Jim Wiley, a coach in the Sharks’ organization for seven years in the 1990s, including as the NHL team’s head coach for the majority of the 1995-96 season, died Sunday. He was 71.
A cause of death for Wiley was not immediately known, although a news release by the Professional Hockey Players’ Association said he passed away peacefully surrounded by family. Wiley had worked with the PHPA for the past six years.
Wiley was a coach with the Kansas City Blades, the Sharks’ IHL affiliate, from 1991 to 1995, spending his first two seasons as an assistant before he became the team’s head coach in 1993. Wiley coached a handful of future full-time NHL players in Kansas City, including forwards Andrei Nazarov and Viktor Kozlov, defenseman Mike Rathje and goalie Arturs Irbe.
Wiley became the Sharks’ head coach on Dec. 2, 1995, when the team fired Kevin Constantine after a 3-18-4 start. The Sharks showed modest improvement under Wiley, who had been Constantine’s assistant, but finished the season with a 20-55-7 record and out of the playoffs.
The following season, the Sharks replaced Wiley as coach with Al Sims. Wiley then returned to coach in the minor leagues and led the Kentucky Thoroughblades, then the Sharks’ AHL affiliate, from 1996 to 1998. Roy Sommer took over as Kentucky’s coach for the 1998-99 season and is now in his 24th year as the coach of the Sharks’ AHL affiliate.
Wiley returned to the bench in 2002 and coached four other minor league teams until 2008.
Wiley’s career in professional hockey spanned close to a half-century. He played professionally for seven seasons from 1972 to 1970, including 63 games in the NHL — 26 with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1972 to 1974 and 37 with the Vancouver Canucks from 1974 to 1977.
Prior to his time with the PHPA, according to the PHPA’s website, Wiley spent years as the head of the Central Hockey League’s hockey operations department.
Wiley, a native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, earned an undergraduate degree from Lake Superior State and a master’s degree in athletic administration from the University of Tulsa.