Prior to coaching the Wings, Kromm had been a successful coach in the World Hockey Association, where he had guided the high-flying Winnipeg Jets to the 1976 Avco Cup championship. That fall, he was as an assistant coach for Canada at the inaugural Canada Cup. In 1961 Kromm took the Trail Smoke Eaters to a World Championship win over the Russians. The Trail Smoke Eaters represented Canada that year. Kromm's son, Richard, played ten years in the NHL for the Calgary Flames and New York Islanders.