SERTICH TAKES OVER MICHIGAN TECH HOCKEY PROGRAM WEDNESDAY
         Former UMD Coach To Return To Duluth To Guide Huskies This Weekend

        Houghton, Mich. -- Mike Sertich will conduct his first on-ice
practice as Michigan Tech's interim men's ice hockey coach Wednesday
(Nov. 9) at 3 p.m.
        Sertich, 53, replaces Tim Watters, who stepped today after
four-and-a-half years at the helm of the program.
        Sertich comes to the Huskies with a national reputation as a
great motivator and hockey tactician. He spent 18 years (1982-2000)
as head coach of the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs where he amassed a
350-338-44 record and led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Championships four
times (1982-83, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1992-93). In addition, the
Virginia, Minnesota, native guided Minnesota-Duluth to three Western
Collegiate Hockey Association titles (1983-84, 1984-85, and 1992-93)
and shares with legendary Michigan Tech coach John MacInnes the
distinction of being the only four-time WCHA Coach of the Year.
         Born and raised in Virginia, in the heart of Minnesota's
Iron Range, Sertich's work ethic led him to be a  standout in hockey,
football, and baseball at Roosevelt High School in Virginia. Upon
graduation from the prep ranks in 1965, Sertich was offered a
football scholarship to the University of North Dakota, but instead
opted to pursue his first love, hockey, at UMD, a school which had
just gained entrance into the prestigious WCHA. During his three
seasons (1996-69) with the Bulldogs -- freshmen were not allowed to
compete in intercollegiate sports at that time -- Sertich, as he
himself will attest, was no superstar. However, he was perhaps one of
the most diligent workers on the club, and in 1969 was named the
club's Most Improved Player. His career statistics for his three-year
collegiate stint include two goals and seven assists for nine points
in 64 games.
        Following his graduation from UMD in 1969 with a B.S. degree
in physical education, Sertich wasted little time in landing his
first teaching and coaching job, joining Head Coach Gus Hendrickson
at Grand Rapids (Minn.) High School. After the two had literally
built a hockey dynasty with the Indians in the early and mid-1970s,
UMD officials persuaded both Hendrickson and Sertich to try their
coaching magic at the collegiate level. Sertich, who had also been an
assistant baseball coach at Grand Rapids High School, worked as
Hendrickson's right-hand man and the Bulldogs' chief recruiter for
seven years before accepting the job as UMD's head coach in the
spring of 1982.
        A past president of the American Hockey Coaches Association
and member of the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee, Sertich has been
active in an array of coaching endeavors with USA Hockey over the
last two dozen years. In the summer of 1999, he was the head coach
for Team White at the U.S. Women's Ice Hockey Festival in Lake
Placid, N.Y. In August of 1998, he served as an associate coach with
the WCHA All-Star team which competed in the three-game Kolin Cup in
Zug, Switzerland.       Sertich, who owns a master's degree in
physical education from Bemidji State University, and his wife,
Audie, have three children: Scott (32), John (30), and Lori (24) and
three grandchildren: Jeremy (9), Kiley (4), and Danny (1), Joey (2
weeks).

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Note: Sertich will be introduced in a news conference Wednesday (Nov.
8) at 2 p.m. in the MacInnes Conference Room. The news conference had
previously been scheduled to take place in the Begg Conference Room
of the Grant Hockey Educational Center.