The San Diego Gulls introduced Matt McIlvane as the team’s fifth head coach in team history on May 10 at the Brigantine Bayview Ballroom in downtown San Diego. McIlvane, 37, has won five league championships as a head coach and assistant coach in Europe over the last 10 seasons.

McIlvane won back-to-back league titles in 2022 and 2023 with EC Red Bull Salzburg of the ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League), the top-tier league in Austria, featuring additional teams from Hungary, Italy, and Slovenia, and five league championships as a coach in Europe the last 10 seasons.

Roy Sommer, the head coach of the Gulls in 2022-2023, retired. Named to his position on July 12, 2022, Sommer, 66, entered his final game behind the bench with an 828-769-110 record and is the AHL’s all-time leader in wins (828) and games coached (1,813) after spending the last 27 consecutive seasons as a coach in the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks organizations.