GRAND FORKS – Behind the scenes, Brad Berry has been a primary architect of the University of North Dakota men’s hockey program for nine of the last 15 years.
On Monday, he became the face of the franchise.
Berry, a former UND player and longtime assistant coach, was introduced Monday as the 16th head coach in UND hockey history, replacing Dave Hakstol, who left to become the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Berry’s contract will be four years with a base salary of $280,000. That could grow to as much as $406,000 – a 45 percent increase of his base salary – after factoring in bonuses and incentives.
Berry plans to retain Dane Jackson as his top assistant and search for a new second assistant coach.
While the staff will be different next season, the Bashaw, Alberta, native and former NHL defenseman said that UND’s playing style, organizational philosophies and expectations all will remain the same.
“No expectations change,” Berry said. “There’s one thing we want to try to get to and that’s the national championship game, and we want to win that. There’s a process to do that and it starts this summer.
“I’m very humbled and honored, and I’m very excited about carrying on the history and tradition of what the former coaches have done here. It’s a high bar. I know that. Along with my staff, we’re excited about getting going and getting there again.”
Berry has become renowned for his work with developing defensemen during his coaching career, which began in 1999 with the Kalamazoo Wings in the International Hockey League.
A year later, then-coach Dean Blais brought Berry to UND as an assistant alongside Hakstol. Berry was at UND for six years before leaving to delve into the pro hockey world.
He spent two years as an assistant coach for the Manitoba Moose in the American Hockey League, two years as a scout for the Vancouver Canucks and two years as an assistant coach for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL.
When Hakstol had an opening in 2012, he re-hired Berry away from the Blue Jackets. Berry’s family, in attendance at Monday’s news conference, never moved from Grand Forks.
Now, the 14-year coaching veteran, is the head man for the first time in his career.
“You have to alter a little bit of your style being the head guy as far as what your message is,” Berry said. “But I learned under the best: Dave Hakstol, Dean Blais, Gino Gasparini, Scott Arniel, who learned under Alain Vigneault. You take what you do, what you should do and maybe what you shouldn’t do. I learned a lot because of those guys.”
Berry, who was heavily involved in recruiting under Hakstol, said that he plans to continue recruiting a mix of highly skilled players and under-the-radar, heart-and-soul players.
“We’re allowed to get a lot of high, high-end players here,” Berry said. “You’ll see that over the next year or two with some of the guys coming in. But we don’t want to forget the Connor Gaarders or Steph Pattyns. When the rubber meets the road, those are the players you need to immerse in your culture. You need a little bit of everything. We want to make sure we recruit that, too.”
Berry and Jackson spent Monday morning calling the current players and the recruits to inform them of the coaching change. Berry said that the response from recruits was positive and that all of them said they are still coming to UND.
His hire was extremely popular among former players, who hold Berry in high regard.
Troy Murray, Jean-Philippe Lamoureux and Jeff Ulmer were among the players who tweeted their support for Berry.
Berry said UND will soon go through the process of hiring the second assistant coach, then will get to work on finalizing the incoming recruiting class. UND has a highly touted group of recruits, featuring potential NHL first-round pick Brock Boeser, United States Hockey League goal scorers Chris Wilkie and Shane Gersich and goaltender Matej Tomek.
“What’s the plan going forward? It doesn’t deviate from right now,” Berry said. “We have big shoes to fill with our staff here, but we’ve been here for a long time, we plan to keep going in that same direction. We want to set the bar and raise the bar.”
