MINNEAPOLIS — Back when Brett Larson was slinging baby formula, he never could have envisioned that he’d be standing in Athletes Village at the University of Minnesota accepting the prestigious job of coaching the Golden Gophers men’s hockey team.
But before Scott Sandelin hired Larson as assistant coach at University of Minnesota-Duluth and abruptly ended his budding medical sales career, the quickest thing Larson learned was that sales is mostly about people liking you and relationships.
“A little bit like coaching, too, right?” Larson, the Duluth native and former UMD defenseman, said Tuesday afternoon, moments after posing with athletic director Mark Coyle and a Gophers jersey.
In those days, Larson would play Tuesday night hockey with Joe Dziedzic and other Gophers alums at Parade Ice Garden. After games, they’d go to Green Mill at 10:30 at night for pizza and beers. As they finished, Larson would order a big, steaming-hot pizza pie, then go to United Hospital to feed the night nurses.
It didn’t take long to turn United from an Enfamil Infant Formula hospital to a Similac Infant Formula hospital.
His company car was a sweet Chrysler 300. His first car as a Duluth assistant coach was a PT Cruiser. It didn’t help with recruiting. Larson still remembers Derek Forbort giving him the cold shoulder once he saw the car.
“No wonder we didn’t get Forbs,” Sandelin joked of Forbort, who went to North Dakota.
Larson’s gotten a lot better at recruiting since, which is a big reason the Gophers decided to make him Bob Motzko’s successor for the second time. Eight years ago, after being an assistant coach for the NCAA champion Bulldogs for a second time, Larson replaced Motzko at St. Cloud State when Motzko landed the Gophers job.
“He’s given me two programs in a row, and they’re darn good when I get there,” said Larson, 53. “It’s just so hard to believe that eight years ago, I mean, I was driving down 35 and making a right at Hinckley and Bob was driving down 94 and heading down this way pretty much the same time.”
Brett Larson’s ability to build connections was a key factor in getting the Minnesota offer. (Courtesy of SCSU Athletics)
One of Coyle’s first calls last Wednesday, after the Gophers and Motzko mutually parted ways, was to Larson. He didn’t want to get off the phone. In fact, every call he had with Larson in the subsequent days was the same. He said Larson was that engaging.
Then every call Coyle and his search committee made during their due diligence kept leading back to Larson.
David Carle. Pat Micheletti. Lou Nanne. Everyone raved about Larson, the coach and the person.
“He truly loved it at St. Cloud, but the time was right for that next step,” said Micheletti, the former Gophers great who broadcast games at St. Cloud State during Larson’s tenure.
That’s why, when Carle was tabbed to coach the 2024 and 2025 U.S. World Juniors teams that won gold, his first thought was Larson when he needed a coach to run the power play.
“Having coached against him for a number of years, I just had a lot of respect for how they operated on the power play,” said Carle, the head coach at the University of Denver. “Not only their basic structure, but also ability to adjust and adapt to different things always made it challenging for our penalty kill. But, you know, we got to know each other and I’ve always known him to be a really good guy in person. And when you work an event, you want it to be with people you enjoy being around.
“He’s just a really genuine person. Brett makes whoever he’s talking to feel really important. He’s got this way about him where he can build relationships and trust with players. He gets very invested into the players and into the teams and just has an eye for the game.”
Coyle loved the fact that Larson has been part of three gold medal-winning staffs and four staffs that went to the national championship game, winning two and losing two. In fact, when the Bulldogs won the NCAA title in St. Paul in 2018 during Larson’s second stint at UMD after Sandelin hired him back from the Buckeyes, they beat Ohio State in the semis. There was a pride for Larson that he helped recruit players from both teams.
Sandelin used to run hockey camps in the summer and he invited Larson and Brett Hauer as alums to come back and help with defense. He didn’t really know Larson at all.
“The one thing that always stood out for me was how he worked with the players,” Sandelin said. “So when it came time to hire an assistant coach, I wanted an alumni and I just always remembered that about Brett, just the way he communicated with the kids, his personality with the kids.
“I just loved the way he interacted with the kids at the camp, and it was the same thing when he got here. He brings that passion, but he worked hard and really made a name for himself, especially in the recruiting world. I can’t tell you how many compliments I’d get from people that would just see him on the road recruiting and how hard he worked to get players for us.”
After three years, Larson left to coach Sioux City in the USHL. He felt like he needed head coaching experience if he were to advance.
“I said, ‘Just stay here and keep doing what we’re doing. Let’s try and win another one,’” Sandelin said. “But he left, and after he ended up at Ohio State with (Steve Rohlik), I, fortunately, got him back again. He wanted to get head coaching experience, and so he went to Sioux City. And obviously that didn’t last long. Part of that was ownership, right? Right. And then he went with Rawls to Ohio State and you know, fortunately, I got him back again.”
Larson was with the Bulldogs another three years until St. Cloud State’s then-AD Heather Weems called Sandelin to ask about Larson.
“I said, ‘This is your guy,’” Sandelin said. “He’s a hard worker, he’s detailed, he’s a good person, he relates with the players. I always joke with him, ‘It’s easy to be an assistant. They can always get along with the players.’ But even as a head coach, the one thing that attracted me to him when I didn’t really know him, he’s just got this way of relating to any type of player. I’m kind of an outside-the-box guy. I haven’t really hired a lot of guys that always have experience. I just want good people and Brett was one of those, and look at him now.”
Nanne — the former North Stars player, coach and GM, not to mention Gophers legend — was on the Gophers search committee.
Coyle made the final decision, but Nanne had a large input.
“The guy’s got experience at a bunch of different places that he’s done exceedingly well at. He’s a good recruiter, a personable guy and an excellent coach,” Nanne said. “And the people that have dealt with him talked very highly of him. His track record just shows that no matter where he’s gone, he’s been able to compete at a high level. Look at what he’s done with St. Cloud since he got there. For a small city like St. Cloud that has to fight six teams in Minnesota to recruit, he still comes away with top players and a terrific product. He coaches a structured, sound overall game.”
“I think he’s the perfect guy,” said former Gophers captain Brock Faber, who was coached by Larson at the 2022 Olympics. “He’ll be a great, great coach for the Gophers. You see, the game changes a lot. He’s a smart coach. I think he teaches the game the right way. He thinks it’s important to develop these kids the right way to give them opportunities to play in the NHL. He’s one of those guys that cares more about the people than the player. That’s what’s special about him. He’s going to do great. That’s an awesome hire for them.”
Some diehards weren’t happy the Gophers didn’t hire an alum like Grant Potulny, the former Gophers national championship hero and assistant coach. Talking generally — not about Potulny specifically, he insisted — Nanne said, “You go get the best coach that you think that’s going to make you win. If it’s an alum, it’s a bonus.
“When I go and see the football team, I don’t care where the coach and players are from; all I want to do is see them win. That’s what I expect from the hockey team. If you’re a Minnesota diehard, you want to see your team win the championship. You want to see your team be the best. Whoever is there that can do that, that’s who you’re supporting.”
Added Micheletti: “No matter who you hired, there’s always going to be naysayers. My advice to Brett would be to not listen to the noise, and do your job and have that trust in what you have and the trust of the staff that you’re hiring and show them. Just show them how good you are. Fans will love him, trust me. But no matter who you’re hiring, there’s always going to be, ‘Well, why not that guy?’
“Personally, I thought Brett checked all of the boxes — great coach, dealing with alumni, dealing with donors, dealing with the media, which is a crucial part, and he’s exceptional at. A great recruiter, ability to delegate responsibility, whether it be with the academic side, whether it be with the compliance side, being able to work with those types of people and understand what their jobs are and letting them do their jobs. Those are the benchmarks of being a good coach.”
Brett Larson spent eight years as head coach at St. Cloud State before taking the Gophers job. (Courtesy of SCSU Athletics)
Larson immediately got to work on Tuesday. His first calls were to Brodie Ziemer (who attended the news conference) and LJ Mooney to begin the process of trying to keep them. He then held a team meeting where he began trying to start fostering relationships.
Larson will immediately begin work to fill out his staff. First, he’ll meet with the current staff. Paul Martin, the Gophers’ director of development, could move to full-time assistant. There’s even a chance Matt Cullen, whose sons Brooks and Wyatt are big incoming recruits, could join the staff, although he doesn’t have a degree. There’s also a good chance University of St. Thomas assistant coach Cory Laylin joins.
There are good returning players — Larson joked many attended the presser because they all want to be on the power play — and lots of top recruits, including two of the three Cullen brothers, Mace’o Phillips and Christian Humphreys.
“Bob had a good recruiting class coming in this year, so Brett’s going to benefit from that plus what he can bring in,” Nanne said. “They had a down year because they lost a half-dozen key players, but he’s got a great class of recruits coming in.”
The college landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. But Carle noted that no other college sport is dealing with as big a change as hockey since 60 Canadian Hockey League teams now have players eligible to play in the NCAA. There’s a lot to manage, and he feels Larson’s attention to detail and ability to build relationships will be a huge coup for Minnesota.
Larson is excited to get going as he hopes to return the Gophers back to true national contention. He told his new players not to take this for granted, to know every time they walk into Mariucci Arena, they’re walking into something special and are “playing for all the people that built this program before us, and all the people that put the bricks in the wall. And every day we come to the rink, we’re playing for something bigger than us.”
“This is the best opportunity in college hockey,” Larson said of coaching at Minnesota. “It’s the best tradition, the best culture. It’s got the best players. It’s got the best facilities. It’s the place you want to be as a coach. And I felt it was the best opportunity, because finally, I felt ready.”