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.

