On Wednesday morning, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference announced University of North Dakota men’s hockey head coach, Dane Jackson, as the 2025-26 Herb Brooks Coach of the Year.
Jackson is in the first season as the head coach of the program, but had spent the past 19 seasons as an assistant coach or associate head coach before being named the bench boss. This is the sixth time a UND coach has been named the NCHC Herb Brooks Coach of the Year. Jackson joins Dave Hakstol and Brad Berry as the third UND head coach to earn the Herb Brooks Award.
He helped lead UND to a 17-6-1 mark in NCHC play along with winning the program’s seventh Penrose Cup as the leagues regular season champion. In the regular season UND ended up with a 25-8-1 record. He has also helped the Fighting Hawks get as high as No. 2 in the national rankings, which is where they currently sit in the polls.
Jackson helped produce four Fighting Hawks on the NCHC All-Rookie Team this year, including NCHC Rookie of the Year Cole Reschny and Goaltender of the Year Jan Špunar. Four others have also earned All-Conference honors this season for UND.
