Friday, October 20, 2017
FACEOFF 2017
4B
Mel Pearson: A home with a history
When Mel Pearson was hired as
head coach of the Michigan hockey
team, it almost seemed preordained.
Of course, nothing in life is that
simple. But Pearson’s accomplishments
with the Wolverines — 22 years as an
assistant coach under the legendary Red
Berenson, 11 Frozen Four appearances
and
two
national
championships
included — are impossible to ignore.
The history of Michigan hockey is a
long and storied one. It’s a history that
Pearson takes great pride in. So while
it may not have been destined, Pearson
and Michigan are clearly a perfect
match.
And now, after six years as the head
coach at Michigan Tech, Pearson is
back in Ann Arbor once again, tasked
with reviving the program he helped
build.
“I owe a lot to Michigan,” Pearson
said. “And it’s my job to make sure we
keep this program up and running and
in the national spotlight.”
***
Pearson credits his father, also
named Mel, for instilling him with his
passion for hockey. The elder Pearson
played professionally for 16 seasons
with 12 different teams.
“I was at the rink with him a lot
growing up,” Pearson said. “And I
really fell in love and had a fascination
for the game.”
The Pearson family called Flin Flon,
Manitoba — a mining town of about
10,000 where Pearson’s father had also
grown up — home. But being the son
of a professional athlete also meant
moving around to many different cities,
an experience that was formative for
Pearson’s childhood.
“I remember I grew up a big
Baltimore Orioles fan, they had some
great teams back then,” Pearson said. “I
lived in L.A. and still remember going
to Dodger games and whatnot. You
meet a lot of neat people, and to this
day I still have friends I met in L.A.,
Baltimore and Portland.”
In 1973, Pearson’s father’s playing
days came to an end with the
Minnesota Fighting Saints of the World
Hockey Association. It was there that
Pearson played high school hockey,
at Edina High School, and also there
that Pearson’s connection to Michigan
can be traced back to. His high school
coach, Willard Ikola, won national
championships in 1951 and 1952 as
an All-American goaltender for the
Wolverines, and encouraged Pearson to
consider attending Michigan.
Instead, Pearson decided to play
at Michigan Tech, because he felt
more comfortable with the school and
program. Under legendary coach John
MacInnes, who coincidentally was
also a Michigan alum, the Huskies had
recently made three straight Frozen
Four appearances, winning a national
championship in 1975.
“I grew up in a small town, and
I knew a couple people on the team
already,” Pearson said. “Michigan Tech
at that time, the program was doing
better than Michigan was. I felt it was a
great hockey school and a place where I
could get a great education.”
Pearson, who played in 97 games in
four years at Michigan Tech and scored
56 points, states that he “wasn’t what
you would call a great player” in college.
Instead, he described his playing
style as a “good, honest player” and a
“worker”. But Pearson’s college career
had no shortage of memorable moments
— the Huskies appeared in the Frozen
Four in 1981 and won four straight Great
Lakes Invitational championships. In
fact, Pearson’s biggest goal came in the
1979 Invitational against Michigan,
a tournament-winning goal in triple
overtime which he described simply as
“pretty cool”.
In the second half of his senior
year, Pearson began to think about
coaching for the first time. Up until
that point, he had envisioned himself
as having the potential to be a minor-
league journeyman for a few years. But
with MacInnes’s retirement looming,
assistants Jim Nahrgang and Herb
Boxer approached Pearson about the
possibility of coaching, and when
Nahrgang took over for MacInnes in
1982, Pearson was part of his initial
staff.
“That piqued my interest because
I love the game,” Pearson said. “You
don’t have a job, it’s like a hobby. If you
can find something that you love and
enjoy doing, and you can do it for pretty
much your whole life, then you’ve been
pretty lucky and fortunate.”
***
Two years after Pearson took his
first college coaching job, Red Berenson
became the head coach of the Michigan
hockey team.
Four years later, Pearson also found
himself in Ann Arbor, interviewing for
a position on Berenson’s staff.
Pearson and Berenson were familiar
with each other. Pearson’s father had
played with Berenson on a number
of All-Star teams, and Pearson and
Berenson had interacted with each
other while recruiting. But that didn’t
make the experience any less daunting
for Pearson.
“I felt pretty comfortable around
him,” Pearson said. “But I remember
my interview down here, that was
probably the scariest thing. I remember
Red taking me up to Bo Schembechler’s
office, because Bo Schembechler was
the athletic director at the time. Red
can be pretty intimidating, and then to
go up and there you are and you have
Red on one side and Bo on the other
side looking at you, that can be pretty
nervewracking.”
Of course, this was well before
Berenson had built a dynasty. The
Wolverines were on the upswing after
having gone 22-19 in 1988, but that had
been preceded by three straight seasons
of 14 wins or less. So from the outset,
Pearson’s focus was on strengthening
the program through recruiting.
It was also under Berenson that
Pearson’s coaching style began to
emerge. In fact, Pearson heavily credits
Berenson for actively facilitating that
development.
“One thing about Coach Berenson
that’s great is that he gives his assistants
a lot of responsibility to get involved
with all the aspects of coaching,”
Pearson said. “From pregame scouting
to postgame scouting to working
on individual skills with players to
working on the power play, so we had a
lot of responsibility.”
Added Michigan assistant coach Bill
Muckalt, who played for Berenson and
Pearson from 1994 to 1998: “Obviously
they both have great track records,
they both have a tremendous amount
of success in coaching. Red’s had a
tremendous influence on Mel, they
both coached together for a long time
and when you do that you pick up a lot
of the same traits.”
Berenson’s influence can also be seen
in the aggressive, fast-paced offensive
style that Pearson has attempted to
bring to the Wolverines this season,
mirroring the same goals Berenson
and Pearson set for the team 30 years
earlier.
“We always talked that we wanted
to play up-tempo,” Pearson said. “We’re
in the entertainment business — now
coach Berenson didn’t talk about that
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson spent 22 years as an assistant coach under Red Berenson, helping to bring Michigan to 11 Frozen Fours.
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan coach Mel Pearson brought his assistant from Michigan Tech, Bill Muckalt, along with him to join the Michigan program.