Gopher Hockey Fans Should Give Brett Larson a Chance Because… St. Cloud Kinda Sucks

Last week, University of Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle fired Bob Motzko after eight seasons, two Frozen Four appearances and one National Championship loss. Immediately, two candidates emerged from the fray, SCSU’s Brett Larson and Hartford’s (AHL) Grant Potulny.

Then Monday, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported Larson as the favorite to win the job. But simultaneously, a surprising new name emerged out of Western Michigan — 2025 National Champion head coach (and one of us) Pat Ferschweiler.

The news of Fershweiler’s interest made some around hockey believe Coyle would hold off on naming the Golden Gophers’ new men’s hockey head coach until Western Michigan either (a) lost out of the NCAA Tournament or (b) won back-to-back titles.

Mark Coyle goes expected route for next Minnesota Gophers men’s hockey coach

Instead, in very Coyle-like fashion, the AD named Bob Motzko’s replacement on Tuesday morning, as first reported by Russo. Unsurprisingly, the choice is SCSU’s Brett Larson, who notably, is the second-straight head coach hired out of St. Cloud State.

Brett Larson, who won two NCAA championships as a University of Minnesota-Duluth assistant coach and two World Juniors gold medals as an assistant coach with USA Hockey, will be the new men’s hockey coach at the University of Minnesota, multiple sources tell The Athletic. An announcement is expected Tuesday.

Michael Russo – The Athletic

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲. 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱. 〽

Coach Larson brings 150+ wins and NCAA Tournament experience to the Maroon and Gold.

The next chapter of Minnesota Hockey starts now. 🔴🟡

🗒:https://t.co/guWcZt2omn pic.twitter.com/CmsuFKC5Pn

— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) March 24, 2026

Back in 2018, when Coyle hired Bob Motzko off the same St. Cloud State University campus, it was Larson who the Huskies hired in Bob’s place.

Now, just short of a decade later, that same U of M athletic director again looked just an hour and a half up on I-94 West for his the 12th (non-interim) Minnesota Gophers varsity men’s hockey coach.

Reportedly joining Larson behind the bench in Dinkytown will be UST assistant Cory Laylin and longtime NHL forward (and SCSU alum) Matt Cullen.

NCAAM

Rumor mill hearing that when and if Brett Larson is named HC at the U of M, he will tab former Gopher Cory Laylin and Matt Cullen as two of his assistant coaches.

Laylin is an assistant at UST
Cullen's resume as a hockey mind, builder of talent and winner is unmatched pic.twitter.com/bN3ScxWdtv

— YHH (@YouthHockeyHub) March 24, 2026

Gopher hockey looking to Brett Larson to win first Natty since 2003

Though men’s ice hockey has been played in one form or fashion at the University of Minnesota, going back before the turn of the 19th century, the Minnesota Gophers varsity men’s hockey program, as we know it today, was first founded 105 years ago, during the 2021-22 men’s college hockey season.

In the 10.5 decades since, the Gophers have employed 12 different full-time head coaches (plus three interims). Seven of those head coaches have played for National Championships. Yet, only two have ever brought home the title… and both did it multiple times — Herb Brooks (1974, 1976, 1979) and Don Lucia (2002, 2003).

Will Brett Larson be the third? Well, I’m not so sure he would have been the first choice of many Minnesota Gophers fans and alumni.

Pretty hard to ignore the reaction on here from the Gophers fan base on the decision to hire Brett Larson as the new head coach of men's hockey. pic.twitter.com/8hy7yZq9Yj

— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) March 24, 2026

Larson’s SCSU program went 153-116-23 during his eight seasons as Huskies head coach, including four NCAA Tournaments and one Frozen Four (2020-21) — a historic Huskie postseason run that ended in a National Championship loss, which would have been SCSU’s first.

What makes this hire somewhat concerning is St. Cloud’s step back of late, under Larson, as a top D1 program in men’s college hockey. Not only have the Huskies missed three-straight NCAA Tournaments, they’ve finished with losing records the last two years — which hadn’t been done previously at SCSU since the 1994-94 and 1995-96 seasons.

Cannot overlook how bad SCSU campus has gotten

However, it’s important to note that, while other state campuses around Minnesota continue to (at least try) and keep up with other major Universities both in-state and out, the St. Cloud State University campus continues to deteriorate with every year that goes by.

And I say that as a St. Cloud State graduate. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be trying to recruit kids to SCSU, compared to the University of Minnesota, or even UND, UMD, MSU and now St. Thomas.

Since 2010, when I was a junior at SCSU, there were an all-time high 18,650 students enrolled on campus. In 2025, that number has been cut in half, all the way down (47.3%) to a ghastly 9,646 students.

Budget deficits and campus mismanagement at every level of the administration has caused the school to cut dozens of programs and degrees, putting St. Cloud State in serious trouble, considering not that long ago, it was far and away Minnesota’s largest state University.

In a 2024 article at the Star Tribune titled, “What happened to St. Cloud State University,” numbers show that campus numbers at SCSU are falling faster than every other state school in Minnesota, and it’s not close. Meanwhile, Duluth has seen only a slight decline, while Mankato’s student population has actually INCREASED.

Brett Larson’s recruiting/coaching life with Gophers will be much easier than Huskies

It would undoubtedly make winning on the recruiting trail extremely difficult for ANY major men’s hockey coach trying to compete for top high school and transfer portal talent against six other D1 college hockey schools in the same state and a dozen within a 400-mile radius.

So while I don’t expect the Larson hire to be a popular one, I do think it’s worth waiting to see what he and his highly-touted assistants can make happen in Dinkytown over the next few seasons. Because his recent showings up I-94 could be much more a product of his situation, than his coaching.

There aren’t a lot of college hockey coaches nationwide who garner as much respect from their peers as Brett Larson, which undoubtedly played into Coyle’s decision. Not only does he have Team USA hockey coaching experience, going all the way back to Junior selects in 2012.

Larson is a University of Duluth hockey alum who assisted in building the school’s decade-long hockey dynasty, as an assistant coach on staff from 2008-2011 and 2015-2018.

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