Josh Sciba finished his eighth season at the helm of the Union College women's hockey program in 2023-24, continuing to lead steady improvements program-wide playing in the toughest conference in Division I women's hockey. Sciba became the program's all-time winningest coach with the team's 3-1 victory over Harvard University on January 21, 2023.
In addition to his time at Union, Sciba has gained valuable experience coaching at the international level as well. He served as an assistant coach on USA Under-18 Team at the 2019 and 2020 IIHF World U-18 Championships, helping to lead Team USA to a gold and silver medal, respectively. He moved up to serve as an assistant coach with Team USA since 2021, with Sciba and Team USA winning a Gold Medal at the 2023 IIHF Women's World Championships in Ontario and taking silver in both 2022 and 2024.
Under Sciba's watch, the last two seasons have seen Union take steps forward in terms of both wins and national competitiveness, posting the most overall and conference wins in a two-year stretch in the program's Division I history and earning a pair of victories over nationally ranked teams.
Sciba led Union to one of the best seasons in program history in 2022-23, posting the most wins in a single season at the Division I level with an 11-22-1 record. The team had one of its best stretches in the month of November, winning three games in overtime as part of a four-game winning streak and five-game unbeaten streak, both the longest-ever in the program's Division I history. Union also earned its first win over a nationally ranked opponent with a 4-1 victory over #15 Princeton University and won the season series with Harvard University (1-0-1) for the first time ever. Five of the team's top seven scorers on the season were either first-years or sophomores, setting the stage for future growth.
In 2019-20, Union continued to take steps toward consistent competitiveness both on and off the ice. The team posted a 5-14-3 mark in ECAC Hockey play, setting a new program standard for points in conference play and remaining in contention for a postseason berth until the penultimate week of the regular season before eventually landing ninth, the program's highest-ever finish. Highlights from the season included the team's first-ever victory over Quinnipiac University, a hard-fought tie against #4 Cornell University, as well as a weekend sweep of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute that included the program's first Mayor's Cup victory at the Times Union Center.
In year two of the Sciba coaching era, Union improved to a 7-22-5 overall record and a 5-15-2 conference record. The seven wins tied for the second most wins in a single season in the history of the program, while the 12 conference points were a record until 2019-20. On October 27-28, Union defeated Brown and Yale by a combined 9-4 margin to sweep a ECAC weekend for the first time ever. At the conclusion of the season, Sciba was named a top-three finalist for the ECAC Hockey Coach of the Year award.
Before coming to Union, Sciba served as the assistant coach at Colgate University from 2012-16. In his final season, Sciba helped lead the Raiders to a program-record 22 wins and a No. 8 ranking in the final USCHO.com national poll. He also constructed and managed Colgate's power play, which finished the year ranked seventh in the nation (21.0 percent). As the recruiting coordinator for the Raiders, Sciba recruited and committed five Hockey Canada Under-18 players, one USA Hockey Under-18 player, one Czech Republic Under-18 player and one Swiss National Team player, all of which were firsts in program history.
Prior to Colgate, Sciba spent one season as the head women's hockey coach at Niagara University after serving as the assistant coach for three years. Under his tutelage, the Purple Eagles had five players named to the College Hockey America All-Rookie Team and four players named All-Conference.
Sciba earned his Bachelor's degree from Notre Dame in 2007, where he compiled 72 points in 141 career games for the Fighting Irish. During his time in South Bend, the team won a Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) regular season title, a CCHA Playoff Championship and played in two NCAA tournaments. Prior to attending Notre Dame, Sciba was an assistant captain with the USA National Team Development Program Under-17 Team and Under-18 Team. After college, Sciba played one year of professional hockey in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL).
