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HOCKEY
DON GONE
Men’s hockey head coach Don Lucia stepped down Tuesday after 19 years. BY DREW COVE dcove@mndaily.com
After 19 years on the job, Don Lucia is gone. The former men’s hockey head coach will remain as a special assistant to athletics director Mark Coyle until June 30, 2019. “In my mind, I kind of knew where I was at,” Lucia said. “I knew the last month or two, even when things were going well.”
Lucia and Coyle held a press conference Tuesday following the announcement and Lucia was content about his decision. Though he will not return behind the bench, he will spearhead the fundraising needed for the weight room at 3M Arena at Mariucci until his contract expires on June 30, 2019. Lucia was hired in 1999 and shortly became just the second head coach at Minnesota to win a national title with the Gophers. He won the national championship back-to-back seasons in 2002 and 2003, with 2002’s victory in front of a Twin Cities crowd at the Xcel Energy Center. Beyond his national championships with the Gophers, he led the team to five Frozen Four appearances, eight conference championships and 13 trips to the NCAA Tournament. Before his exit as coach, the Gophers had an unlikely path to missing the NCAA Tournament after the program’s first season not at the top of the Big Ten. This season’s absence in the tournament marks the second time in three seasons that Minnesota had not qualified. u See LUCIA Page 3
2
national titles; one in 2002 and one in 2003
13
trips to the NCAA Tournament with the Gophers
19 457
years coached at Minnesota, from 1999-2018
wins with Minnesota
‘He felt he had enough’ Who will replace Lucia? A former coach, players and fans of the team reflect on Lucia’s decision and legacy. BY JACK WARRICK jwarrick@mndaily.com
The winningest coach in Gophers men’s hockey history stepped down on Tuesday after 19 seasons at the helm. Those who played for head coach Don Lucia spoke of their admiration for the coach, while some fans of the team expressed frustrations with Lucia’s performance. “I’ve always tried to do it the right way,” Lucia said at Tuesday’s press conference. “For the most part, we did a lot of good things and that’s what I remember. I’m sure a lot more people are going to like me now that I’m not coaching, but I’ve always tried to hold my head high and I’ve always tried to do it the right way.” Lucia named Doug Woog as someone who helped him with the transition. Woog was the head coach of Minnesota for the 14 years before Lucia’s hiring. Woog stepped down after the 1998-99 season. “I think he felt he had enough,” Woog said of Lucia leaving. “It’s never ending. I mean, it’s the same pressure the next week, then the next week, then the next week.” Minnesota won two national championships in Lucia’s tenure as the head coach. He also coached over 80 Minnesota players drafted by the NHL.
Two of those players, Jordan Leopold and John Pohl, were coached by both Woog and Lucia. Leopold and Pohl spoke on KFAN radio Wednesday morning about Lucia stepping down. “I’m happy for him that he was here that long, had all the success he had and affected so many lives,” Pohl told KFAN’s Paul Allen. “I feel bad for him that he kind of had to go out the way it ended by not making the NCAA Tournament.” Pohl said Lucia is a players’ coach. “We just put five guys over the boards that would play hard and play together and he was cool with that,” Pohl told KFAN. “I really appreciate that, just kind of letting the players play.” Lucia’s tenure ended with less sparkle than it started out with — failing to make five of the last 10 NCAA tournaments, including in his last season with the Gophers. The 3M Arena at Mariucci experienced dropping attendance in the last years of his tenure. “I think Don is somewhat relieved, in a way,” Leopold told KFAN. “Talking to him the last couple years, I could sense the tone in his voice where he knew [it] was coming to an end.” Reilly Tegan, a senior at the University of Minnesota, said he’s only been a fan of Minnesota men’s hockey with Lucia as the coach, since he was so young when Lucia was hired. u See REACTION Page 3
The St. Cloud State head coach and a Gophers assistant are possible options for the team. BY DREW COVE dcove@mndaily.com
The Gophers are replacing a head coach for the first time in almost 20 years. Minnesota has had five head coaches since 1972, though that number will soon be six. Former head coach Don Lucia stepped down Tuesday, which opened up the role for the first time since 1999. It is now up to athletics director Mark Coyle to find a replacement; here are some names he could consider. There have been no official reports of the athletics program reaching out to any potential replacements thus far.
Bob Motzko - current head coach of St. Cloud State Bob Motzko is a familiar face for Minnesota. Motzko was an assistant coach under Lucia from 2001-05, helping Minnesota to its first two national championships since 1979. After his time at Minnesota, he moved to his alma mater, St. Cloud State, where he has coached for the last 13 years. Motzko has had one of his most successful seasons with the Huskies in 2017-18. He led the team to sit at No. 1 in the nation for much of the season, and kept them in
contention to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament that starts Friday. Motzko also coached the last two World Junior Championship teams for the United States. The team won gold in 2017 and Motzko coached Gophers forward Casey Mittelstadt on the 2018 team. In an interview with the St. Cloud Times on Tuesday, Motzko declined to comment on the Gophers’ opening.
Grant Potulny - current head coach, Northern Michigan Just a season ago, Grant Potulny was an assistant coach on Lucia’s staff. Before that, Potulny played at Minnesota under Lucia and graduated in 2004, after two national championships and three years as a captain. Potulny helped Minnesota’s offense garner success in his time as an assistant from 2009-17. Also, he posted a 19-7-2 record with Northern Michigan this season, his first as a head coach.
Mike Guentzel - current associate head coach, Minnesota Mike Guentzel has been a fixture around the Minnesota program ever since he suited up as a defenseman for the first time in 1981. After that, he went on to coach United States Hockey League teams, then he became an assistant at Minnesota under former head coach Doug Woog in 1994. He remained an assistant for the Gophers u See REPLACEMENT Page 3
CFANS
New CFANS position hopes to diversify student population at University CFANS hopes to get diverse youth across Minn. engaged in agricultural education. BY LEW BLANK lblank@mndaily.com
A former University of Minnesota student was hired this month to get precollege students of color more involved in agricultural education at the University of Minnesota, where 68 percent of the student body is white. Earlier this month, the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences created the Partnership Outreach Coordinator position and hired Brandon Roiger, a 2016 University graduate. The position was created to build partnerships between CFANS and youth organizations across the state of Minnesota in order to eradicate disparities in the University’s agricultural education program. “The basic premise of it is to engage new, nontraditional and diverse audiences and to generate increased interest in food, agriculture and natural resource careers,” Roiger said. “It’s really encouraging to see that the
University is putting a priority on it to serve our state.” According to fall 2017 enrollment data from the Office of Institutional Research, 72 percent of CFANS students are white, compared to 68 percent for the University as a whole. Roiger hopes to make CFANS’ demographics more diverse by working directly with pre-college students from underrepresented backgrounds in the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota. Although only a few weeks into the position, Roiger has already begun work on the Grow North project, an initiative to engage multicultural students in north Minneapolis with food and agricultural issues. The students, who are almost entirely students of color, have done hands-on CFANS-related work involving planting potatoes, making soda pop, cutting pineapples and planting trees. “There’s … a whole array of career opportunities that most youth in a low-income community would have no knowledge of,” said Michael Chaney, the creator of the Grow North project. “The work that [Roiger] is doing is growing the next generation of u See CFANS Page 3
COURTESY OF BRANDON ROIGER
Khafre Jackson cuts a pineapple in an ecology class at Minneapolis North Community High School. The University of Minnesota recently hired Brandon Roiger, a former student, to work with the Growing North Project, an initiative to get Minneapolis high schoolers of color involved in environmental issues.
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