New CEO and General Manager Omar Pacha wasted little time in preparing for the 2022-23 Elite League season.

Top of his to-do list was a brand new coach.

There has been turmoil in the coaching ranks since Corey Neilson departed in 2018.
Rick Strachan, Rich Chernomaz, Tim Wallace and Mark Matheson have all held the position since then.

Wallace may have won the Elite Series last year but he was made the scapegoat for this season despite Nottingham fielding a roster lacking in star talent.

The bar is high in Nottingham and changes were required across the board.

The appointment of Gary Graham was certainly left-field and had fans running to Elite Prospects to find out more.

Graham is a fascinating hire. He has had a varied coaching career to this point, and the move to the United Kingdom is a fascinating decision.

The Indiana native began his career coaching junior in his home state.
After spells with Indiana Ice (USHL) and Indiana Jr. Ice 18U AAA (MWEL), Graham was hired as an assistant coach of the Forty Wayne Komets.

The 43-year-old enjoyed much success in his early days as a coach.
As an assistant with the Komets, Graham won an IHL and CHL championship in the space of three years after the club switched leagues.

In 2012 his first professional head coaching opportunity arrived, albeit at a lower level.
Graham promptly guided the Pensacola Ice Flyers of the SPHL to their first championship.

It was then back to Fort Wayne in 2013, where Graham would remain until the completion of the 2018-19 campaign.
Not only did Graham hold the head coaching role but was also enlisted with the job of Director of Player Personnel, which will certainly assist him in his new role.

The Komets missed the playoffs the year before Graham took the reigns. The club would never suffer that fate during his tenure.
Six seasons of winning records but sadly no further championships.

Fort Wayne was certainly entertaining to watch however and played a physical brand of hockey. Under Graham, the Komets scored over three goals per game on average (bar the first season) and in 2017-18 averaged over four!

In a highly unusual move for a North American coach, Graham headed to China to become head Coach of VHL team ORG Beijing. His mandate there was to coach and develop players for china’s national team.

Since then, the American went back to his roots in coaching junior hockey.
Firstly with the Indy Jr. Fuel U16 and U18 before switching back to the USHL and the Omaha Lancers.

And now, he’s landed in the UK. A highly unusual path but one not without plenty of learning curves along the way.

Many Fort Wayne Komets players have ended up in the UK and Graham coached GB forward Brett Perlini in the ECHL. The Indiana native will have all the best intel available and well prepared for the challenge ahead.

The lack of experience in European or UK hockey in any shape or form will doubtless cause concern for some. However, sometimes a blank slate is a positive place to begin. For a coach who likes to impose his brand of hockey on other teams, Graham will not be phased by the challenge that lay ahead,

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