Nightingale's Brother, Former Spartan Earns Major Pro Award
Winning coaching awards must run in the blood of the Nightingale family as former Michigan State Spartan skater and current head coach of the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays, Jared Nightingale, earned the league's Coach of the Year Award for the job he did in his first season with the team.
Stingrays Head Coach Jared Nightingale is the 2024-25 recipient of the John Brophy Award as the @ECHL Coach of the Year! Congratulations, Coach!
— xyz - South Carolina Stingrays (@SCStingrays) April 16, 2025
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🎟️ https://t.co/tZ8OBYwox9 pic.twitter.com/voEDfbbpDS
Before signing on as head coach for the Stingrays, affiliate of the Washington Capitals, Nightingale spent the past three seasons as an assistant with the AHL's Rockford IceHogs. He would be named the 12th head coach in Stingray history, exceeding their point total by 24 in just one year.
In his first season at the helm of an ECHL program, he helped tab South Carolina as the 2025 Brabham Cup Champions, given to the best record in the league at 52-15 with just three overtime losses. No other coach was more deserving than Nightingale was in his debut year.
The club missed the playoffs last season with a 39-26 record. Nightingale's efforts have directly turned the organization around and he will likely be a minor league head coach for years to come. His group enters the Kelly Cup playoffs, starting Friday night.
Jared is the younger brother of current Spartans head coach, Adam Nightingale, the recipient of this past year's Big Ten Coach of the Year award. The pair of brothers earned their respective coaching awards this past year, making the Nightingale last name a household one on multiple levels of hockey.
Jared Nightingale was a four-year Spartan defenseman, skating for the team from 2002-06. He earned 23 total points with just two goals in 156 games played, helping Michigan State to a CCHA tournament title in his senior season.
Jared's professional playing spanned from 2005 to 2018, going undrafted and playing for 14 different minor league teams. He failed to ever make an NHL roster, but was a journeyman throughout the ECHL and AHL circuits.
The Jackson, Michigan native is just 42 years old and is already making a strong name for himself as a head coach, likely to return for another season with the Stingrays. His rise may be quick; expect him to be at the helm of an NHL franchise at some point in his career.
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