Hall of Fame
St. Louis Park, Minn., native guided Minnesota State men's hockey program from 1969-2000...Amassed 536-335-79 record in 30 years of coaching Maverick men's hockey...His 536 career wins ranks 14th all-time amongst all U.S. college hockey coaches...Led MSU men's hockey program from fledgling independent program to NCAA Division III and Division II affiliation to NCAA Division I membership and membership in Western Collegiate Hockey Association (MSU's first year in the WCHA was his last year as a collegiate head coach as he retired at the conclusion of 1999-2000 season).
Named AHCA Coach in the Year in 1979...Mavericks made 11 NCAA postseason tournament finishes under his hand and finished third in NCAA Division II in 1977-78, second in DII in 1978-79 and led MSU to NCAA Division II title in 1980...Guided Mavericks to second-place finish in NCAA Division III in 1990-91...Named WCHA Coach of the Year in 1999-2000 after navigating the Mavericks to 21-14-1 mark and a fourth-place finish in inaugural year in Western Collegiate Hockey Association...Honored by the American Hockey Coaches Association with the John MacInnes Award in 2004.
Selected to a four-year term on the Board of Governors of the AHCA and was the AHCA President from 1992-94...A noted clinician, spent the 1983-84 season studying and learning European hockey techniques in Sweden. He also studied hockey in Russia for three weeks in 1976.
1962 Concordia College (Moorhead, Minn.) grad where he was a three-sport athlete, earning 12 varsity letters in hockey, baseball and football...Earned master’s degree in physical education from the University of Maryland in 1964 while coaching freshman baseball...Returned to Minnesota and assumed football and baseball coaching duties at Heron Lake (Minn.) High School before joining Minnesota State coaching staff in 1965...Was a baseball assistant to Jean McCarthy until 1974, but got his (and MSU’s) feet wet with the beginning of the hockey program in 1969.
Became just the 13th coach in NCAA men’s hockey history to record 500 or more wins on October 23, 1999 when the Mavericks downed Canisius, 11-3, in a home game played at the Midwest Wireless Civic Center.
