Jay Varady

Jay Varady (born September 16, 1977) is an American former ice hockey player and head coach for the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League (AHL). Prior to joining the AHL, Varady coached the Sioux City Musketeers in the United States Hockey League (USHL), the Kingston Frontenacs in the Ontario Hockey League, and played collegiate hockey with the Union Dutchmen.

Varady grew up in St. Louis and played midget hockey in Chicago for the Chicago Young Americans. He graduated to the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the United States Hockey League (USHL) for two years before entering Union College. At Union, he played three seasons with their Division I hockey team from 1997-2000 before joining the coaching staff after a critical neck injury. Prior to his injury, Varady served as team captain for the 1999–00 season.

After graduation, Varady coached the Chicago U16 AAA Team for the 2001 season. He then joined the coaching staff of the Pittsburgh Forge, from the North American Hockey League, for the 2002-03 season. The following year, he was an assistant and associate head coach with the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League (WHL). In 2009, Varady was named Team USA's Video Coach for their 2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships team.

He stayed with the Silvertips until 2010, when he took two years off to coach in France's Ligue Magnus. Upon his return to North America, Varady took over the Sioux City Musketeers, where he helped lead them to a 136-88-16 record during his coaching seasons. This made him the third winningest coach in Musketeers’ history. As a result, Varady was awarded the 2017 USHL Coach of the Year Award. He was also selected by Team USA to coach their 2016 World Junior A Challenge team.

The following year, he joined the coaching staff of the Kingston Frontenacs in the Ontario Hockey League. He led Kingston to a record of 36–26–6–3, helping them reach the OHL Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history.

In 2018, Varady was elected Head Coach of the Tucson Roadrunners of the American Hockey League (AHL). In his first season as head coach, Tucson held a 34-26-5-3 record.

Varady married Joy, a nurse practitioner.