Legendary Boston University hockey coach Jack Parker will announce his retirement Monday, on his 68th birthday, sources close to the program told ESPN.
Parker, who has coached the Terriers for 40 seasons, has won three national championships and led Boston to 24 NCAA hockey tournament berths, the most by any coach.
Parker's 894 career victories are the most by a coach with one school and third most all-time, trailing Boston College coach Jerry York and former Michigan State coach Ron Mason.
Parker's teams also have captured seven Hockey East titles and 21 Beanpot championships, the annual February tournament featuring Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern and Harvard.
Catholic Memorial hockey coach Bill Hanson, who went to high school with Parker and is a longtime friend, commented on Parker's retirement after his team's Massachusetts Super 8 tournament game.
"He built the program after taking over from Coach [Jack] Kelley, that is a testament to what he did there," Hanson told ESPNBoston.com.
Boston University finished the 2012-13 regular season with a record of 18-15-2 and will face Merrimack in the quarterfinals of the Hockey East tournament next weekend.
The legacy of Parker's program took a hit last year when a report commissioned by the school concluded that hockey players were given star treatment and lived in a "culture of sexual entitlement," detailing numerous inappropriate incidents.
The report was commissioned after two Boston University players were charged with sexual assault, in different incidents, less than three months apart.
The report did not conclude that Parker knew of the inappropriate behavior, but he was stripped of his title as executive athletic director.
"[Parker's retirement] has nothing to do with what happened last year, I know that for a fact," Hanson told ESPNBoston.com. "Forty years is a nice round year. He just felt like this was the right time."
ESPNBoston.com's Scott Barboza contributed to this report.
