Hailing from Virginia, Mike Sertich was the former head coach for the Men’s Hockey Team at UMD. He passed away on Thursday, Aug. 8th, at the age of 77 in Duluth. On September 13th, the Duluth community held a service remembering Mike Sertich for his coaching accomplishments and celebrating his life down at the DECC.

Sertich originally played as a defenseman from 1965 to 1969 on the Bulldogs. Later, he served as the team’s head coach for 18 years, from 1982 to 2000.

Bill Watson, a former Men’s Hockey Player with the University of Minnesota-Duluth, says when remembering Mike Sertich, it starts back when he was a freshman in 1982.

“We had a chance to be on his first team and obviously we were very fortunate. We had a lot of success. I was here for three years,” Watson said. “But the big part was Mike just changed the culture and identified where it needed to change. He was the impetus behind that. We’ve only had two coaches here in the last 42 years and it’s pretty unique to have that kind of legacy.”

Watson says from Sertich’s coaching and lessons, he also inspired other UMD Bulldog Men’s Hockey Players to get into coaching.

“I look at Tommy Kervers and Norm McIver and Guy Gosselin. A lot of those guys got into coaching or into the development part of hockey because of his guidance. You went back for validation in regards to what you were doing in your life. Whether it was in the game of hockey or in the sport of anything as well.”

During that time, Sertich lead the program to three Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular season titles, two league playoff championships and four NCAA postseason berths. In 1984, Sertich was also the recipient of the Spencer Penrose Award. In 2005, he was inducted into UMD’S Hall of Fame.

“Mike was such a grounded guy. He was so humble, he just wanted to get the best out of us. He was one of the first coaches that the player came first. The person came first over the player. He cared a lot about you as a person. A lot of us were evidence of that in our career.”

Also for more information about UMD Men’s Hockey you can read more here.