Apr. 21—GRAND FORKS — New UND head coach Dane Jackson has filled two of his three assistant coaching slots.
Jackson retained
Dillon Simpson as one full-time
assistant. He hired
Bryn Chyzyk to be the team’s general manager
for the second position.
Now, Jackson is looking for an associate head coach to round out his full-time staff.
The
position was posted on UND’s job board
last week. It closes at 11:55 p.m. Monday.
After that, UND’s human resource department will screen the applicants before sending the qualifiers to athletic director Bill Chaves and Jackson.
UND could begin interviews as soon as this week.
Considering the job is listed as an associate head coach — not an assistant — Jackson is likely looking for someone with a notable background.
It’s easy to start by looking at the other finalists for the UND head coaching job — Matt Smaby of the Waterloo Black Hawks, Jason Herter of Western Michigan and Nick Fohr of the U.S. National Team Development Program.
It’s unknown if any will apply, though.
Smaby has been Waterloo’s head coach in the United States Hockey League for four seasons. Prior to that, he was an assistant with Salzburg in Austria’s top league. He also was a student assistant at UND for two seasons,
where he impressed UND’s staff.
Would Smaby come back to Grand Forks as a top assistant or does he prefer remaining as a head coach?
Herter recently won an NCAA national championship as Western Michigan’s associate head coach. He also won two titles as an assistant at Minnesota Duluth.
Would Herter leave Western Michigan, where he could be the heir apparent if head coach Pat Ferschweiler ends up in the NHL soon?
Fohr has been with the NTDP for 14 seasons, the last three as a head coach. He also served as Omaha’s assistant for four years — two under Dean Blais.
Would he be interested in an assistant job when the NTDP has been a head-coaching fast-track position for guys like Seth Appert, Mike Eaves, Jeff Jackson, Dalton Cole, Adam Nightingale, Ron Rolston and John Wroblewski?
Beyond those three, there are several impressive coaches in the UND alumni ranks with varying levels of experience.
Brad Malone, a rookie head coach, has the Oshawa Generals in the third round (semifinals) of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.
Steve Johnson (Minnesota Crookston) has two Clark Cups as a head coach in the USHL. Colten St. Clair (Muskegon USHL) and Pierre-Paul Lamoureux (Calgary Flames pro scout) have won Clark Cups as associate head coaches. Jackson Keane (Fargo USHL) won one as an assistant. Evan Trupp (Muskegon USHL) led the Anchorage Wolverines to the North American Hockey League Robertson Cup Finals.
Hobey Baker Award finalist Jean-Philippe Lamoureux and former UND captain Andrew MacWilliam are expected to retire from lengthy playing careers and are destined to become coaches.
Jeff Ulmer is in the NHL with San Jose. His brother, Jason, worked as UND’s volunteer coach for four years. And Tyler Palmiscno has brought three state championships to East Grand Forks at the prep level.
Of course, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a UND-connected coach.
In 2015, then-coach Brad Berry looked outside the UND sphere and hired Matt Shaw, a former NHL assistant who was the head coach of the Dubuque Fighting Saints.
Prior to Shaw, the last UND full-time assistants who did not play for the school were Mark Osiecki (1996-97) and Jim Scanlan (1989-96).
Jackson has ties across the hockey world, especially from his lengthy professional playing career.
Perhaps he goes off the board and picks an old teammate or someone in professional hockey. There’s likely to be a wide range of candidates.
UND rushed to hire Chyzyk as the team’s general manager, so he could quickly begin helping to fill the Fighting Hawks’ roster for 2025-26.
This hire is not as urgent, especially with potential candidates still coaching their teams in the playoffs.
But the search is about to heat up.