Notebook: What's the latest at St. Cloud, can players who sign pro now return to school?
Plus: Landon Dupont considering NCAA hockey? Updates on Yale, Tennessee State, and more
With some unexpected travel to Sioux Falls last week, I’m still catching up on some news and notes from around the country.
So for today’s newsletter, I’m going to empty my notebook and play catch-up all in one issue.
The Huskies are moving quickly to fill their head coaching vacancy after Brett Larson departed for the Minnesota job last week.
Nick Oliver could emerge as the top candidate. Oliver, 34, is a young coach and alum who is currently on Mike Hastings’ staff at Wisconsin. That could complicate things from an announcement standpoint with Wisconsin in the Frozen Four, but I don’t think it would be out of the question to make the announcement and clarify that he would start at St. Cloud following the conclusion of Wisconsin’s season.
He’s not Wisconsin’s head coach, so I don’t think it would be much of a distraction. For instance, UConn assistant Luke Murray just took the Boston College basketball job this week, and he’ll coach in the Final Four this weekend for the Huskies before reporting for duty with the Eagles.
Oliver was at St. Cloud as an assistant under Larson from 2018–22 before becoming a head coach in the USHL with the Fargo Force. After one year in Fargo, he took the Wisconsin position under Hastings, and he’s now in his third season with the Badgers.
Oliver isn’t the only candidate considered a finalist.
