Departing Minnesota Coach Looks Back, and Looks Ahead
by Adam Wodon/Managing Editor (@chn-adam-wodon)
Bob Motzko stepped down as Minnesota coach earlier this week. The move was termed a “mutual agreement” by the school.
Motzko has declined to discuss the direct set of circumstances leading up to the decision. But we caught up with him here to discuss a number of other related topics.
It’s safe to say, however, that he was on the fence about retiring, but after a few discussions with athletic director Mark Coyle, decided that now was a good time. Recruiting these days is a young man’s game, and Motzko will be 65 next week. Not old by any means these days, however, in college hockey circles, it apparently is.
The idea, however, that Motzko was not willing to adapt to the current landscape is folly (my words, not his). This season was not a great one for the Gophers, as everyone knows. But it’s one year removed from five straight NCAA Tournament bids, and came after Minnesota had a ton of offseason departures, especially up front. Re-tool years happen. Minnesota didn’t dip into the pool of high-end Major Junior players to replace the departures — not because Motzko was unwilling to, but because his freshman class that was already recruited was so strong. Of course, the Gophers coaching staff was prepared to use all the same recruiting tactics going forward as any other Big Ten school.
But Motzko says he leaves without bitterness, after some good discussions with Coyle. And he has every reason to be proud of his career.
Motzko has placed 25 players in the National Hockey League, and no other current coach can come close to that. There’s every reason to believe his current freshman class will have some NHL players as well.
But time marches on. Minnesota hockey has been fine, and will be fine.
CHN: You feel good where things are?
Motzko: Forty-two years I’ve been at this, and I’ve enjoyed the entire run. No one wants to go out with that season, and I’ve never had that before. But it happened. It hurts that it happened, we didn’t want it to happen. But we didn’t have the misery ship. Our kids stayed incredibly together. There were some Sundays that were awful, but by Wednesday we were back in love with our group again. And our leadership stayed strong. We were a lot closer to being a helluva lot better than where it was. But that’s sports. Credit to our players and staff. You could complain when you had a bad year. You never heard that once out of us. I give our group an enormous amount of credit.
CHN: There’s nothing wrong with a re-tool year. It’s safe to say it’s not like you didn’t know the landscape was changing?
Motzko: We lost 214 points of guys that could’ve been back. And in 13 games, we needed to score one more goal. Gopher hockey, getting to three (goals) is usually not a problem. This was a blip on the screen. And a lot of times you hear it’s goaltending — it was not goaltending. Luca (Di Pasquo)’s going to be a helluva goaltender. We made young mistakes on turnovers. I’ll take 100 percent of the blame. (But) we didn’t forget what we were doing.
CHN: And the program is in good shape going forward?
Motzko: The Gophers are one of the greatest hockey programs in the country. It’s craziness out there (in recruiting), but there’s a great group coming back. We have outstanding recruits lined up. They gotta put some final touches on some things. And they’ll get the right person in there. And I don’t think anyone should worry about the Minnesota Gophers.
CHN: You’ve always been the one who stayed positive about this new landscape, that it was all going to work out for college hockey.
Motzko: It is gonna work out. No question everyone has to adjust because you have to win now. So you better adjust to it. But it’s transactional a lot of times now. Recruiting used to be a fun game, and now you can go buy players. And Minnesota is very well set up to do that. They’re in a great spot. We were already doing it.
CHN: In the general state of college hockey, is it healthy this is happening?
Motzko: It’s the way it is. Is it healthy? If we can get growth in our sport for more programs, it’s going to be a 100 percent success. And we should have that. What we just saw happen with the Olympics and all the excitement, and the excitement around our country. We’ve added to the player pool. If this could lead to the growth of our sport, it’s a great success, and I think people should still have that dream and ambition. It looks like the attendance has been great at on-campus playoffs. Attendance has been incredible at our place when we’ve been home. We’re watching that in the NCHC. The Frozen Four is still a great crowd. People still want to talk about the one week, the Regional, whether it goes back (to campus) or not, that’s such a boring subject to me. Whatever. Fix the Regionals, go on campus, whatever, I’m for all of it.
CHN: The cutthroat nature out there now. In order for the next guy not to lose their job, you have to be.
Motzko: Yes. It’s there. Is it good or bad? It’s bad to the kid you are cutting. But fans don’t care, they just want you to win, and they want you to be successful. It is what it is. We’re five years behind football and basketball. We’ll never get to that financial level. And you can blame the school, but it’s everyone. It’s now in the water, and it’s the norm. There are no rules right now. And hopefully one day for the sake of all college sports, you get some sanity back into it.
CHN: Reflect on your time in college hockey. There’s a lot to be proud of.
Motzko: When you do reflect back, it’s your friendships, your relationships. I run into former players and they’re now dads and coaching youth hockey, and I always (appreciated that). Coaching young players keeps you young, it’s vibrant. I’ve been fortunate back in Minnesota, I live here, born and raised here, and a lot of the players I’ve coached all live here. And the camaraderie in our business, that’s what you take with you at the end. I wish we won that game in Tampa Bay, and I wish we won the one in Boston, but I liked the one we won in Montreal (at the World Juniors). I didn’t like this year, but that’s sports. Every coach and every athlete will tell you, you’re in this battle to battle. It’s an adrenaline rush. It’s a drug.
CHN: Is there a fondest win?
Motzko: How many? There are so many. I won a championship in the USHL as a player and coach. But the one I like the most is the one where I played (in 1981 with Dubuque). You’re connected with those players forever. We still get together. A handful came to one of my games recently. Jim Grillo (who played at Western Michigan), Dennis Gibbons was an all-American at Bemidji. Brian Collins and Mike “Bulldog” Carlson were incredible. Chris Guy was a great D-man at Lake State.
CHN: What now? Do you keep the juices going somehow or sit back and go fishing?
Motzko: I don’t think I’ll sit back and go fishing. I know I’m not going to look at a scoreboard right now. I don’t know. I couldn’t be more fortunate that I’m in a great situation, and we’ll see where it goes. Though I’m 65 and everyone wants to make it sound like you’re old, I don’t feel old.