Greensboro Gargoyles hire Mitch Giguère as second head coach

Greensboro made a quick bet on continuity, hiring Mitch Giguère as the Gargoyles’ second head coach as the franchise tries to turn early curiosity into a lasting hockey business in Guilford County. The timing mattered: Scott Burt was fired in May, and the change came before the team had even finished shaping its first full season identity.

Giguère, 40, arrived after three seasons as an assistant coach with the Wheeling Nailers, a long-established ECHL club that has posted a winning record in 10 straight seasons and reached the Kelly Cup Final in 2016. The Gargoyles said he brought the kind of background this market now needs most: preparation, communication, recruiting, development and community involvement. Joe Ernst, the vice president of hockey operations for Zawyer Sports & Entertainment, said the organization was excited to welcome Giguère and his family to Greensboro, and thanked Wheeling for allowing the team to speak with him.

The hire is more than a bench move. Greensboro is still building the Gargoyles’ place in the local sports calendar, and the front office is treating the head coach as part of the product that will have to sell tickets, shape game nights and persuade fans that professional hockey belongs at First Horizon Coliseum. The franchise’s debut home game drew 11,398 fans, a strong opening signal for a market that had gone 20 years without pro hockey, but the challenge now is whether that interest can survive beyond the novelty of the first night.

That is where Giguère’s resume fits the broader strategy. The Gargoyles are the ECHL’s 30th member, owned and operated by Zawyer Sports & Entertainment under chief executive Andy Kaufmann, and aligned with both the Carolina Hurricanes and the Chicago Wolves. In that structure, the coach is not only responsible for wins and losses. He also has to develop players inside a professional pipeline and help give the team a recognizable identity in Greensboro, where the name and logo were shaped by submissions from more than 2,000 fans.

Burt’s exit gave the move added weight. He was introduced as the franchise’s first head coach in June 2025 after four seasons leading the Rapid City Rush and entered Greensboro with 130 career coaching wins. Giguère now inherits a club that has already shown it can attract attention, but still has to prove it can convert that attention into repeat business, stronger community buy-in and a stable hockey culture. In a market where minor league success depends on both performance and relevance, this was a reset aimed at both.