Air Force hockey opens its exhibition schedule Oct. 2 when the Falcons host Omaha, a game that marks the start of head coach Frank Serratore's 30th season leading the program. The contest will mark the beginning of Serratore's 30th year at the helm. The milestone arrives at a moment of notable transition across college hockey, with several of Serratore's longest-tenured peers stepping away from the sport.
Many coaches around Serratore's age have called it a career, including his friend and longtime rival Brian Riley, who coached more than two decades at Army West Point until 2025. This year, Serratore's brother, Tom, announced his intent to retire after a final upcoming season with Bemidji State. Serratore addressed both developments at the Atlantic Hockey America media day call, making his comments after much younger Bentley hockey coach Andy Jones. He did not shy away from self-deprecating humor about his own longevity. "We go from beauty to the beast," he told reporters on the call. "You go from the young stallion to the old dinosaur."
Serratore pointed to the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness landscape as central factors driving veteran coaches out of the profession. "This transfer portal and the NIL that's creeped more and more into our game — all that has taken a lot of battery acid out of guys," he said. "I know it took some battery acid out of my brother, having to replenish his roster. He's lost his best player every year over the last three years to a higher-profile school. Sometimes I wish we could use the portal, especially to get a goaltender, but with that it's a blessing and a curse."
Serratore has often talked about the disadvantages that come with being a service academy and not being able to utilize the transfer portal, NIL, or revenue sharing, but at the same time noted it has shielded him from the added responsibilities and stress that can arise from those features. He cited a conversation with Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings as an illustration of how the business of college hockey has changed. Serratore said he spoke to Hastings before the Badgers played in the Frozen Four in April and asked how the team was looking; Hastings said he hadn't seen the team in a day or so because he was spending his time with the person who manages the team's cap.
"This job and the transactional aspect of it, it's not what the old guard signed up for and I think it's not a coincidence that we lost the number of old coaches in such a short period of time," Serratore said, naming Keith Allain, Jeff Jackson, Bobby Daniels, Brian Riley, Mike Schafer, and Wayne Wilson among those who have departed. "I think the times changed. They were close, it really was something that didn't help burn the fire in their belly and they moved on."
On the subject of his brother's pending retirement, Serratore was complimentary. He said Tom's greatest achievement was taking a non-blueblood program to the Frozen Four, calling it the dream of coaches across Atlantic Hockey, the CCHA, and the ECAC. Frank noted he was one goal away from the Frozen Four on three separate occasions, adding that his brother "reminds me of that every once in a while."
Serratore is in the last year of a two-year contract he signed following the 2024–2025 campaign, meaning a decision on his own future is expected at season's end.