BREAKING: Coyle Hires Brett Larson as New Gophers Coach

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Not a hire that excites me, but I will say, a few people I know who know people who know Larson well do think highly of him, and it is widely believed that the situation in St. Cloud is extremely difficult right now for any coach to succeed.

I'll give him a chance with my support. Let's go Brett.
 

What exactly am I missing here? He takes over for Bob at SCSU, goes 19-2-3 in conference in his first year (with mostly Bob's players). Then proceeds to go 74-79 in conference over the next 7 years, where he has one season we would deem acceptable at the U (15-9 in 20/21). Comparing the same number of years (last 7 at SCSU), Bob went 99-62. Obviously, winning at St. Cloud isn't nearly as easy as winning at the U, but yikes, on paper it doesn't look good.
 






Man, both recent hires seem so uninspired. I guess it's a bit tougher to find a good pool of coaches with extensive resumes compared to, say, football or basketball. College hockey doesn't have the amount of Group of 5 or Mid Major programs with more up and coming coaches to snag.

There are less options to choose from. But even then, of all the coaches out there, picking Larson doesn't offer much confidence. He took over the program Motzko had, who the U just moved on from, and had some good years with it but didn't seem capable of maintaining it. What's that mean for Minnesota?

Like others have mentioned, St. Cloud State doesn't seem like an easy place to win at. The school already cut football and as a fan of another NSIC school, I can say their basketball program is very inconsistent these last several years. The university has also had to cut many academic programs and enrollment's fallen over the last 15 years or so from about 15,000 to 7,000.

Maybe it is a situation that he's actually been able to do more with less and less. But still, the WL record and lack of NCAA tournament runs recently is concerning. One can only hope his ability to make the NCAA title game and his experience on championship teams under Scott Sandelin means a path for Minnesota to contend.
 

So he lied in the press conference the other day after saying he wanted to be transparent. Wow!
 



If you're going to fire Bob (which I didn't have a problem with), somebody that won the conference only a year ago, one would imagine you are really going to shoot for the stars. If not, why fire Bob in the first place? Coyle obviously didn't have a plan in place when he fired Bob, or somebody backed out and left him holding the bag.

If it's a dumpster fire, hopefully he doesn't wait 4 years like he did with Ben Johnson. In the new world of NIL and rev share, is this a problem with giving too much to football/basketball? Is money the issue, or just Coyle being a buffoon?
 


BleedGopher said:

Go Gophers!!
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The dates on here are misleading. Here is the full 8 years. Seeing a drop off when NIL and Portal era hit is not a surprise at St. Cloud State.

2018–19St. Cloud State30–6–319–2–3–21stNCAA Regional Semifinals
2019–20St. Cloud State13–15–610–12–2–15thTournament cancelled
2020–21St. Cloud State20–11–015–9–02ndNCAA Runner-Up
2021–22St. Cloud State18–15–410–10–4T–4thNCAA Regional Semifinals
2022–23St. Cloud State25–13–312–9–34thNCAA Regional Final
2023–24St. Cloud State17–16–511–9–4T–3rdNCHC Semifinals
2024–25St. Cloud State14–21–17–16–18thNCHC Quarterfinals
2025-26St. Cloud State16-19-19-14-15thNCHC Quarterfinals
 




MaxyJR1 said:
Seeing a drop off when NIL and Portal era hit is not a surprise at St. Cloud State.

2018–19St. Cloud State30–6–319–2–3–21stNCAA Regional Semifinals
2019–20St. Cloud State13–15–610–12–2–15thTournament cancelled
2020–21St. Cloud State20–11–015–9–02ndNCAA Runner-Up
2021–22St. Cloud State18–15–410–10–4T–4thNCAA Regional Semifinals
2022–23St. Cloud State25–13–312–9–34thNCAA Regional Final
2023–24St. Cloud State17–16–511–9–4T–3rdNCHC Semifinals
2024–25St. Cloud State14–21–17–16–18thNCHC Quarterfinals
2025-26St. Cloud State16-19-19-14-15thNCHC Quarterfinals
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What's your point? NIL is not strong at the U, either. You are hiring a guy for a top five job in the country that has been under .500 the last two seasons. I don't care about all the frickin excuses.
 

Get a gm to fundraise and recruit. From what I’ve heard Larson can coach but he’s not exactly going to light the world on fire wooing donors.
 






Go4Puck said:
Serious question, what exactly does Larson bring to the program that says this was a good /best choice?
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you're thinking of this far too much like you have all the choices at hand and this is part of the issue if you use Coyle's approach (soliciting a bunch of information from others prior to making your own, which is a little to be expected with his lack of hockey background).

It biases you before you even start and hiring for this job is VERY different than any other job at any other institution he's been at in that its a premier job. You shouldn't be citing hiring Niko or Dawn or PJ as your approach.

However given his lack of background and that you're soliciting heavily in the alumni community (which you'll notice is pretty sparse on coaches), you're going to end up with the same set of names that any fan could've come up with and you're going to get inbreeding of who people know, who is local, etc.

Then if you're hearing the same names over and over, you're going to think those are the guys. And if we know MN hockey fans, they put massive stock on you have to know and respect MN hockey and should be from around here and have chosen to stay around here.


It's dumb but why this hire is 0% surprising
 

As a Minnesotan who played hockey and has moved away from Minnesota for a while, I would honestly say Gopher hockey has become irrelevant. Also, as a Duluthian and graduate of UMD that is really too bad. I still pull for the Gophers, and appreciate their rich history and success, however the program has become a far cry from what it once was. To me this hire just solidifies that even more. Who knows, Larson may have success but it just seems like the Gophers can't find that guy to lead the program.
 


Some Day...Maybe said:
As a Minnesotan who played hockey and has moved away from Minnesota for a while, I would honestly say Gopher hockey has become irrelevant. Also, as a Duluthian and graduate of UMD that is really too bad. I still pull for the Gophers, and appreciate their rich history and success, however the program has become a far cry from what it once was. To me this hire just solidifies that even more. Who knows, Larson may have success but it just seems like the Gophers can't find that guy to lead the program.
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Irrelevant? Already? We played in the national championship game three years ago. We won or tied for the Big Ten championship in three of the past five years, including last year. And now we're irrelevant. That's a really quick fall from grace.
 

Hates Monikers said:
Irrelevant? Already? We played in the national championship game three years ago. We won or tied for the Big Ten championship in three of the past five years, including last year. And now we're irrelevant. That's a really quick fall from grace.
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That's what happens when you have no connection to the CHL and no real NIL money compared to the top programs.
 

bonin21 said:
That's what happens when you have no connection to the CHL and no real NIL money compared to the top programs.
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if it makes you happy, he currently has 6 CHL commits at SCSU
Nathan Brown: Winnipeg kid, 39 points in 55 games in the WHL
Anthony Cardilli: Chicago kid, 26 points in 56 games in the BCHL
Rudolf Hunter, West Fargo, 13 points in 42 games in the WHL
Brock Souch, Edmonton, 73 points in 67 games in the WHL
Nolan Stevenson, Saskatoon kid, 46 points in 67 games in the WHL

No I'm not happy about this. But hey he is recruiting Canada and the CHL if that floats your boat.
 

upnorthkid said:
if it makes you happy, he currently has 6 CHL commits at SCSU
Nathan Brown: Winnipeg kid, 39 points in 55 games in the WHL
Anthony Cardilli: Chicago kid, 26 points in 56 games in the BCHL
Rudolf Hunter, West Fargo, 13 points in 42 games in the WHL
Brock Souch, Edmonton, 73 points in 67 games in the WHL
Nolan Stevenson, Saskatoon kid, 46 points in 67 games in the WHL

No I'm not happy about this. But hey he is recruiting Canada and the CHL if that floats your boat.
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That's probably why he got the job. But those guys are all basically nobodies.
 

Welp, here's hoping he brings the CHL commits with him, Keeps our current commits and gets the other Cullen brother to come on board ( never tooo early sirs) Then coach like he did his first year at SCSU. Hoping for the best but realllllllly disappointed in the process.
 
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Some Day...Maybe said:
As a Minnesotan who played hockey and has moved away from Minnesota for a while, I would honestly say Gopher hockey has become irrelevant. Also, as a Duluthian and graduate of UMD that is really too bad. I still pull for the Gophers, and appreciate their rich history and success, however the program has become a far cry from what it once was. To me this hire just solidifies that even more. Who knows, Larson may have success but it just seems like the Gophers can't find that guy to lead the program.
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Irrelevant is a ridiculous word to use. They went to the frozen four twice in the past 5 years and won the Big Ten regular title 3/5.
 


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