Pats sign coaches Brad Herauf, Ken Schneider to contract extensions

The Regina Pats have made some changes to their coaching staff for next season.

Brad Herauf will return as the WHL club’s head coach after signing a multi-year extension. Assistant coach Ken Schneider has also signed an extension.

“I think both guys are important people in our organization,” Al Miller, Regina’s general manager and vice-president, said Monday. “I think their leadership and continuity around the organization with our players is important.

“I think they both handled themselves very well through a challenging year — challenging not only on the ice in terms of the team we had but also the fact they came into situations where they were dealing with a new general manager and being evaluated in the short term.

“I felt their leadership was important moving forward and being a part of our organization and they certainly deserve the opportunity to go out with this group and lead this team when we get better along the way here.”

Assistant coach Evan McFeeters and goalie coach Daniel Wapple will not be back as the Pats have decided to move in a different direction.

“Both Evan and Daniel are good young guys,” Millar said. “I’ll start with Daniel. He just has a lot on his plate and (it’s) really difficult for him to juggle the time commitment that is required to be the goalie coach of our hockey club and collectively we just decided we needed to move on there.

“Evan was a tough one. Evan didn’t do anything wrong – he’s a good person and a good young guy. He’s going to have a good career in the game. But ultimately when I made the decision to move forward and extend Brad and Ken, I looked at what we needed to best complement them and their skill sets.

“I really believe that for our organization to take the next step, I need to add some experience to our bench.”

Millar said all the coaches were either in the final year of their contracts or were on one-year extensions for the season.

Herauf, 41, was named the team’s 43rd head coach this past off-season and the Pats had a 22-40-4-2 record in his first season. The Regina product spent eight seasons as the team’s assistant coach prior to that.

“I think Brad learned a lot this year. It’s a big difference being the interim head coach and then actually being the head coach,” Millar said. “I like his runway; I like his upside. He does a lot of good things in terms of how we want to play, how we manage the bench (and) building relationships with players.”

Herauf said it’s nice the team believes him after the tough year.

“I’m real lucky with Al here in that we are really aligned with the way we see hockey and the way we want our team to play and the types of hockey players we like,” Herauf said. “This is my hometown and where I want to be. I’m super proud to continue to have this opportunity.

“I’m just going to get back to the drawing board here. I know it’s a big summer and I know the expectations are going to rise here and we’re going to be in a better spot come next spring.”

Before joining the Pats, Herauf was the head coach of the under-18 Regina Pat Canadians from 2012 to ’15. He also served as an assistant coach for Canada White at Hockey Canada’s U17 tournament in Ottawa, in 2021.

Schneider, 62, begins his fourth season with the Pats after joining the team prior to the 2021-22 season. Prior to that, he had been a scout for the Pats for three years.

The Pats will begin a search for a new assistant coach and goaltender coach immediately.

“We will cast a wide net. We will be patient in the process because a lot of things can change between now and the NHL draft in terms of teams making decisions around coaches and whether they are coming back,” Millar said.

“There are going to be coaches in the CHL and in particular the WHL that are going to get opportunities to go to the American Hockey League or the NHL, so you want to be patient in who might be available.

“The key for us will be adding an experienced guy.”