Mike Kemp jumped into retirement with the same energy and enthusiasm he possessed while starting the UNO hockey program in 1996. First, though, he had some final matters to attend to before wrapping up his 48-year career in college athletics as a coach and administrator, including 27 years at UNO. Then, it was off to the family cabin in Wisconsin.

“I’m enjoying retirement,” Kemp said just a couple of weeks after his last official day on the job, May 31. “But I won’t be too far separated from UNO.”

Kemp will be serving in an ex-officio role as a special advisor to Adrian Dowell, who was named vice chancellor/director of athletics in November 2021.

He received an early “going away” gift when UNO announced last April the Baxter Arena ice rink will be named ‘Kemp Ice,’ which will be located around the center ice circle. Omaha Athletics plans to officially dedicate the naming and celebrate Kemp’s 27 years of leadership during the first home series of the 2024-25 hockey season.

The landscape of Omaha Athletics changed dramatically with hockey becoming the university’s first NCAA Division I sport. But it didn’t come without multiple meetings led by then-athletic director Don Leahy. Once given the green light by the NU Board of Regents to start a hockey program, the search began for a coach.

Kemp clearly recalls the interview process, knowing he might be a long-shot candidate. At the time, he was in his 14th season as an assistant coach at Wisconsin. He knew Omaha quite well from recruiting Omaha Lancers players and before that as coach of UNO’s club hockey team in 1975-76. At the time, there was talk of adding hockey as another sport, but the discussion faded due to a belief that it wouldn’t be feasible.

Fast-forward to 1996 when Kemp learned of the opening at UNO while attending the annual hockey coaches convention and decided to apply.

“I gave Don Leahy a call the first week of June and asked him some questions,” Kemp remembered. “He assured me that they were moving forward. I asked him if I was too late, and he said to go ahead and apply. I know I was the last person to interview.”

Kemp came into that interview extremely well-prepared. Years later, Leahy recounted the interview process, saying Kemp’s presentation “was flawless.” He was announced as the first Omaha Hockey coach on June 28, 1996.

The hockey program got the blessing of Connie Claussen, UNO’s first coordinator of women’s athletics, after getting the assurance that four women’s sports would be created (swimming and diving, soccer, golf and tennis) to put the university in compliance with Title IX regulations.

“We had to do a lot of work to put things together, figure out costs and how much money we would need,” she remembered. “The money would have to come from hockey.”

Kemp reflects with affection on his relationship with Claussen, who continues to serve as athletic director emerita.

“Connie Claussen served an incredibly important role during my time there,” Kemp said. “She was a voice of reason and a voice of real sense. She and Don were such a good team working together.”

Claussen quickly became a fan of Maverick Hockey and its first coach.

“Mike was always very supportive of women’s athletics,” Claussen said. “I’m excited that he can still help UNO. I will miss him very much.”

Under Kemp’s 12 years at the helm, Omaha Hockey compiled a 171-181-54 record. He took the Mavs to their first NCAA tournament in 2006, and three of his teams posted 20 or more wins.

After the 2008-09 season, newly hired athletic director Trev Alberts asked Kemp to step down as head coach and assume the role as associate athletic director. Kemp said he doesn’t regret accepting the offer.

“I was given the option to coach the last year of my contract or stay on,” he said. “At the time I was actually thinking about not coaching anymore anyway. In the long run, looking back at a career, it was an opportunity, and I thank Trev for that. It really gave me a new experience that I wouldn’t otherwise have had.”

When Alberts left UNO to become the athletic director at UNL in 2021, Dowell was hired as his replacement and quickly relied on Kemp to tutor him about Maverick hockey.

“We need hockey to be successful,” Dowell said shortly after settling in at UNO. “It’s not only good for the hockey program, it’s good for the entire athletic department. Having coach Kemp side by side – not just hockey-wise but the knowledge he has institutional-wise as well – he’s been the way everyone would expect Mike Kemp to be.”

Kemp takes pride in the post-hockey accomplishments of many players he coached. High among them is Mike Gabinet who is preparing to enter his eighth season as UNO’s head coach. The Canada native was coached by Kemp from 2000 to 2004 and considers him a second father.

“The way he conducted himself you could tell he was a caring person, an honest person,” Gabinet said. “You could tell he was always prepared and always organized. He ran the team with a high level of professionalism that we all appreciated and respected.”

Kemp also beams over the academic successes achieved by the players he mentored.

“The need to prepare for life after hockey is critical,” he said. “That was a focus of ours from the first day.”

In many Division I hockey programs, athletes arrive from other states and countries and leave once their athletic careers end. Kemp is pleased that many of his former players chose to stay in Omaha.

“That’s the one thing I’m most proud of,” he said. “When we started the program, everybody was coming from somewhere else. Some of those players who played in Omaha and stayed in Omaha are giving back to the community.”

One is David Brisson (1999-2003). Today, he serves as past chair of the UNO Alumni Association Board of Directors and as president of the Omaha Hockey Hall of Fame Foundation. In 2017-18, he also served as volunteer assistant coach for the Omaha Hockey team.

“Mike always preached on the importance of getting involved in the community,” Brisson said. “Through a community event put together by the Blue Line Club (UNO’s hockey booster organization), I ended up meeting my mentor. To this day, in my own ways, I continue to stay involved in the community and find ways to give back.”

Once Kemp returns from summer vacation, don’t be surprised to see him on the local golf courses with some of his former players – and, of course, at Maverick hockey games.