Omaha Fires Both Assistant Coaches

When Omaha completed an epic late-season collapse, falling from third overall in the Pairwise Rankings to missing the NCAA Tournament completely thanks to a 4-14-09 second half record, it seemed inevitable that consequences would come.

Today, those consequences have fallen on assistant coaches Troy Jutting and Alex Todd, who were both fired.

Jutting is the former head coach at Minnesota State, and came to Omaha after being reassigned at Minnesota State into an administrative role. The move saved Minnesota State a lot of money, though may have cost Omaha the services of fellow assistant Steve Johnson, who departed one season after Jutting's arrival.

Johnson was replaced by Todd, who came to Omaha with no previous D-1 coaching experience, having worked as an assistant and then head coach at D-3 Castleton State.

In a statement released by the school, head coach Dean Blais said:

"Given the difficult end to our season, we took a hard look at our team and how we support the players as a staff," said Blais.  "In the end, I decided that this was one area where we needed to improve to stay competitive in the NCHC.

"I want to thank Troy and Alex for their work on behalf of Maverick hockey.  We’ll immediately begin to look for the best candidates to fill the assistant coach positions."

Omaha's search for two new assistants will begin immediately.