Hall of Fame
Graham Wise was the head coach of the York men’s hockey team for 19 years and guided the program to remarkable success. After serving as an assistant for six years, he took over the reins in 1987 and led the team to two CIAU championships (1988, 1989), two OUAA titles (1988, 2004) and four OUAA silver medals (1989, 1997, 1999, 2003). During his tenure as assistant coach under Dave Chambers, the team won the CIAU championship in 1985 and three OUAA titles (1985-87). He won two OUAA coach of the year awards and one division coach of the year award. He also coached four CIAU all-Canadians and 35 OUAA all-stars. He went on to serve as the head coach of the Ryerson Rams for 10 years, winning another two division OUA coach of the year awards, before announcing his retirement in 2016. He retired as the longest serving men’s hockey head coach in CIS history with more than 35 years behind the bench, including 29 as head coach.
There are few coaches more synonymous with Canadian varsity sport than men’s hockey coach Graham Wise.
The legendary bench boss spent 35 years as a coach of student-athletes, 29 of them at the helm as the head coach. It was a tremendous run that came to an end in 2016 with the announcement of his retirement from Ryerson University, where he had led the Rams for 10 years after 25 with the Yeomen.
“I was an ‘all hockey’ person and so it made sense to go into coaching,” said Wise, whose original plan was to become a physical education teacher. “When I first started, I never imagined it becoming my career. I went year to year and it never felt like a job to me because it was something I loved to do.”
Wise was a talented young hockey player with the Toronto Marlboros and was heavily recruited, ultimately choosing Michigan Tech and playing four years in the NCAA. He graduated with a degree in forestry and then came home and decided to pursue a second degree in kinesiology. Not wanting to completely step away from the game he loved, he went to then York head coach Chris Kostka and asked if he needed an assistant. Six years later, after time spent working under him as well as Bob Hedley and Dave Chambers, Wise was handed the reins of a program coming off its third straight OUAA championship and a national title two years prior.
The coaching change did not slow down the program at all. Wise presided over a team that won two more CIAU championships, two OUAA titles separated by 15 years, and four OUAA silver medals, and he earned two OUAA coach of the year awards and one division coach of the year award.
“There are a few highlights,” Wise says while reflecting on his years with the Yeomen. “The biggest one for me is watching the players I’ve coached go on to their own successes and seeing the directions they take. It means a lot to me to hear from them after they’ve graduated, and there’s a good group of them I am still in touch with regularly. It’s also always nice when your team wins and our championships definitely stand out.”
He credits much of his success to the work of his assistant coaches, most notably Lawrence Smith, who was with him for nearly 15 of his 19 seasons. He also firmly believes his time as a varsity player helped him relate to his athletes after he joined the coaching ranks.
“I think my experience as a varsity athlete helped me as a coach. At the university level there are three areas that players have to balance: family, academics and sport. Having gone through that scenario myself, I had an understanding of what they were balancing and how sometimes struggles in one area could affect another.”
Wise will join his wife, Sue, in the York Sport Hall of Fame. She was inducted in 2015 and earned the honour after a tremendous run as head coach of the track and field teams. They have two sons, both great hockey players in their own right. Brendan spent five seasons with the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks and Jamie played for his father for two years with the Rams before stints in the AHL and ECHL.
Even in retirement, Wise is never very far from a rink. He and Sue bought a century home near Thornbury and he spends his days working on projects there. He still plays hockey 3-4 times a week and admits to watching the OUA standings closely to see how the teams are doing. He doesn’t miss his days behind the bench and has found passion in his new interests, but after more than three decades as part of the action it is unsurprising that he remains deeply connected to the sport that has always been such a big part of his life.
