ST. CLOUD — St. Cloud State has hired Brett Larson, an assistant coach for national champion Minnesota-Duluth, as its hockey coach.

Larson takes over a program that was a national power under Bob Motzko, who last month took the top job at Minnesota.

Larson, a Duluth native, played at Minnesota-Duluth and has been an assistant coach there since 2015. He also was an assistant during the school’s 2011 NCAA championship season.

Stops in between included serving as associate head coach at Ohio State, and coach and general manager for Sioux City’s U.S. Hockey League team.