Karl Taylor recently completed his sixth season as the Head Coach of the Admirals and became the organization’s winningest AHL coach on April 13, 2025 with in a victory over Rockford.
During his time in Milwaukee, Taylor has accumulated a 244-133-31-12 record, an impressive .632 points percentage. He has led the Admirals to four 40-win seasons and back-to-back Central Division titles for the first time since the team joined the AHL in 2001. During the 2024-25 regular season the Admirals posted a 40-21-5-6 record, good for 91 points and the Central Division Crown.
The Admirals have qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs each season that they have been held while Taylor has been at the helm of the Admirals ship. Milwaukee has won a round in each of the past four post-seasons, the first time in franchise history they have done that, and advanced to the Western Conference Finals in both 2023 and 2024.
His 26 playoff wins with the Ads are second only to Claude Noel (33) in team AHL annuls and he owns a remarkable 16-4 record in games where the team faces elimination. The team has overcome 0-2 deficits in division semifinals in back to back seasons.
In addition to his on-ice success, under Taylor’s tutelage the Admirals have seen 46 players graduate to play in the NHL, which includes 12 during the 2024-25 campaign. Out of the 40 players to skate at least one game with the Nashville Predators this season, 20 of them were coached by Taylor with the Ads at some point in their career.
In 2023-24 the Taylor’s club caught the attention of the hockey world with a 19-game winning streak, which was the second longest in the history of the league. They went on to win 47 games, the most in his tenure, and capture the Central Division Title. In the post-season they overcame a 0-2 deficit to Texas in the first round, winning three straight to beat the Stars, and then topped Grand Rapids in five games to advance to the Conference Finals.
In 2021-22, Taylor led the Admirals to the third round of the Calder Cup Playoffs after finishing third in the AHL’s Central Division with a record of 39-28-5-4 (87 points). With the help of players like Cody Glass, who led the team and was tied for 15th in the AHL in points with 62 (14g-48a), Milwaukee qualified for the postseason for the 16th time in its AHL history and the second time with Taylor at the helm. Reinforcing his proven track record of developing talent, 12 players who skated for Milwaukee also competed in an NHL game for the Predators in 2021-22. When Predators Head Coach John Hynes was placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 list during the 2021-22 season, Taylor filled in behind the bench for two NHL games, helping Nashville pick up wins in back-to-back contests on Dec. 16 vs. Colorado and Dec. 17 at Chicago.
In 2019-20, his second season with Milwaukee, Taylor led the club to a 41-14-5-3 record, an AHL-leading 90 points and the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy, awarded to the AHL’s regular-season champions. For his efforts, Taylor was honored with the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award, given to the AHL’s most outstanding coach. Milwaukee’s dominant 2019-20 season was highlighted by its defense, which allowed a league-low 2.24 goals per game, while the team’s offense ranked seventh in scoring (3.35).
Taylor’s first season behind the Admirals bench, 2018-19, saw him lead the club to the Calder Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017, finishing with a 36-24-14-2 (88 points) regular-season record and a second-place finish in the Central Division.
Before joining the organization, the 51-year-old North Bay, Ont., native spent four seasons with the AHL’s Texas Stars as an assistant coach. In Texas, Taylor’s teams went a combined 152-108-30-14 and made the playoffs in three of his four seasons. His tenure was headlined by the Stars’ appearance in the 2018 Calder Cup Finals, where they came one game from claiming the AHL title, falling to the Toronto Marlies in Game 7. With Taylor behind the bench, Texas earned at least 90 points in three seasons, including the 2017-18 season’s 90-point effort (38-24-8-6) that culminated with the AHL’s Western Conference Championship.
Taylor also spent one season as an assistant coach for the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks in 2013-14, where they finished second in the WHL’s regular-season standings with 113 points (54-13-5 record). Taylor helped guide the Winterhawks to the WHL Finals as the 2014 WHL Western Conference Champions, where they fell to the Edmonton Oil Kings in seven games.
Before jumping to the WHL, Taylor served as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves in 2011-12 where he won the Midwest Division and was a head coach in the ECHL for six seasons from 2005-11. He was at the helm of the Reading Royals from 2005-08, making the playoffs in two of his three campaigns, amassing a 112-82-22 record in the process. Taylor then became the first head coach of the ECHL’s Ontario Reign from 2008-11, leading them to the playoffs in their inaugural season. He finished second in the John Brophy Award voting for ECHL coach of the year in 2008-09.
Taylor played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Windsor Spitfires, London Knights and North Bay Centennials, tallying 35 points (16g-19a) in 137 games from 1988-91. Following his junior career, he played for the University of New Brunswick from 1991-95, serving as an alternate captain in his final three seasons. Taylor also spent time as a head coach at Red Deer College in Alberta and the University of Waterloo before landing his first professional coaching job.
Taylor and his wife Beverley have two kids and reside in Hartland, WI.
