Motkzo is going to get fired under the veil of retirement within the next two months - Yes
The program is not in a better place than it was the moment Qpac scored in OT - Yes
Future Gopher Coach Discussion
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The program is not in a better place than it was the moment Qpac scored in OT - Yes
upnorthkid
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I would not tell him that, but would offer him the package to say were invested in recruiting. Similar to what lsu did with kiffin in football. For someone who wants us to be going after 1st round chl talent, you’re really not in on playing the game apparently to make it work
Your last point, that’s literally exactly what they’ve done when it comes to nil, assistant salaries, etc across multiple sports for basically forever. Do you not follow the U? They’re not going to magically allocate some new sum or what their expenses already are when the budget is tight.
Motzko checked out on his SCSU team when he knew he was leaving. Wouldn't surprise me to see the same from Barr
So you are ok with a coach who has checked out on his team and yet you claim Bob has done the same here? Shocked...
I didn't say Bob checked out on this team. It's his last year, he will be focused and emotional seeing it end. He just lost touch with college hockey in general.
Planning to retire sure but I don't think he's checked out. He's in defend his honor mode
WinMinGophers!
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The informant is here to say Barr is out as an option. Adjust thinking.
Names:
Darby Hendrickson if he got smart guys to help him and he is open enough to be teachable. Think.outside the box.
The next guy has to.go.get NIL and navigate the new world of hockey -- by that I mean be the face of that. He is a proven powerhouse at fundraising.
Like.other candidates, Minnesota roots. Plus he has a lot.of.pro.experience, although the other.ones have head coach experience.
That is my vote. Hendrickson.
And then there are three more good candidatea but I won't say.
Names:
Darby Hendrickson if he got smart guys to help him and he is open enough to be teachable. Think.outside the box.
The next guy has to.go.get NIL and navigate the new world of hockey -- by that I mean be the face of that. He is a proven powerhouse at fundraising.
Like.other candidates, Minnesota roots. Plus he has a lot.of.pro.experience, although the other.ones have head coach experience.
That is my vote. Hendrickson.
And then there are three more good candidatea but I won't say.
WinMinGophers!
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For your thinking, sorry about a data dump. It's here for people to see.
PRESENCE in a pro sports town in a hockey state. NIL is extremely important. COACHING: Must be able to create a world class coaching system to inspire elite players, that people will write a book about. GENERAL MANAGER to navigate "free agents" new world. Since no one person can do this, has to see the value in collaboration, willing to listen to others with more experience as advisor(s), willing then to "act" a bigger role.
Darby Hendrickson, as a Minnesota native, former Gopher, and long-time NHL assistant, brings elite, "insider" credibility and deep local hockey roots, positioning him perfectly to unify alumni and boost fundraising. His experience with the Hendrickson Foundation highlights his ability to connect with donors and the community, essential for managing NIL and donor relations.
Advantages as Head Coach:
- Fundraising and Community Relations: Through the Hendrickson Foundation, Darby has demonstrated the ability to lead, organize, and fundraise for hockey-related initiatives, a skill directly transferable to cultivating donor relations at the university level.
- "Mr. Hockey" Credibility: Being a Minnesota native and former player provides instant respect, fostering strong connections with Minnesota high school programs and alumni, which is crucial for recruiting and community engagement.
- Player Development and Mentorship: Having spent years in the NHL (Minnesota Wild) as an assistant, he is experienced in guiding, coaching, and mentoring players, which translates well to developing collegiate talent.
- High Hockey IQ: His tenure in the NHL ensures a strong understanding of modern, competitive hockey systems.
- Deep Local Roots: He understands the importance of the Gopher hockey tradition and acts as a bridge between the program's history and its future.
Top Potential Other Candidates
- Garrett Raboin (Head Coach, Augustana): A former assistant to Bob Motzko at Minnesota, Raboin is highly regarded for his recruiting abilities and was credited with bringing top talent to the Gophers. He successfully launched the Augustana program, making him a prime candidate for a, "hand-off" scenario.
- Grant Potulny (Head Coach, Northern Michigan): A former Gophers captain and assistant coach under Don Lucia for eight seasons. He has head coaching experience and deep ties to the program, making him a perennial candidate.
- Pat Ferschweiler (Head Coach, Western Michigan): A Minnesota native who has built a strong program at Western Michigan, often leading the league in scoring. He has experience as an NHL assistant and a solid reputation in collegiate hockey.
- Greg Powers (Head Coach, Arizona State): Has proven his ability to build a program from scratch into a national competitor. He brings a high-energy, modern approach that is respected nationally.
- Nate Leaman (Head Coach, Providence): A respected national coach who has won a national championship (2015). He was considered a candidate when Motzko was hired and represents a strong, experienced option from outside the immediate Minnesota circle.
- Guy Gadowsky (Head Coach, Penn State): Known for building the Penn State program and having a, "fire and passion" coaching style reminiscent of Minnesota legends, often cited for his "Herb Brooks attitude".
- Nick Oliver (USHL Head Coach): A Roseau, Minn., native who was an assistant at St. Cloud State and has head coaching experience in the USHL.
- Jason Lammers (Head Coach, Niagara): A well-respected coach with a strong history in the USHL and college game.
- Todd Richards (NHL Assistant Coach): A former Gophers captain with extensive NHL head coaching experience.
In the modern collegiate hockey landscape of 2026, the blueprint for a "top-tier" hire matches the profile of Adam Nightingale at Michigan State: a coach with deep roots in USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (NTDP) and the NHL, capable of elite recruiting and rapid cultural transformation.
If a premier program like the Minnesota Gophers were to seek a new leader, the most respected "available" or rising USA Hockey-affiliated candidates include:
1. The NTDP Pipeline (The Nightingale Model)
The most direct "Team USA" candidates are those currently leading the elite development program in Plymouth, MI.
- Nick Fohr: The current Head Coach of the U.S. National Under-18 Team. With 15 seasons on the NTDP staff, Fohr is highly respected by NHL stars like Charlie McAvoy and Zach Werenski for his development expertise.
- Greg Moore: The current Head Coach of the U.S. National Under-17 Team. Moore has previous head coaching experience with the Toronto Marlies (AHL) and the Chicago Steel (USHL), making him a versatile candidate for a major college program.
- Dan Muse: A former NTDP head coach and NHL assistant (Nashville Predators) who led the USHL’s Chicago Steel to a Clark Cup. His reputation for being a "taskmaster" and elite recruiter makes him a perennial candidate for top openings.
These coaches have successfully bridged the gap between national team service and NCAA dominance:
- Garrett Raboin (Augustana): A former Gopher assistant under Bob Motzko, Raboin served as an assistant for the 2026 U.S. National Junior Team. He is viewed as a rising star who successfully launched the Augustana program from scratch.
- Kris Mayotte (Colorado College): A former assistant for the U.S. World Junior teams, Mayotte has ties to top programs like Michigan and Providence and has revitalized Colorado College into a contender.
- Pat Ferschweiler (Western Michigan): A former NHL assistant (Detroit Red Wings) with gold-medal experience coaching the U.S. U17 and U18 teams. He is praised for doing "more with less" and leading a high-scoring offense.
- Grant Potulny: A former Gophers player and longtime assistant who has won a World Junior Gold Medal as a coach for Team USA. Currently at Northern Michigan, he is often the first name mentioned by Minnesota fans for a "homecoming" hire.
Again, sorry for this long post people have to scroll by. This site is mainly sports talk. Here it was important.
Finally, I do not have hockey community credentials. I am a Minnesota Gophers sports person in general. Grew up in Duluth watching often the North Stars and (plug your nose) Bulldogs. Went to U of M.
Crosby
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Interesting to read, but Bob isn't going anywhere now that his teams are seemingly unbeatable in shootouts.
WinMinGophers!
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Brock Faber, Twice Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, a scoring defenseman, runner up for NHL rookie of the year.
Put on the bench to open overtime of championship.game.
It could have been this:
Instead it was this:
"I wish I could have done more"
--Brock Faber
Last edited:
WinMinGophers!
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Point accepted.
In my defense, Darby Hendrickson was not a top coaching candidate given by Google AI. That is my thinking. I used AI to give evidence for my thinking.
I then posted.top choices by AI -- it gave head coach experience with Gophers ties.
I then inserted my own thinking to look at the coach and transformation at Michigan State, Team USA flavor, for how I want to influence this debate, to shape thinking.
WinMinGophers!
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Gophers lost to LIU at home.
I am not an insider or even top.fan, I don't know, the sentiment here suggests he is into retirement.
Looking to the future, can this.program.get back.up with him?
This portion in bold is what I constantly think about.
Yes. Because you don't understand what having more resources means. But we've given up on you doing critical thinking.
I'm just throwing out facts. Merrimack is even ahead of them in Hockey East.
upnorthkid
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Interestingly, playing with the NPI predictor, if Maine wins out, they'll be about 16th. So still going to take a run in HE to make it. BU can also only get as high as 21st and is now going to have to win HE to make it (which is wild given the draft pick talent on that team).
i'm not sold that Barr is for sure the answer for here. There would be several home run hires that are not realistic (Carle, Fersch, Nightingale) with the rest all just being it depends on what you're looking for. I really don't care if the guy has M ties/played here tbh. It is not a hard sell of what the program means, its resources, etc., but I think based on some recent data, we're going to have a difference in what I'd think is probably best versus what I think will actually happen
Top Options
The above aren't going to be delved into because they're not realistic/going to happen unless the U decides they're going to dump a shit ton of money out there for salary and NIL/rev share which they won't do
Ben Barr
pros: 44, from MN, played college hockey and at Shattuck, recruited really well at Union and UMass (helped to title), and has gotten Maine back in postseason conversation
cons: Maine has still not really gotten over the hump of being a consistent postseason team, his recruiting is almost all out east (he wasn't great in a short stint at WMU) and Canadian Major Jr, and almost all of his coaching track record is out east
Garrett Raboin
Pros: 40, from MN (and supposedly is pretty proud of those roots), played MN HS hockey as well as in the USHL so gets the dev path, helped recruit MNs best team in the last 20 years while here, has taken over the build of Augustana and now they're a bubble team for the NCAAs, WJC team coaching experience
Cons: only 3 years HC experience and has yet to make a postseason. Team tanked down the stretch last year and is wobbling again this year. Step up from CCHA/Augie is going to be a massive step up in resources, caliber of players, and expectation
Grant Potulny
Pros: 45, played USHL and at the U, long time assistant here, WJC experience/medal winning coach, 7 years coaching in college and now 2 in the AHL
Cons: most recently an AHL coach, his NMU teams started hot then the last multiple years looked terrible (is it because its NMU or because of his eye for talent?)
Others that will get mentioned
Steve Rohlik: OSU coach so gets the B10, from here but played at WI (gross), has gotten OSU to the NCAA tourney 6 times in 13 years (same as the number of times in the entire rest of their history) but never seemed realistic to break over the hump; also he's about to be 58. Does he really want to make that jump from whats comfortable and easier expectation wise?
Luke Strand: Kato coach with long track record in USHL prior this and has kept Kato clipping along after Hastings left, but he's 53 and will do literally nothing for this fanbase
Scott Sandelin: we stole one MN coach, why not try it again? but he's 61 and has UMD clipping again this year. He'll get mentioned the same as he did when we hired Bob but I don't see any realistic way this happens
Nate Leaman: this is a sneaky one I would really like if they're wanting to go outside the box, but I don't see him coming out here. Would be kind of like the Lucia one as he has no ties here, but a ton of history in the game and has gotten top tier CHL guys as well as built his teams with grit and checking.
Mike Guentzel: he's 63 and currently working in scouting. He is not a HC material but people will mention him
Guy Gadowsky: he'll get mentioned but he is beloved in Happy Valley and they'd match anything we'd throw at him if we tried.
Enrico Blasi: UST coach and has made them look solid and long time at Miami before. He's only 53 and I'm sure would love to have the microphone and resources of the U and a B10 listing behind his name. Don't really think he's the answer.
Kris Mayotte: hasn't gotten CC off the ground but has been part of a National title team as a coach and has good experience at the WJC level. Not really any ties here though
Darby Hendrickson: because ONE OF US; that's literally it. Never been a head coach. Want to put him in a GM role? Sure. He'll get mentioned but this would be a ridiculous choice from a what he's shown to this point
There are also a couple other interesting young guys coming up from MN coaching elsewhere (Cashman at Dartmouth, Howe at Yale, Hauge at Union) that are not good options as well as some randoms like HCs at the NTDP teams, SSM, and random NHL assistants with no experience at the college level as a HC that are just bad choices to go directly to (NTDP, SSM, and the AHL do not recruit or team build that way as one of the primary reasons).
Think realistically the top 3 guys listed will get the most hype/run. My ideal would be you hire Barr and someone like Potulny/Hendrickson/etc. (don't think Rabs is going to do that as he seems to want to be a HC) comes in to be your GM.
I think more likely is the pick is Raboin due to how Coyle approached the hiring of Medved (cost savings, strong ties to UofM, safer choice on paper). I could live with really either of the top 2 I listed, Leaman would be exciting from a college hockey fan standpoint because he builds winners, and then the rest would be varying levels of meh.
i'm not sold that Barr is for sure the answer for here. There would be several home run hires that are not realistic (Carle, Fersch, Nightingale) with the rest all just being it depends on what you're looking for. I really don't care if the guy has M ties/played here tbh. It is not a hard sell of what the program means, its resources, etc., but I think based on some recent data, we're going to have a difference in what I'd think is probably best versus what I think will actually happen
Top Options
The above aren't going to be delved into because they're not realistic/going to happen unless the U decides they're going to dump a shit ton of money out there for salary and NIL/rev share which they won't do
Ben Barr
pros: 44, from MN, played college hockey and at Shattuck, recruited really well at Union and UMass (helped to title), and has gotten Maine back in postseason conversation
cons: Maine has still not really gotten over the hump of being a consistent postseason team, his recruiting is almost all out east (he wasn't great in a short stint at WMU) and Canadian Major Jr, and almost all of his coaching track record is out east
Garrett Raboin
Pros: 40, from MN (and supposedly is pretty proud of those roots), played MN HS hockey as well as in the USHL so gets the dev path, helped recruit MNs best team in the last 20 years while here, has taken over the build of Augustana and now they're a bubble team for the NCAAs, WJC team coaching experience
Cons: only 3 years HC experience and has yet to make a postseason. Team tanked down the stretch last year and is wobbling again this year. Step up from CCHA/Augie is going to be a massive step up in resources, caliber of players, and expectation
Grant Potulny
Pros: 45, played USHL and at the U, long time assistant here, WJC experience/medal winning coach, 7 years coaching in college and now 2 in the AHL
Cons: most recently an AHL coach, his NMU teams started hot then the last multiple years looked terrible (is it because its NMU or because of his eye for talent?)
Others that will get mentioned
Steve Rohlik: OSU coach so gets the B10, from here but played at WI (gross), has gotten OSU to the NCAA tourney 6 times in 13 years (same as the number of times in the entire rest of their history) but never seemed realistic to break over the hump; also he's about to be 58. Does he really want to make that jump from whats comfortable and easier expectation wise?
Luke Strand: Kato coach with long track record in USHL prior this and has kept Kato clipping along after Hastings left, but he's 53 and will do literally nothing for this fanbase
Scott Sandelin: we stole one MN coach, why not try it again? but he's 61 and has UMD clipping again this year. He'll get mentioned the same as he did when we hired Bob but I don't see any realistic way this happens
Nate Leaman: this is a sneaky one I would really like if they're wanting to go outside the box, but I don't see him coming out here. Would be kind of like the Lucia one as he has no ties here, but a ton of history in the game and has gotten top tier CHL guys as well as built his teams with grit and checking.
Mike Guentzel: he's 63 and currently working in scouting. He is not a HC material but people will mention him
Guy Gadowsky: he'll get mentioned but he is beloved in Happy Valley and they'd match anything we'd throw at him if we tried.
Enrico Blasi: UST coach and has made them look solid and long time at Miami before. He's only 53 and I'm sure would love to have the microphone and resources of the U and a B10 listing behind his name. Don't really think he's the answer.
Kris Mayotte: hasn't gotten CC off the ground but has been part of a National title team as a coach and has good experience at the WJC level. Not really any ties here though
Darby Hendrickson: because ONE OF US; that's literally it. Never been a head coach. Want to put him in a GM role? Sure. He'll get mentioned but this would be a ridiculous choice from a what he's shown to this point
There are also a couple other interesting young guys coming up from MN coaching elsewhere (Cashman at Dartmouth, Howe at Yale, Hauge at Union) that are not good options as well as some randoms like HCs at the NTDP teams, SSM, and random NHL assistants with no experience at the college level as a HC that are just bad choices to go directly to (NTDP, SSM, and the AHL do not recruit or team build that way as one of the primary reasons).
Think realistically the top 3 guys listed will get the most hype/run. My ideal would be you hire Barr and someone like Potulny/Hendrickson/etc. (don't think Rabs is going to do that as he seems to want to be a HC) comes in to be your GM.
I think more likely is the pick is Raboin due to how Coyle approached the hiring of Medved (cost savings, strong ties to UofM, safer choice on paper). I could live with really either of the top 2 I listed, Leaman would be exciting from a college hockey fan standpoint because he builds winners, and then the rest would be varying levels of meh.
upnorthkid
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He would also fit well as a reasonable GM kind of target or serve well in the Paul Martin role
For all we know it could already be in the works and why the first two committed here.