JB Bittner is in his first year as an assistant coach with the Wisconsin men's hockey program.
Bittner arrives in Madison fresh off two years with the USHL's Tri-City Storm in Kearney, Nebraska. For the Storm, he was responsible for coaching the league's top defense in 2014-15, as the team paced the USHL in goals against, while seeing four of its defensemen rank in the top 13 in league scoring.
His responsibilities also included drafting and recruiting players, as well as scouting.
"His head coach and GM [at Tri-City], Jim Hulton, was named the GM of the year in the USHL and in talking to Jim about JB, Jim said one of the reasons he was honored with this award was because of young JB and his work with the organization," UW head coach Mike Eaves said. "That says volumes."
From 2011-13, Bittner served as assistant coach of the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays, again leading the defense and setting the bar for the league in goals against in 2012-13 and the Eastern Conference in 2011-12. In 2012-13, his penalty-kill unit led the Eastern Conference. Recruiting free agents was also part of his position.
A 2005 graduate of Ohio State, Bittner embarked on a professional playing career following his college playing time that included AHL stops in Syracuse, Portland and Iowa, as well ECHL stints in Dayton, Johnstown, Augusta, Idaho and Florida, during three-plus years.
He returned to his alma mater after that pro career to become a video coach in 2008. After one season, Bittner became one of the team's assistant coaches, but returned to his video coach position when former Badger Mark Osiecki took over the program for the 2010-11 campaign.
During his playing days, Bittner was a two-time captain for Ohio State, recording 37 goals and 76 points in 160 career games played. OSU qualified for three NCAA tournaments while he attended, and captured the 2004 CCHA Super Six Championship with him as team captain. As a senior, he was awarded the team's Joseph W. Smith Best Defensive Player award, and he took home a pair of Scarlet and Gray Awards, which went to the team's most intense competitor.
A Pittsburgh native who earned his bachelor's degree in coaching and sports management, Bittner is already at work at the Kohl Center. He explained his decision to join the university, "This is obviously a prestigious place and the hockey program is second to none. It is one of the top-five hockey programs in the country. The tradition here is unbelievable. Walking around the building and seeing all the championships that have been won here, the coaches and players who have been here is awesome. Just to get a chance to be a part of that is something that I'm really looking forward to."
