking a one-year leave from her head coaching duties with the Guelph Gryphons while pursuing a coaching opportunity in the PWHL. Despite taking on an assistant coaching role in the PWHL, Flangan will remain involved with the Gryphons women's hockey program in a consultant role throughout the 2023-24 season, with long-time associate coach, Katie Mora, taking over as the team's interim head coach. 

During her first 16 seasons as head coach, Coach Flanagan has taken the Gryphon women's hockey program to new heights, securing the school's first ever national title in 2018-19 while capturing a total of three OUA titles (2018-19, 2016-17 & 2015-16). In the process, Rachel has been named OUA Coach of the Year on five separate occasions while compiling a record (regular season & playoffs combined) of 267-96-21 through her first 15 seasons in charge.

In May of 2019, Rachel was also named the top female coach in the OUA from across all OUA-governed sports, marking the second time in a three-year span she had received the conference-wide honour. In June of 2021, she was recognized by Hockey Canada as the "BFL Female Coach of the Year" for the high-performance category within Ontario. During the summer of 2022, Rachel was named by Hockey Canada as an assistant coach with the women's national development team. It marked the third time in her coaching career in which she had been named as an assistant coach with the women's national development team (2022, 2012 & 2011). 

Rachel took over as head coach of the University of Guelph women's hockey team during the 2007-08 season. She graduated from U of G in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science degree in human kinetics. During her playing career as a Gryphon she earned OUA all-star status while captaining the women’s hockey team for two of her five years. Following graduation, she received her Bachelor of Education at Lakehead University. Rachel is an NCCP High Performance Level 2 coach and has also completed her Masters in Leadership at the University of Guelph’s Lang School of Business and Economics.

Rachel spent two seasons as player/coach for a Div. 1 English Premier Women’s Hockey team as well as playing for the Great Britain Women’s National Team during that time. In the summers of 2010 and 2011, Rachel was named assistant coach with Canada’s National Women’s Under-22 Team and attended 2 International events with the team (MLP Cup 2010, MECO Cup 2011). In 2013 she was an assistant coach for the Gold medal-winning Canadian FISU team (Italy) and in February of 2017 served as Canada's head coach at the FISU games in Kazakhstan, leading the team to a silver medal.

During her tenure as head coach of the Gryphons, she has helped develop three OUA Rookies of the Year, two OUA Players of the Year, one U SPORTS Rookie of the Year, one U SPORTS Player of the Year, 26 conference All-Stars, six U SPORTS All-Canadians, three U SPORTS tournament All-Stars, and two league scoring champions.

Rachel resides in Guelph with her husband, Jeff, and their two boys, Cylus and Cullen.
 

Rachel Flanagan Coaching Awards:

OUA Women's Hockey Coach of the Year:  5  (2018-19, 2016-17, 2015-16, 2013-14, 2012-13)

OUA Female Coach of the Year:  2 (2018-19, 2016-17)

Hockey Canada "BFL Female Coach of the Year" (High-Performance, Ontario): June 2021
 

Gryphons Women's Hockey Championships Under Rachel Flanagan:

OUA Championships:  2018-19, 2016-17, 2015-16

U SPORTS Championships:  2018-19