Ric Schafer (born 1951) is a retired American ice hockey player and head coach best remembered for his time with the men's program at Notre Dame.
At the same time that Notre Dame was experiencing a budgetary issue with its program[1] Alaska-Fairbanks was elevating its club to Division I status and they chose Schafer to be their new head coach.
When Schafer took over Notre Dame's program in 1987 the team was in turmoil, having drastically slashed its recruiting budget and eliminated all hockey scholarships.
By 1992 enough interest in the team had been generated to warrant the administration returning some scholarships to the program and Notre Dame was readmitted to the CCHA.
Notre Dame finished near the bottom of the league standings for three straight seasons and in 1995 he was relieved of his coaching duties.