ST. CLOUD — St. Cloud State Interim President Larry Dietz credits local lawmakers and state officials for $12.8 million worth of upgrades that are coming to the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
In June, the state Legislature approved the funds to replace the refrigeration system for the arena’s two rinks. The outdated R-22 system was installed when the building opened in 1989.
“Our hockey program is really stellar, but if you don’t have ice, you don’t have hockey,” Dietz said in a Thursday, July 31, interview with St. Cloud LIVE. “If you don’t have a chiller, you don’t have ice.
“So there is no sport where you suit up and put your skates on — and then go out swimming — and that’s what happens if you don’t have chillers … So that chiller is a big deal.”
The funds came after more than six years of asking lawmakers for the money. Dietz said the area’s legislators and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system officials made the deal possible.
The university is still getting bids on the cost to replace the chillers, so no timeline is in place yet for when the work will begin, according to Dietz.
Dietz also addressed questions on whether the university would ever bring back it’s football program, which was cut in 2019 when
was serving as the school’s president.
“The costs have gone up on all of that, and part of the reason we ended the program is that we couldn’t afford it,” Dietz told St. Cloud LIVE.
He added that he has spoken with a group of alumni interested in bringing football back to St. Cloud State.
“They would need to come up with a pretty good chunk of change, because we just don’t have that internally to do that,” Dietz said. “But you know, you learn things out of conversations, and so I’m always open to those conversations.”
The
football team played at Husky Stadium, which opened in 2004. Since the football program was cut, the 4,400-seat stadium has been used for women’s and men’s soccer and now softball. The stadium is more heavily used in the winter under the Husky Dome.
A look from the stands at Husky Stadium at the setup for St. Cloud State’s softball field.
SCSU Athletics
Dietz was named interim university president in July 2024. Dietz said he will leave the position at the end of the fall semester. The search to find SCSU’s next permanent president has already started, according to Minn. State Chancellor Scott Olson.
The 2025-26 school year begins on Aug. 25.
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