Q&A With ... Alaska Coach Erik Largen

by Christopher Boulay/CHN Writer (@chrismboulay)

It has been a rollercoaster of emotions for Alaska fans in the past 10 months. With financial issues at the state university system level hanging over the program and instability in the athletic department, the Nanooks still managed to sneak into the final WCHA playoff spot and gave regular-season champions Minnesota State a tough time in the first round.

Once the season ended, the athletic department looked into whether or not it would remove head coach Lance West’s interim tag, or go in another direction. In a surprise to many in the college hockey world, he wasn’t offered the position, with the school instead offering it to former Miami assistant Brent Brekke. However, it didn’t go as planned, as Brekke turned down the position, and West withdrew his name from the running. This put the school back at square one.

However, the next choice turned out to be an internal move, and someone who has a tight bond with the program. The school turned to Fairbanks native, former Nanooks goaltender and assistant coach, Erik Largen. The 31-year-old accepted the promotion and took over after being an Alaska staff member the past two years.

CHN: What were your thoughts on getting the job at your alma mater after the hectic spring?

Largen: The process was a little bit unusual, but at the end of it, I had the opportunity to coach here. For me, it’s a dream job. It’s a destination job for myself, just being from Fairbanks, playing for UAF, then having a chance to be the assistant, then getting the opportunity to be head coach.

It’s a dream opportunity. I love the program. I think it’s meant so much to so many people. It means so much to the community, and for the extended UAF community, as well. I’m just really excited about the opportunity.

CHN: Did you ever think you’d be in this position? What does it mean to you being someone who is so connected to that community?

Largen: I definitely didn’t think that this would be my position or my career path that I would end up choosing. For me, I just fell into coaching as an assistant with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs starting of once I was done playing. (Fairbanks General Manager) Rob Proffitt gave me an opportunity there. I just took it year by year. And a number of years later, here’s where we’re at. It’s definitely unusual. It’s just a great honor, it’s a great opportunity. I’m just thankful for it.

CHN: Did you feel a little weird that you weren’t one of the two original finalists, and then ended up getting the head coaching position?

Largen: It was a little bit strange with the way that it worked out. For myself, when the opportunity came along, I had to spend some time thinking about it with family and people that I trust. After thinking about it, I’m in the spot where I just care so much about it. I want it to be successful and I want it to be a proud beacon to the community, and to the campus. I felt like this would be a wonderful opportunity. Although the process was a little unusual, and definitely not expected, it’s one of those things where sometimes those things happen. You’ve got to be up for the challenge and ready to do the best that you can.

CHN: When you were hired, was there any words of advice from Lance West or former Alaska head coach Dallas Ferguson?

Largen: For both of them, they said to do it the way that you want to do it. Do it with the best interests of the players and the program in mind all the time. They’ve both been very supportive. It’ll be fun to coach against both of them this year, too. They both meant a lot to me, and still do. I consider them great friends and mentors.

CHN: You had a front-row seat for the issues the University of Alaska school system had in the past few years, especially with the Strategic Pathways report (which initially recommending cutting back or eliminating hockey) and the uncertainty around college hockey in the state. In your opinion where is the commitment level from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks right now, and in the future, for hockey?

Largen: It’s fully committed. I think it's one of those things where, yeah Strategic Pathways happened, and it was one of those things that was looked at for a few months. But that was something — and it doesn’t get publicized much — it was from the business department to the janitorial staff to athletics. Everything was getting looked at. Where were we maybe spending too much, spending too little? How can we make that align?

Athletics are the front porch of the university. People are going to be more passionate about it. There are going to be more stories written. After the first couple months of them looking at it, people realized how important athletics are to the statewide system. For us, it’s fully committed. We are fully funded with scholarships. We’ve had an increase in the recruiting budget, we’ve had increases in the salary pools. We’ve had increases in the ways we’re able to treat our players right now. For us, it’s full steam ahead. There’s nothing in the foreseeable that will change anything with that.

CHN: In the past couple years, there was notable turnover in Alaska’s athletic department. What were your thoughts about being hired when there was an interim athletic director and now having a full-time athletic director hired after your promotion?

Largen: There were some changes throughout our athletic department at the time I was hired, but I also think it was important to make sure that there was someone that was familiar with the program that was being hired during that time, someone who could oversee the transition with administrative staff and help ease that transition. Now, we have Sterling Steward as our athletic director. There are more people being hired. (Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and head of the hiring process) Keith Champagne has done a great job with hiring the right people with our coaching staff and with our admin staff.

There were some question marks, but things have been resolved. I feel pretty good about where we’re at, where the program is at and where the athletic department is going forward.

CHN: What does it mean to already have that bond with the upperclassmen and the sophomores that were there last year through this transition? Do you think the stability helps give you an edge to improve from last year?

Largen: Yeah, I think it gives you an edge. It’s more of what you do with it. I think it adds an initial trust factor right off the bat. But, if we’re not doing the right thing day in and day out, that trust is broken. I think we’ve done a really nice job as a staff, having the group come together and continuing to focus on getting better day by day.

From the guy’s perspective in the locker room I don’t think they’re worried about anything but showing their best on the ice and in the classroom. That’s the most important thing for me.

CHN: Recruiting is a challenge for the Alaska schools due to location. It’s a different place and atmosphere. What do you do to mitigate that with your new staff?

Largen: Our new staff has done a great job. Karlis Zirnis coming in from Shreveport (of the NAHL), and Joe Howe coming in from the University of Denver. I think we have an unbelievable staff, and guys that I learn from every single day. They’ve done a great job, and recruiting is key to it specifically, as well.

For us, we have challenges, but everyone has challenges. It’s nothing. We just have different ones than other schools. For us, it’s finding kids who fit our culture, what we’re all about, our work ethic and commitment and finding the types of people who are going to be successful in Alaska. (It’s) finding types of people who are going to be successful in our program, guys who want to be want to be hockey players, guys who want to be student athletes, guys who are invested into that process.

It’s not for everyone, and that’s fine. But, it’s for the right type of people and the right type of kids for our program. Our staff has done a good job so far, and only going to get better and better at identifying those types of players.

CHN: What are your realistic expectations for this season, and how far do you think you can take Alaska?

Largen: On a daily basis, it’s just making sure we’re improving every day; we’re showing up to practice and we’re getting better. That’s the biggest thing that we’ve talked about with our players. There’s a choice to be made every single day. Are we going to be stagnant or are we going to get better? We feel that if we do that, and we continue to do that, at the end of the day, toward the end of the season, we’re going to be in a pretty successful position.

Our goal is no different than any other team. We want to win a championship. We want home ice in the WCHA playoffs. We want to win a national championship. I’d be surprised if there’s anyone that says anything different. But, that’s our goal. We know that it’s a process. We just take it day by day and we’re going to see where we’re at at the end of the year.

