Gophers Fans Are Not Reacting Well to the Brett Larson Hockey Hire

The Gophers are hiring St. Cloud State's Brett Larson as their new men's hockey head coach, and the reaction from the fan base on Tuesday has not been sunshine and rainbows.

Larson replaced Bob Motzko at St. Cloud State in 2018 after Motzko was hired as the head coach at Minnesota. He immediately led the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament in year one, though they lost as the No. 1 overall seed in the first round. The tournament was canceled in 2019-20 due to COVID-19, and his Huskies proceeded to lose in the national championship in 2020-21, before two more NCAA Tournament appearances.

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Once the program was five full seasons removed from Motzko, Larson's Huskies failed to reach the NCAA Tournament in three straight seasons. St. Cloud State went 47-56-7 over Larson's final three seasons. You can poke holes in his resume, and the reaction online is doing just that.

"I can more than 'poke holes in his resume.' He has done NOTHING to deserve a job of this caliber," MN State Of Hockey wrote on X, which is an account with more than 10,000 followers.

Hockey insider Michael Russo was the first person to report the news on Tuesday, and the comments to his initial post on X were overwhelmingly negative.

Brett Larson hire reaction. | Comments via: @RussoHockey post (X)

Social media has inherently become a negative place, but it was hard to find many positive comments about the Larson hire. St. Cloud State is a much different university than it was when Larson began his tenure in 2018, but many fans online are not using that as an excuse.

Pretty hard to ignore the reaction on here from the Gophers fan base on the decision to hire Brett Larson as the new head coach of men's hockey. pic.twitter.com/8hy7yZq9Yj
— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) March 24, 2026

Fortunately for Larson and the Gophers men's hockey program, the fan base doesn't determine wins and losses. It would be naive not to admit that he will begin the early part of his Gophers tenure having to earn trust with the fans

The first step in that process will be retaining and building his first roster and coaching staff.

Youth Hockey Hub is reporting that University of St. Thomas assistant coach Cory Laylin and former NHL veteran Matt Cullen could be considered as assistant coaches on Larson's first staff. Both of those moves would be a big step in the right direction, especially with Cullen, who has three hockey standout sons, two of whom are already committed to the maroon and gold.

Ultimately, the University of Minnesota has one of the biggest fan bases in the sport, which adds pressure on the head coach. Larson's approval rating is seemingly starting pretty low, and now he has to bring the Gophers back to national prominence in short order to relieve the pressure.