Sooners make coaching, front office changes

April 23, 2020 | Matt Bowling

    The University of Oklahoma hockey team is pleased to announce the following personnel changes.

    For the 2020-21 seas0n, current Associate Head Coach Austin Miller will serve as head coach, and current Assistant General Manager Andrew Magerkurth will serve as general manager.

    OU hockey would like to express its sincere gratitude to outgoing Head Coach Josh Berge and outgoing General Manager Larry Donovan for their contributions to the program.

    Miller’s first season as head coach will be his 14th with OU hockey. He played for the Sooners as a defenseman from 2007-2011, helping the team reach multiple ACHA National Tournaments and achieve multiple top five rankings. Immediately after his playing career ended, Miller was added to first-year head coach Peter Arvanitis’ staff as an assistant coach. With Miller at his side, Arvanitis would go on to become the winningest head coach in OU hockey history before departing the program in 2018.

    Prior to OU, Miller spent one season at Providence College, where he played for current Iowa Wild head coach Tim Army. He played junior hockey in the NAHL for the Texas Tornado, winning back-to-back Robertson Cups in 2004 and 2005.

    “I’m extremely honored, humbled, and excited for this opportunity,” Miller said. “I learned a lot from both Peter and Josh in my years as an assistant. They taught me the kind of commitment it takes to be a good head coach.”

    Two other former OU hockey players will serve as assistant coaches under Miller: Tyler Huberty, who played goaltender for the Sooners from 2017-2019, and Jeff Coates, who played forward for the Sooners from 2012-2017.

    “These guys have a lot of great ideas for the team and will have a voice in everything we do moving forward,” Miller said. “I know I’m not always right, so it’s never going to be my way or the highway with these guys. That’s something I learned from Peter.”

    Magerkurth has worked behind the scenes for OU hockey since 2008, serving as an equipment manager and part of the hockey operations staff before becoming assistant GM. Having reliably handled responsibilities ranging from travel booking to PA announcing, there is perhaps no one with greater knowledge of the many facets of OU hockey than Magerkurth. 

    “Larry Donovan taught me that the most important part of running a program like OU hockey is building and nurturing relationships,” Magerkurth said. “You want people to trust you and know you’re a man of your word. You want to be a well-respected program on all fronts.”

The Sooners will open the 2020-21 season in September at Blazers Ice Centre. Visit www.ouhockey.com and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to keep up with all things OU hockey.