Friday, October 20, 2017
FACEOFF 2017
5B
per se, but we are in the entertainment
business. You want people to come
into the building and be entertained
and enjoy their experience here, and
so we wanted to put a quick, fast, high-
energy, high-scoring team together.”
Those efforts were soon fulfilled. In
1991, Michigan qualified for the NCAA
Tournament for the first time in 14
years, and stormed into the Frozen
Four the next year. The dynasty was
up and running, as the Wolverines
made six Frozen Four appearances
and won two national titles between
1992 and 1998, finishing among the
top three teams in the country in goals
scored each of those years. Three
times, a Wolverine was the leading
points-scorer in the NCAA — Denny
Felsner in 1992 and Brendan Morrison
in 1996 and 1998.
With
this
success
came
the
possibility of a head coaching job
for Pearson — most notably, Miami
of Ohio offered him the position
in 1999. But through all Pearson’s
years at Michigan, being just an
assistant coach never weighed on
him, as Berenson gave him and other
assistants so much responsibility that
“you felt like a co-coach.”
“I remember talking to Red and
I think Tom Goss was the Athletic
Director at the time, and talked to
Lloyd Carr, the former football coach,”
Pearson said of declining Miami’s
offer. “Because Lloyd stayed here for a
long time and really didn’t have to go
away to become a head coach, and he
(asked), ‘Why make two moves if you
don’t have to make any?’
“I always said back in the day I
didn’t have to become a head coach
to feel like I (had accomplished
anything) as a coach, because we had
touched so many players. But I love
Michigan so much too, it (was) hard to
consider leaving.”
***
Berenson had once told Pearson
that he wouldn’t be coaching at 60.
But Berenson turned 71 during the
2011 season, and it was obvious he
wouldn’t coach forever — although
Pearson says it sometimes seemed
that way. According to Pearson, then-
athletic director Dave Brandon was
open about the situation.
“(He) said, ‘If Red leaves you’d
be a good candidate, but there’s no
guarantees,’” Pearson said, “‘and if
you go out and get head coaching
experience and do a good job, you’d
probably be a better candidate.’”
The opportunity to do so came in
2011, but it came a little too soon for
Pearson. Just four days after Michigan
had lost in the national championship
game, a 3-2 overtime defeat to
Minnesota-Duluth, Michigan Tech
offered him its vacant head-coaching
position.
“I get that they wanted to make
sure they get somebody quick before
the season was too far over,” Pearson
said. “(But) after you lose like that it’s
gut-wrenching. It was an emotional
time. You just lost the national
championship. That sticks with you;
it still sticks with me now. So if you
can imagine them saying, ‘We need an
answer within 48 hours or so,’ I just
wasn’t ready.”
With time, though, the heartbreak
of that defeat began to subside, and
Pearson was prepared to make the
move. In May 2011, he became the
Huskies’ head coach, and went to
work rebuilding a team that had gone
4-30-1 the previous season.
“(It was) challenging at times,
because you’re learning on the job
too,” Pearson said. “You’re not sure
if you’re doing the right things at the
time. It’s easy to question yourself,
but I had a great staff and we really
believed that we knew that we could
change things. Having come from a
place like Michigan and how they run
things, I think I was very well schooled
by Coach Berenson and Michigan and
even Coach MacInnes from Michigan
Tech and Coach Ikola from high
school — three Michigan men. Great
coaching, great philosophies, great
systems.
“There was nowhere to go but up
— they’d only won 15 games in the
previous three years. But there were
some good pieces there, I think they
just needed direction and leadership.”
Pearson hired two of his former
star players at Michigan — Muckalt
and Steve Shields — as assistant
coaches. And just as he did with the
Wolverines,
Pearson
emphasized
tenacious recruiting to turn the
Huskies around.
“We got young men up to Michigan
Tech that had our vision and fit our
style of play that we knew that we
could win with. That was the biggest
thing,” Pearson said. “Slowly but
surely, as you start winning you
attract better recruits. I remember the
first few days, you’d say you’re from
Michigan Tech and they’d hang up
right away.”
However, the recruits that Pearson
did sign often found success. Muckalt
attested to Pearson’s ability to connect
with players and help them reach their
fullest potential.
“One of Mel’s greatest strengths
is the ability to get the most out of
everyone,” Muckalt said. “He’s not a
yeller or a screamer, but finds a way
to get them to respond to help the
team.”
And as Pearson’s recruiting classes
took shape, Michigan Tech took off. In
2014, the Huskies earned their first-
ever No. 1 national ranking, winning
29 games that season, and qualified
for the NCAA Tournament twice in
three seasons.
Despite this success — or maybe as
a result of it — speculation continued
to
run
rampant
about
Pearson
being a candidate at Michigan after
Berenson’s
retirement.
Pearson
doesn’t downplay the impact that
it had, especially when it came to
recruiting, even though he remained
fully committed to Michigan Tech.
“It was a distraction at times
because when you’re recruiting, first
question that came up with recruits
(was): ‘How long are you going to
be here? Are you interested in the
Michigan job?’” Pearson said. “There
were no guarantees. I wasn’t sure if I’d
ever come back to Michigan. I thought
Michigan Tech was going to be my last
job.
“It was hard right from the get go.
Day one. Your name was associated
with that just because of the number
of years I’ve spent at Michigan and the
amount of success that we all had here
together.”
***
When Berenson retired in April, it
set off what Pearson calls a “crazy”
two weeks.
“Crazy
in
the
sense
that
everybody just associated myself
with the job,” Pearson said. “I
hadn’t talked to anybody. Anybody
at Michigan. Even Coach Berenson.
After a while it gets to be a little bit
of a nuisance.”
There’s a clear reason for that
“craziness”,
however.
There’s
no
doubt that people view Pearson as a
‘Michigan Man’, having helped build
one of the most prestigious programs
in college hockey. And when Pearson
was officially hired, it surprised no
one.
“Mel’s a great choice,” Muckalt
said. “He’s earned it and been here
a long time and had a lot of success
and proven himself as a head coach.
Obviously it’s a great progression for
Michigan.”
It wasn’t all about hockey, though
— sentimental reasons also drew
Pearson back to Ann Arbor.
“I had 23 great years here,” Pearson
said. “Lot of fond memories here —
not just hockey memories. Whether
it’s football and being in the stadium,
watching Charles Woodson run the
punt back against Ohio State or all the
great sporting events, or being here
when Michigan won its first softball
national
championship,
basketball
winning the national championship
when I was an assistant coach here.
Just the people
of Ann Arbor, the
town itself, the
university.
The
University
of
Michigan. All my
children
went
to Michigan.”
After
Pearson officially
became
Michigan’s
head
coach,
it
became
even
more
hectic.
Due to the nature
of
college
athletics,
the
constant
recruiting
cycle
and
the
pressures
of
having
to
find a place to
live,
Pearson
wasn’t
afforded
any
initial
acclimation
period or time
to relax — “My golf
game suffered”,
he jokes — but he
says that it was
a time he “sort of
enjoyed”.
“You have to
get straight into it,”
Pearson
said.
“It’s
right
from
contacting
all
the players that
were currently
here,
contacting
the recruits just
to make sure they
were
still
on
board and there
was a place for them here and they felt
comfortable with me. Then you jump
right into the recruiting. It’s 24/7, 365
now. Not many days where you have a
down day.”
Of course, Pearson is no stranger to
this. It’s his drive and work ethic that
helped turn Michigan and Michigan
Tech into powerhouses. It’s those
same qualities that he hopes to apply
to a young, raw but talented Wolverine
roster this year.
So far, Michigan appears to be
receptive to both Pearson and his new
staff’s demeanor and coaching style.
“(Pearson and Muckalt are) super
excited to be here,” sophomore
forward Jake Slaker said. “They’re
Michigan men and they always
wanted to be here. Now that they got
the jobs they couldn’t be more excited
to be here. Their energy levels are high
every day, they love to come to work,
which makes it easier on us because
we love to come to work as well.”
Added
sophomore
goalkeeper
Hayden
Lavigne:
“It’s
definitely
different, in a good way. Coach Mel is
very enthusiastic and very upbeat and
I think the guys are responding well
to that.”
But in Pearson’s own words, he’s
not here to create any legacy of his
own. For him, it’s about the past —
upholding the tradition that spans
back from Berenson, to Al Renfrew,
Vic Heyliger and countless other
Michigan greats.
“I’m just the gatekeeper here,”
Pearson says. “I just make sure
we keep things in order and keep
Michigan hockey in the national
spotlight where it should be.”
Pearson knows the task of replacing
a legend presents a challenge unlike
any he has ever faced. He knows he
isn’t the next Red Berenson, and he’s
not trying to be.
What matters to Pearson, though, is
that he’s at home.
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Mel Pearson isn’t worried about his legacy, but instead, is just happy to make his return.