SIOUX FALLS — Garrett Raboin’s decision to remain with the Augustana hockey team sent shockwaves across the college hockey landscape on Friday.
The 40-year-old coach had been widely considered to be the leading candidate to become Bob Motzko’s successor at the University of Minnesota, where he’d spent four years serving as an assistant under Motzko before starting the Vikings’ program from scratch in 2022.
However, on Friday night, Augustana athletic director Josh Morton posted a photo on social media standing alongside Raboin from just inside the home team’s bench area at Midco Arena.
“Our Coach. Now and for years to come – LET’S GO,” Morton’s post read.
It quickly spread far and wide, leaving many mystified as to what went into Raboin’s decision to remain in Sioux Falls and remove his name from the hat for one of the premier jobs in college hockey.
On Monday, I caught up with Raboin to talk about his decision to stay at Augustana.
While he didn’t confirm or deny whether or not U of M athletic director Mark Coyle had officially offered him the job, Raboin made it clear that there was interest and that he had begun to explore the opportunity.
“Obviously there are different things out there in this crazy world of college hockey that we’re living in,” Raboin said. “Just like our players, different opportunities come and go, but for me, my family and our hockey program, I can say honestly that my focus was to be as committed and respectful of them, especially in the time that we were living in. You have to explore. I think when different opportunities arise, you have a responsibility in a sense to explore it and evaluate your own situation, and ultimately for me, my wife, Emily, and our three children, we felt like Augustana was our place.
“It’s about what’s happened here over the last four years from someone who arrived to a campus he knew very little about, a community that he knew very little about, hoping and believing that really good things can happen here and that you can lay down roots and become a part of a community and a university. It’s the warmth of how Augustana and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has delivered on every single front.”
Augustana coach Garrett Raboin smiles from behind the bench during a game against Long Island on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, at Midco Arena in Sioux Falls.
Dave Eggen / Inertia
In a day and age where pursuing the next big opportunity has increasingly become the norm, Raboin still believes strongly in the opportunity he has in Sioux Falls.
Throughout his time at Augustana, Raboin has shown that loyalty is of high value, and it’s been reciprocated by players and school administrators alike.
Last offseason, the Vikings were one of five Division I programs that didn’t lose a single player to the transfer portal. In fact, Augustana has yet to lose a point in production to the portal in each of its two offseasons since it first took the ice in 2022.
While the private university isn’t obligated to share the terms of Raboin’s contract with the public, it’s apparent that Morton and others were committed to holding up their end of the bargain by ensuring resources needed in order to succeed.
“I think when things happen in college athletics nowadays, it’s a great opportunity to have healthy conversations about where you’re at, where you’re going and where the vision is,” Raboin said. “Everyone at Augustana was just incredible through it all, and that’s not just administratively but also those in the community, our players, our staff.
“Everything was handled and the communications we were able to have were so reaffirming. … It was really important that a decision was made in a timely manner.”
Augustana coach Garrett Raboin draws up a play during practice Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, at Midco Arena in Sioux Falls.
Trent Singer / Sioux Falls Live
No life-changing decisions are made easily, nor are they done without considering how everyone involved would be affected.
For Raboin, that includes his wife, Emily, and their three children.
A year ago, I asked Raboin at the end of our one-on-one interview following the conclusion of the season about how he liked living in Sioux Falls. His eyes widened as he spoke glowingly about his community.
On Monday, Raboin reiterated those comments.
“There’s just a belief that this is where I’m called to be, and our family is so happy here,” said Raboin, who turns 41 on Friday. “From when I accepted the job at Augustana, questions have always been asked, and I’ve been completely transparent and completely honest in the way I’ve answered all of those questions. People have looked at me and maybe thought that I was just saying what was the most respectful and easiest thing at that time. These are conversations we have in recruiting frequently and with families of young men who are committing to come to our university, and I don’t shy away from them. Part of that is extremely flattering, but I was completely honest. There’s things I was committed to through that.
“There’s a belief in a continued build at Augustana. There’s reasons why Augustana and the Sioux Falls community is a place I find greater belief in. As time passes, this is a hockey program that I believe can win. This university attracts student-athletes that are most important in that process that I believe we can win with and continue to elevate our men’s hockey program, but outside of the job of being the head coach of this program, this is one of the best communities in the United States. … Our family, which is most important to me in all of this, is completely fulfilled here, and that’s a big part of it. It’s not something I knew when I got to town. Many told me, but after four years of calling Sioux Falls home, we understand it.”
Team USA assistant coach Garrett Raboin and alternate captain Gabe Perreault celebrate after defeating Finland 4-3 in overtime in the gold-medal game at the IIHF World Junior Championship on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Canada.
Contributed / USA Hockey
Raboin says he also reached out to incoming recruits and their families in the days following Wednesday’s news that Motzko and the U of M had mutually agreed to part ways.
Part of that is integral to the character of a coach who served three seasons on the leadership team as a player under Motzko at St. Cloud State, but he also recognizes the obvious discomfort his recruits were experiencing as they weighed the possibility of a potential coaching change.
“It was also important for me to communicate what I was feeling in my heart, my belief in Augustana, my belief in our hockey program, why I’m making certain decisions and how that impacts them,” Raboin said. “The biggest thing was a belief that Augustana hockey can win. We can continue to make the strides needed to afford our student-athletes the opportunity to have an incredible collegiate experience while developing them to chase their dreams of playing in the National Hockey League.”
Scoreboard watching & what lies ahead
Amid the uncertainty over their coach potentially leaving for a different job, the Vikings’ season wasn’t even officially finished.
Going into Saturday’s final day of conference tournament action, Augustana needed three games to fall its way in order to secure the final at-large bid in the NCAA tournament.
The Vikings got the first win they needed Saturday night when Dartmouth knocked off Princeton 2-1 in overtime in the ECAC championship game. However, Merrimack’s 2-1 victory over Connecticut in the Hockey East final effectively ended Augustana’s season at 22-11-4.
Michigan’s 7-3 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game meant that the Vikings were the first team left out of the national tourney field, finishing just outside the cut line at No. 15 in the NCAA Percentage Index.
Augustana players huddle around goalie Josh Kotai prior to the start of a game against Ferris State on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, at Midco Arena in Sioux Falls.
Peyton Bartsch Photography
Raboin says the players were together as they watched Saturday’s action, while he and his staff watched with their families.
“The way Friday played out, we were excited in the sense that we lived to Saturday, and you’re looking at three different games where you need the top seeds to hold in each scenario,” Raboin said. “We got through Dartmouth in overtime, one down, and then you start watching the second game. You follow the first game so closely, and then how it all ends, you don’t have a lot of juice left to watch the second game, right? But UConn was playing well enough that you weren’t concerned that they were down 1-0 because there was so much time left on the clock.
“You get in the third period, and the anxiety slowly starts to creep. But you always have hope, and for us, there was so much belief. And when you have hope, you never envision a world where it doesn’t work out, even up until the point when Merrimack comes down with an empty net. And all of a sudden, they missed the net. Like, that was crazy. As a coach, you’ve seen so many different things, you think it’s just Disney. … Those final seconds tick off the clock, and you’re watching Merrimack celebrate. What a fantastic run for those guys, but then your mind just shifts to ‘Shoot, our Sunday’s changed, and we’re going to have to wrap up this season and begin to celebrate our seniors.’ You turn your mind’s eye toward putting some finality to a season that had so much positive, but it’s tough to see it end.”
Now, the focus for Raboin shifts to the program’s third full offseason.
Four seniors will graduate from the 2025-26 team, and the upward trajectory continues for a program that won 12 games in year one, 18 in year two and 22 in year three.
Augustana goalie Josh Kotai looks on after making a save against St. Thomas in a CCHA Mason Cup semifinal Saturday, March 14, 2026, at Lee and Penny Anderson Arena in St. Paul, Minn.
Trent Singer / Sioux Falls Live
The exceptional play of goalie Josh Kotai could lead to a professional opportunity in the near future.
On Friday, the junior from Abbotsford, British Columbia, was named one of three finalists for the Mike Richter Award, which is given annually to the top goaltender in Division I men’s hockey.
Kotai, who was named the 2025-26 CCHA Player of the Year, finished his junior season with a 20-11-4 record, 1.99 goals-against average and .938 save percentage.
“There’s other conversations that some of our athletes are working through in terms of opportunities beyond Augustana, which I want to be as supportive as possible in all of those,” Raboin said. “As time passes, in the upcoming weeks, you begin to have your player meetings and learn as much as you can in terms of how we can best support them through an offseason. … As I’ve said before, the days of the coach going to Florida to get some rest and relaxation, that doesn’t exist, so we’re back at it.
“We met with the team on Sunday. The staff’s all here discussing different recruiting trips and player conversations, and you move forward quickly.”
Augustana coach Garrett Raboin takes in action during a game against Bemidji State on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, at Midco Arena in Sioux Falls.
Peyton Bartsch Photography
There’s no telling where the Vikings’ bench boss will end up down the road, but for now, Raboin remains steadfast in his current spot in Sioux Falls.
A bit fitting, isn’t it?
A city that barely knew about the game of hockey before Motzko arrived in 1999 as the first-ever coach of the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede is now entering its fourth year as the flagship of Division I hockey in South Dakota, steered by a coach who’s eternally grateful for his longtime mentor.
“I hope he has so much pride in what he’s been able to accomplish,” Raboin said about Motzko, who won 172 games and appeared in two Frozen Fours during his eight years at the helm of the Gophers’ program. “What a tremendous man, what a tremendous coach. How he’s elevated different programs that he’s had the opportunity to be at the helm of and all of those people he’s been able to impact, I don’t know if there’s anyone more than myself.
“You just want to talk to him and express your appreciation and try to celebrate him and let him know how much he means to so many, the impact he’s had on not just me personally but the teams I was able to be a part of at St. Cloud State, the different staffs over the 10 years I was able to work for him with, what he’s meant to me and my family and just so many. What an incredible man and an incredible career in our sport.”