Jason Binkley had never before been a head coach when the ECHL’s Reading Royals tabbed him for the job Jan. 29, and nothing about that situation was easy.

He took over a team that was a North Division-worst 16-19-4, replaced the man, James Henry, who he’d been an assistant for since the summer of 2022, and was charged with making what was once a perennial playoff team relevant again.

“For me, it was just about being honest with the players,” said Binkley, who was a popular defenseman with the Komets from 2016 to 2020. “At the end of the day, honesty is what players really appreciate.”

Binkley was unable to quite rally the Royals, the 2013 Kelly Cup champions, into the playoffs. But they showed improvement in several facets of the game, finishing with a 29-35-8 record. He had the interim tag removed from his title after the season ended.

“I feel like what I did when I came in was just make simple adjustments, but they were adjustments that needed to be made and weren’t being made previously,” Binkley said. “Thankfully, when I took over I had a whole week to prepare and put practices together and put video in place. It wasn’t like I took over and we had a game the next day.

“The main thing that I tried to do was just tighten up the (defensive) zone. I just had some simple points, some simple systems, and made corrections. It just became a lot easier, more clear, for our players to understand we were trying to do.”

There were frustrations – one night the Royals’ offense would disappear, the next night it might be the defense – but the second half of the season was informative for a 32-year-old coach who this summer gets to put together the team the way he wants to, with the belief more success will follow.

“Honestly, this offseason has been really busy,” Binkley said. “It’s probably my own fault because I don’t have an assistant coach here helping me yet, but it’s been good and bad (having a full offseason). I’m happy that I get to do things my way now, and get the players in here that I think will be the best fit, but it’s challenging for me – and for every coach in the league – because so many guys are bailing to play in Europe. As a coach, you’ve got to find experience, but where are you supposed to find it?”

Fortunately, Binkley has a bevy of experience navigating the ECHL world and understands what players are after. He played for five teams between 2015 and 2021, when he finished his playing career with the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen. He then began his coaching career in 2021-22 for the Single-A Professional Hockey League’s Fayetteville Marksmen and was the assistant coach for Cory Melkert, who’s now a Komets assistant under Jesse Kallechy.

When Binkley played for the Komets, including a trip to the 2018 Western Conference Finals, he didn’t necessarily envision a coaching career ahead of him – at least not so soon. But an arm injury suffered with the Komets impacted his playing ability, and the COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of pro hockey worldwide, so he altered course and landed on Melkert’s staff in Fayetteville.

“Now three years later, I’m a head coach in the ECHL. So, in hindsight, it’s worked out for me and how I’ve gone about doing things,” Binkley said. “On the flip side, if I had played another two years, who knows where I’d be and what connections I’d have?”

The Royals are set to face the Komets at Memorial Coliseum on Feb. 21 and 22.

Other former Komets coaching in the ECHL include Wichita Thunder head coach Bruce Ramsay and his assistant, John Gurskis, Tulsa Oilers head coach Rob Murray and Worcester Railers assistant coach/general manager Nick Tuzzolino.

Binkley said he’s taken away lessons from all the coaches he played for, including Gary Graham and Ben Boudreau in Fort Wayne, and continues to apply them. Sometimes it’s verbiage to make complicated topics understandable for players, other times it’s how to manage personalities in the locker room or dealing with the Royals’ NHL and American Hockey League affiliates, the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Binkley’s career in the ECHL – he had 28 goals, 139 points and a plus-36 rating in 331 regular-season games – makes him particularly cognizant of the rigors of the 72-game season.

“I get it and I understand what these guys are going through,” said Binkley, a native of Powell, Ohio, who played at Ferris State. “You know, when you’re recruiting players and they want to bring their girlfriends, or they want to know about the housing, anything and everything – I’ve been done it and I’ve been through it. I’ve played in pretty much every rink in this league … and I know what restaurants to go to.

“So I think my experiences from playing have helped me as a coach, but there are definitely odds and ends that you pick up.”

If there’s an area in which Binkley is supremely confident, it’s coaching defensemen and the penalty kill; Reading’s PK finished third in the ECHL this season at 83.4% efficiency.

“I take pride in that aspect and that side of the game. Definitely, the defensive side is what I’m most comfortable with and what I’m probably going to preach most and teach,” Binkley said. “But I also know that with the defense, we have to give the flexibility, the leniency and the openness, on the offensive side for those guys to be creative and not feel constrained when they have the puck in the (offensive) zone and have scoring chances.”