Mike Sullivan named U.S. head coach for 2026 Olympics, 2025 Four Nations Face-Off

USA Hockey named Mike Sullivan head coach of Team USA for the 2025 Four Nations Face-Off and the 2026 United States Men’s Olympic Hockey Team.

The Four Nations Face-Off is an international tournament with NHL U.S., Canada, Finland and Sweden taking place, from Feb. 12-20, 2025. The 2026 Olympic Games will be held from Feb.6-22, 2026, in the Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

This is the fifth time Sullivan will represent the U.S. at the international level as a coach. He previously served as an assistant coach at the 2006 Olympics, the head coach at the 2007 World Championship, and an assistant coach at the 2008 World Championship and the 2016 World Cup. He was named as the head coach for the 2022 Olympic team but didn’t attend because NHL players did not participate.

He’s also the third U.S. Olympics head coach in the last 20 years with ties to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Herb Brooks, a Penguins scout, guided Team USA to a silver medal in Salt Lake City in 2002 and Dan Bylsma, former Penguins head coach, was the U.S. Olympic team’s bench boss in 2014.

USA Hockey says Sullivan has “proved to be one of the most successful coaches in the league since he was hired by the Penguins midseason in 2015,” citing the back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017, becoming the first American-born head coach to win the cup twice.

Sullivan’s record with the Penguins is 375-219-77. Those 375 regular-season wins with the team are more than any other coach in franchise history.

In addition to his coaching career, Sullivan played 11 seasons in the NHL and represented the United States as a player at the 1988 World Junior Championship, as well as the 1997 World Championship.

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