JP Daigneault - Skiing Coach - Dartmouth College Athletics

JP Daigneault

Title:
Men's Alpine Skiing Head Coach
Alma Mater:
Dartmouth ’97
Email:
jp.daigneault@dartmouth.edu
Phone (603):
603-646-3980
At Dartmouth:
3rd Season (2022-)

JP Daigneault (dan-YO), a 1997 graduate of the college and four-time All-American for the Big Green, was hired as the head coach of the men's alpine team in May of 2022. He took over the position that was held by his former Big Green coach, Peter Dodge '78, who retired at the end of June after 33 years at the helm of the squad.

In his first year at the helm, Daigneault guided four of his skiers to 10 total podiums during the carnival season with Oliver Morgan ’25, Cooper Puckett ’26 and Oscar Zimmer ’26 earning three apiece to secure their places on the All-East teams. Zimmer was selected as the EISA Men’s Alpine Rookie of the Year and went on to garner two All-America First Team performances at the NCAA Championship as Dartmouth finished fifth overall.

During the 2024 season, Daigneault coached first-years Oscar Zimmer and Dan Gillis, as well as junior Olof Hedelin to success. Each competed at the EISA Championship, helping the Big Green to a second place finish overall. Zimmer also earned his first career podium at the St. Michael's Carnival in the men's slalom.

In 2025, the Big Green were dominant in the alpine discipline. Daigneault's team earned 11 podium finishes through the course of the season and another six top five finishes. The Big Green podiumed in all but one EISA Giant Slalom. Sophomore Benny Brown had a break out sophomore season under Daigneault, winning the Giant Slalom at the Dartmouth Carnival, earning six total podiums. Brown also earned First-Team All-America status for his second place finish at the Giant Slalom at his first NCAA Championships. Dan Gillis and Oscar Zimmer also shined at the NCAA Championsips, as Gillis took home Second-Team All-America on the Giant Slalom and Zimmer earned First-Team All-America on the Slalom.

Two of Daigneault's first-years also had success. Philip Lundquist earned his first EISA win at the Bates Carnival, his first collegiate slalom race, and Calum Langmuir earned three top-five finishes. His highest finish was a second place finish on the St. Michael's Slalom.

Daigneault's career has allowed him to coach skiers of all levels, most recently at Green Mountain Valley School, one of the nation's leading ski-racing and academic development programs for promising young skiers. For the past two years at the school in Waitsfield, Vermont, he has headed up the youth ski program, helping the athletes excel at skill acquisition and perform to the best of their ability on race days.

From 2017-20, Daigneault served as the FIS head coach of the men at Burke Mountain Academy in Burke, Vermont. In his first season, his team won 18 of 24 available medals at the Eastern Championships held at Attitash, including five of the eight golds with three podium sweeps. During his time at BMA, several of his skiers represented their countries at the Youth Olympic Games and FIS World Junior Championships. By his third and final season, his FIS boys were scoring Continental (Nor-Am) Cup points.

As the program director and head coach of Northwood Skiing in Lake Placid, New York, from 2014-17, Daigneault developed skiers from U14-U21 age groups. Concurrently, he spent June through September in 2014-15 as the athletics director and FIS head coach for the Mount Hotham Racing Squad in Australia during its ski season.

Daigneault also spent two years as the head coach of the Québec Ski Team from 2010-12, mentoring four skiers who were named to the Canadian National Ski Team's Development group, one of whom went on to be the runner-up in the men's slalom at the 2017 NCAA Championship. He then worked for the British Columbia Ski Team as a coach on the men's alpine team for a year before becoming the team's head coach of women's alpine for another year. Four of his skiers earned spots on the Canadian National Ski Team and, last season, two of those skiers combined for a World Cup podium and top-10 results in World Cup and the Olympic Games.

Daigneault's coaching career also began at Green Mountain Valley School, spending seven years (2003-10) as an alpine coach.

An economics major at Dartmouth, Daigneault found great success skiing for the Big Green with Dodge as his coach. He arrived in Hanover after participating in the 1993 FIS Junior World Championships for his native Canada, then went on to earn All-America accolades four times in alpine events at the NCAA Championship and served as captain of the team as a senior.

Daigneault has 12 years of competitive racing under his belt as well, from NCAA to nationals to Nor-Am Cup and European FIS racing. He achieved a top-100 world ranking in giant slalom while at Dartmouth and helped the team win 20 consecutive EISA carnivals.

Certified at Performance Level with the Canadian Ski Coaching Federation, Daigneault has also completed his Level 400 with U.S. Ski & Snowboard (final project pending review).

Daigneault is married to Stephanie Davis, and the couple have two dogs, a Newfoundland named Alta and a Pointing Griffon named Minerva. Outside of skiing, they enjoy mountain biking, golf and snowshoeing with their pups.