Nottingham Panthers have announced Dundee Stars Head Coach Omar Pacha in a newly created Chief Executive Officer position at the Motorpoint Arena, Pacha will be responsible for the on and off ice activities for the club from pre-season onwards.
The Panthers have struggled since parting ways with previous Head Coach Tim Wallace in January and failed to make the playoff finals weekend finishing fourth in the Elite League before being knocked out by Guildford Flames in the last eight of the playoffs. Only on Monday did Nottingham part with Director of Hockey Gui Doucet but this announcement is a positive one as the side look to bounce back from a season of underwhelming substance from their players.
35-year-old Pacha joins having been both General Manager and Head Coach at Dundee, who themselves did make the finals weekend in Nottingham only to be beaten by Belfast Giants for six in the semi’s before losing an entertaining third placed playoff with the Flames.
Quebec born Pacha has been involved in the Elite League since 2014 where he became player coach at Hull Stingrays before fulfilling the same role at Manchester Storm. In 2018 he moved to Dundee to become General Manager/Head Coach and has led the side to improvements year on year in the division.
On joining the Panthers, Pacha stated “the time felt right” and the attraction in leaving Dundee was “the prospect of working in a bigger arena, with one of the most prestigious clubs in UK hockey and a team that has great potential in Europe as well”.
Pacha stated the biggest sway for joining Nottingham “It came down to behind the scenes and operating, building a new club, which was the main attraction, I’m excited to come in, to learn about the club and to implement some things I would like to see moving forward”.
On discussing the potential role of Pacha in Nottingham, he stated “I would like to build and create our own identity and to make sure we have hard working and passionate people that are willing to drive the club.
“I’ll be responsible for the hockey in some ways, in hiring the coach, and that coach will be the driver, and I guess I can challenge him to see if who’s the right guys we need for our club, for our organisation, for our ethos, but for 24 hours, 7 days a week, recruiting is more going to be on the Head Coach”.
*Main image @BritIceHockey Omar Pacha joins Nottingham Panthers as CEO.
