Bothwell's first foray into coaching was as a
player-coach with the
New Haven Nighthawks of the AHL in the
1989–90 season, his final as a player. Following his retirement from play, he accepted the head coaching position with the
Medicine Hat Tigers in the
Western Hockey League (WHL) and lead the team during the
1990–91 and
1991–92 seasons. Ahead of the
1992–93 season, he became head coach of the
Phoenix Roadrunners in the
International Hockey League(IHL) and remained with the team through the
1993–94 season, before moving on to the
Calgary Dinos men's ice hockey team of the
University of Calgary. Bothwell spent seven seasons as head coach in Calgary, 1994 to 2001, the longest period with any team of his coaching career. During his time with Calgary, he was an assistant coach to the Canadian men's ice hockey team that participated in the ice hockey tournament at the
1997 Winter Universiade. In the same year, he was honored with the Father George Kehoe Memorial Award as
Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (CIAU) Coach of the Year. He ultimately left Calgary to take on the role of assistant coach with the NHL's
Atlanta Thrashers, which he held for two seasons,
2001–02 and
2002–03. In 2003, he assumed an associate coach position with the
Calgary Oval X-Treme of the
National Women's Hockey League, his first role in women's ice hockey. He was assistant coach to the
Canadian women’s national team that won gold in the
women's ice hockey tournament at the
2006 Winter Olympics and to the silver medal squads at the
IIHF Women's World Championship in
2005 and
2015. He served as head coach of the
Vermont Catamounts women's ice hockey team during 2006 to 2012. In 2013, Bothwell became coach for the
Calgary Inferno of the
Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). ==Personal life==