CAREER HONORS
• Hockey East Coach of the Year (2022)
• Hockey East Co-Coach of the Year (2014)
• New England Division I Women's Coach of the Year (2014, 2017)
Jim Plumer enters his 14th season as head coach at Vermont in 2025-26. Hired before the 2012-13 season, Plumer became the fourth head coach in program history.
Plumer's Catamount teams have produced two Patty Kazmaier Finalists (Top Player in Country), two All-Americans, two Hockey East Players of the Year, two Hockey East Rookies of the Year, and more than 30 All-Conference Hockey East Selections. He has had numerous players represent their countries in the Olympics and the IIHF World Championships, and has seen several of his players go on and play professionally.
Under Plumer's guidance, the Catamounts secured their second consecutive 20+ win season during the 2022-23 campaign, finishing with a 22-11-3 overall record, tying the most wins in program history, and a 16-8-3 record in Hockey East regular season play. The record was good for a second-place finish in Hockey East, tying the program's best-ever finish in Hockey East play.
Plumer and the Catamounts reached new heights during the 2021-22 season. Plumer was named Hockey East Coach of the Year by a unanimous vote of his peers, leading the Vermont Catamounts to a 22-11-3 overall record, the most wins in program history, and a 18-7-2 mark in Hockey East regular season play. The mark was good for a second-place finish in Hockey East which was the best-ever finish for Vermont in Hockey East play, and doubled the most-ever league wins for the Catamounts. The Catamounts allowed just 693 shots against at even strength, second-fewest of any team in Hockey East. His team’s 18.5% power-play conversion rate was also second in the league, while Vermont claimed the best penalty kill in the conference at 91.8%, good for third nationally, and the most shorthanded goals with four.
Theresa Schafzahl and Maude Poulin-Labelle became the first Catamounts in program history to be named Division I All-Americans following UVM's record-breaking season. Schafzahl was also first player in program history to receive the Cammi Granato Award as Hockey East Player of the Year. Schafzahl was also crowned the Hockey East Scoring Champion and PNC Bank Three Stars Award Winner. She was also named to the Patty Kazmaier Top-10 a program first.
During the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 campaign UVM was 6-4-0 in the regular season and earned the right to host a Hockey East Quarterfinal for the second time in program history.
The Catamounts started the 2019-20 campaign with a four-game unbeaten run including the program's first-ever win against St. Lawrence. Vermont lost just twice in its first 12 contests and rode that momentum to a program-record eighth straight Hockey East playoff berth. Sophomore defenseman Maude Poulin-Labelle became the sixth Catamount in program history to be named an Hockey East All-Star. She set the single-season record for most points by a UVM defenseman with 29 in 36 games, and matched the single-season record for most goals (12).
On January 12, 2018 he became the all-time winningest coach in program history notching his 71st career win with a landmark win at Minnesota. The Catamounts defeated the fifth-ranked Golden Gophers 4-2 earning the program's first-ever win over the seven-time NCAA Champions.
The Catamounts continued to make strides nationally in the 2016-17 campaign. UVM received votes in the national polls throughout 2016-17 and earned wins over three ranked opponents, a program record. The team advanced to the Hockey East Semifinals for the second time and, in the process, saw Madison Litchfield (All-Star), Ève-Audrey Picard (All-Rookie Team) and Taylor Willard (All-Star) collect Hockey East postseason honors. Litchfield and Willard collected similar accolades from the New England Hockey Writers Association
and Plumer was named Women's Division I Coach of the Year by the organization.
In 2014-15, Vermont defeated two ranked opponents and received votes in the national polls for the first time in program history. UVM won a program record nine non-conference games led by their power play which converted 28 times, another record for the Catamounts.
During the 2013-14 campaign, Plumer led the Catamounts to a fourth-place finish in Hockey East with a program-best 18 wins. The team's record-breaking campaign marked an NCAA-best 10-win improvement over the previous year. The Catamounts won their first ever Division I playoff game and made the program's first Hockey East Semifinal appearance. A program-record four Catamounts were named Hockey East All-Stars, while Roxanne Douville and Amanda Pelkey were also named to the Women's Division I New England All-Star Team.
In his first season with the Catamounts, Plumer led the team to their first-ever Division I playoff appearance as they set a team record with 16 points in Hockey East play. The team also set a program record scoring 71 goals in Plumer's inaugural year.
Under Plumer's tutelage, goaltender Roxanne Douville became the first Catamount to be named a Hockey East First Team All-Star. She made 30 or more saves 15 times in 2012-13.
Plumer came to Vermont after nine years as the head coach at Amherst College (Massachusetts). During his tenure, Plumer captured the most wins in program history and molded Amherst into a national powerhouse, winning the 2009 and 2010 NCAA Championship titles to become the first program in school history to win multiple national championships.
After posting back-to-back 20-win seasons and qualifying for a pair of NCAA Tournaments, Plumer was named the AHCA National Coach of the Year for leading the Lord Jeffs to the 2009 Division III NCAA National Title and a 24-5-0 record. The Lord Jeffs also went 16-0 in NESCAC play and earned the program's first ever No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and a No. 1 ranking in the USCHO national poll.
The 2009-10 season was equally impressive, as the Lord Jeffs extended their unbeaten streak in regular season NESCAC play to 53 games (45-0-8), which began in 2006. Amherst used Division III's top scoring defense to post a 23-2-4 record (12-1-3 NESCAC), win a third conference title in four years and repeated as Division III National Champions.
With five 20-win seasons, including four straight seasons, and a 19-6-2 overall mark in 2010-11, Plumer's Amherst squads posted an impressive 127-30-14 record over his final six seasons and advanced to the NCAA Tournament five times in six years.
Prior to arriving at Amherst, Plumer spent three seasons as an assistant at NESCAC rival Bowdoin College. Plumer helped coach the Polar Bears to a 62-12-7 record, a pair of NCAA Final Four appearances, the 2002-03 regular season conference title and the 2001-02 NESCAC Tournament championship.
Plumer, a Master Level coach with USA Hockey, has worked and continues to coach at a variety of high-level camps and showcases, including USA Hockey National Development Camps, the Rinksport College Prep Program at Babson College, the NAHA Showcase (Burlington/Jay, Vermont), and NAHA Camps (Stowe/Jay, Vermont). Plumer also has served as President of the American Women's Hockey Coaches Association.
Plumer gained his first coaching experience as a student-assistant at his alma mater, Colby College, where he graduated in 1983 with a degree in psychology. He went on to coach girls' hockey and co-ed track at North Yarmouth Academy before joining the Bowdoin program.