What others are saying about new Minnesota State Men's Hockey Coach Mike Hastings.
Mankato, Minn. --- Minnesota State University, Mankato officials have announced that Mike Hastings has been named head coach of the men’s hockey program.
"We are extremely pleased to introduce Mike Hastings as our new men’s hockey head coach," said Dr. Richard Davenport, MSU President. "Mike brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from his work as an assistant coach and associate head coach within the Division I hockey ranks and comes to us with a history of unprecedented success at the junior hockey level. He has demonstrated a great ability to identify talent and is committed to developing student-athletes on the ice, in the classroom and in the community. We’re excited to begin this new era of Maverick Hockey under his leadership."
Hastings, who becomes the third coach in the history of the Maverick men’s hockey program, arrives at MSU following a three-year stint as the associate head coach at Nebraska-Omaha. He also served as an assistant coach with the men’s hockey program at the University of Minnesota for one season and before that had a 14-year run as head coach of Omaha of the United States Hockey League. The USHL’s all-time winningest coach, Hastings compiled a 529-210-56 record with the Lancers, never had a losing season and led Omaha to three Clark Cup titles as the USHL’s play-off champions. He was named USHL Coach of the Year three times and as the team’s general manager, earned league GM of the Year honors five times.
Hastings, a 46-year old native of Crookston, Minn., was an assistant coach for the U.S. national junior team at the 2003 and 2005 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships and served twice as head coach for the U.S. junior select team that competed in the Viking Cup, earning gold medal honors in 2000.
A 1993 graduate of St. Cloud State, Hastings played two years for the Huskies before an injury ended his career.
"I am extremely excited to have been selected as head coach of the Minnesota State men’s hockey program," said Hastings. "During this process I’ve been struck by the University’s commitment and expectations for excellence and those will be our tenets moving forward. I believe we can win here and we’re thrilled to get started with this new era of Maverick Hockey."
A member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association since 1999-2000, Minnesota State has had men’s hockey since 1969-70. Don Brose led the program 1969 to 2000 and Troy Jutting served as head coach of the Mavericks from 2000-12.
"I would reiterate what the President has said about Mike’s preparedness to take over the leadership of our program," said Kevin Buisman, MSU Director of Athletics. "There is a tremendous opportunity at hand for Maverick Hockey and that was evident by the level of interest that others demonstrated in this position. Coach Hastings emerged from a highly competitive process as the individual we believed was most qualified to take us in the direction we want to go with in terms of fan interest, attendance, recruiting, and overall competitiveness. Throughout this process, President Davenport has demonstrated a renewed commitment to the future success of Maverick Hockey and has set a solid foundation for our boosters, donors, alumni, and community supporters to rally around. We need to embrace this change in a positive way, seize the moment, and begin to chart a course where excellence in our hockey program becomes the standard."
Buisman indicated that Hasting’s contract would be for four years at a salary of $225,000 per year with a portion of that funded privately. Buisman also said that Hastings will assume his responsibilities Monday, April 16.
A press conference has been scheduled at the Verizon Wireless Center Ellerbee Room for 10:15 a.m. on Monday, April 16, with a public reception for Coach Hastings to be announced at a later date.
Watch Monday's press conference
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