MASON

Michigan State hockey coach Ron Mason is shown in East Lansing, Mich.,March 7, 2001.

(AP Photo/Al Goldis)

EAST LANSING -- Ron Mason, who won a national championship for Michigan State and retired as the winningest coach in college hockey history, has passed away, the school confirmed Monday. He was 76.

Mason coached college hockey for 36 years, including 23 as the head coach of the Spartans. His 924 victories upon his retirement in 2002 stood then as the most of any coach in the sport's history -- a mark that was surpassed by Boston College coach Jerry York in 2012.

Before coming to Michigan State in 1979, the Blyth, Ontario native coached at Lake Superior State and Bowling Green. Mason's time in East Lansing included a national championship, in 1986, 17 CCHA regular season and tournament titles and 19 NCAA tournament appearances.

His players included two Hobey Baker Award winners, in Kip Miller and Ryan Miller, plus 35 All-Americans and 50 future NHL players.

"I think the one thing I look back on is the consistency that we were able to maintain over all those years," Mason told the school's web site when he was inducted into the MSU hall of fame in 2010. "Always being in the championship hunt, always being in the NCAA hunt, always thinking we could win another league championship or another national championship. That was the tough part, the consistency, but the most rewarding part of it all."

After his retirement as hockey coach, he was Michigan State's athletic director from 2002-07. There, he oversaw the building of the Spartan Stadium tower, the Berkowitz Basketball Complex and the Skandalaris Football Center.