Hilary Witt, Northeastern women's hockey's all-time leading scorer, will return to her alma mater as assistant women's hockey coach, head coach Dave Flint announced. Witt played for the Huskies from 1996-2000, amassing 208 points.

Witt returns to Northeastern after nine seasons at Yale, including the last eight as the Bulldogs head coach. The women's hockey program's all-time winningest coach, she compiled a 96-126-24 record at Yale and led the Bulldogs the ECAC playoffs in six straight seasons from 2003-08, including a semifinal appearance in 2005. She was named the ECAC Coach of the Year in her first season as head coach in 2002-03 after guiding the Bulldogs to their best ECAC finish ever (5-11-0). In the next two seasons, Witt's Bulldogs set program records for overall and conference wins, including a banner 2004-05 season that included a 12-7-1 ECAC record and 16-15-1 overall mark.

“It's an honor and a privilege to come home to Northeastern,” Witt said. “I am excited to assist in helping Northeastern compete for championships. I am grateful to Dave (Flint) and Northeastern University for giving me this opportunity.”

During Witt's time Yale had three NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge selections, three New England Hockey Writers Division I All-Star team selections, one first team All-ECAC selection, three second team All-ECAC selections and three ECAC All-Rookie selections. In 2007-08, the team earned the ECAC's Turfer Award for sportsmanship. The Bulldogs also maintained a standard of academic excellence under Witt. Yale had a total of 85 ECAC All-Academic honorees in Witt's eight years as head coach.

Witt, a native of Canton, Mass., was one of the most talented women ever to put on the Huskies uniform. Her 113 goals is 26 more than the next closest Husky, her 95 assists ranks her third in the Husky archives and her 208 overall points are 27 better than any other Husky. She joined NU in 1996-97 and contributed immediately with a team-high 24 goals to go with 20 assists for a total of 44 points. She helped lead the Huskies to the ECAC Championship by scoring two goals, including the game-winner, in the title game victory over New Hampshire, earning her tournament MVP honors.

Witt went on to score 32 goals her sophomore year, 27 her junior year and 30 her senior season. She was a two-time All-ECAC selection and was a three-time candidate for the Patty Kazmaier Award. In addition to her Northeastern scoring record, she is also the program leader in Beanpot points (20), power play goals in a season (12) and a career (33) and is tied for the most career hat tricks with nine. Witt was inducted into the Northeastern Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Women's Beanpot Hall of Fame in 2010. She graduated from Northeastern in 2001 with a degree in Communications.

Witt has also had a tremendous influence on the international level. Witt, who played for the U.S. Women's National Team in 2001, earned a pair of silver medals as an assistant coach for the U.S. at the 2006 Four Nations Cup and the 2007 IIHF World Championship. She recently was named an assistant coach for USA Hockey's Under-22 Select Team, joining NU's Linda Lundrigan.

“We are very fortunate Hilary has decided to return to her alma mater,” Flint said. “With her coaching and playing credentials, she will be a great addition to our staff.”

Witt completes Flint's coaching staff for the 2010-11 season. The Huskies will return 16 letterwinners from last season's team, including goaltender and 2010 Hockey East Co-Player of the Year Florence Schelling and leading scorer Kristi Kehoe. Northeastern went 17-9-7 last season, its best mark since 2001-02, and was nationally ranked for most of the year.