Where Are They Now – Dan Farrell

HOUGHTON, Mich. – Dan Farrell played hockey for Michigan Tech from 1957-60 and served as an assistant coach under John MacInnes from 1968-73. He was inducted into the Michigan Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

A native of Hamilton, Ont., Farrell scored 19 goals and tallied 11 assists in 84 career games as a Husky. He was a member of the Huskies' 1960 national runner-up team and earned a degree in geology from Tech in 1960.

As assistant coach, Farrell helped the Huskies compile a 105-57-9 record, two trips to the NCAA Tournament and a Western Collegiate Hockey Association title. He led the junior varsity team to a 38-13-1 record in three seasons.

At the age of 35, Farrell was hired as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines in 1973. He held that post for seven seasons before entering the business world.

MichiganTechHuskies.com caught up with Dan Farrell on the week the Huskies host the Wolverines for the first time since 1983.

Q: What was your first year like at Tech, coming in during Coach MacInnes' first season?

DF: As freshmen we couldn't play on the varsity team so we didn't even have a relationship with the team. We never practiced with them and played 8-10 games on the JV team. There were six of us that came in as freshmen including Bob Hauswirth and Paul Coppo.

Q: What made John MacInnes such a good coach?

DF: Guys have asked me about that before. He had a basic system, and everybody played within the system.

Guys really respected him. He didn't demand respect but he got it because of the way he handled the guys. He also changed with the times and was tough in terms of discipline. If you toed the line he would let you go.

He got a lot of respect from the guys and the guys played hard for him. I guess that's the best way to describe it. Once the success started coming the recruiting got easier. That success started early and went on for 20 years. Guys started lining up to play for Michigan Tech. We recruited with the best programs in the country.

Q: You weren't a guy that dominated the scoring sheet. How did you become so effective on the ice during your playing days?

DF: When I played junior hockey the year before I came to Tech I had a career season to that point and was a very good scorer. Once I got to Tech I couldn't score.

I worked very hard on the defensive side of my game. I struggled as a sophomore and junior but it all came together my senior year and it was a great way to go out, playing in the national championship game. We had a lot of talent with Jerry Sullivan, Hank Akervall and Lou Angotti. We had the makings of a great program and they carried it on from there.

Q: Can you talk about your journey back to Michigan Tech to coach?

DF: I went to grad school for a couple years after Tech and then taught high school for three years before going to Africa. I lived and taught in Zimbabwe in South Africa and Ghana in West Africa. After two years in Africa, I wrote Coach MacInnes and told him to keep his ears open if anyone would be hiring in a year. He caught up with me up when I was vacationing in Europe with my family and offered me a job as an assistant coach. I still had another year on my contract of teaching, so he waited for me.

I had coached a little bit of high school hockey but wasn't sure I wanted to be a coach. It worked out well, and I spent five years as an assistant coach under John MacInnes. Then the opportunity came to go to Michigan, and I had to take it to advance my career.

Q: Can you describe the Michigan Tech-Michigan rivalry from back when you were involved as a player and coach of both teams?

DF: When I was playing at Tech, Michigan wasn't that good. Tech, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Denver were the top programs in the country.

After taking the job in Ann Arbor, we became competitive quickly. We recruited very well. The games against Tech were just awesome. Tech fans used to fill up Yost when we would play them in Ann Arbor, and when we traveled to Houghton, that's when the biggest crowds showed up at the Student Ice Arena.

By the third or fourth year our program at Michigan was very good—as was Tech's. Our games against each other were just terrific. Some of the best players in the country were on both teams and that really showed in the type of games that were played. We didn't win all that many games against Tech but they were some great contests.

Q: In your opinion, what kind of job has Coach Pearson has done in his first four years?

DF: I've always said about Tech hockey that it's recruit, recruit, recruit. The best teams have the best players. The success we had at Tech going way back was because Coach MacInnes was a great recruiter. We got a lot of great skilled players.

Tech lost their way for a lot of years. I've always thought that it was a great place to recruit to. Not every athlete wants to go to the big school. A lot of guys like that Tech environment.

You've seen from Mel that you can recruit there. He's been able to recruit more skilled players and implement a terrific style of play. Billy Muckalt is doing a great job, and they're bringing in much better skilled players.

Better players, better recruiting, the style of play, good discipline and knowing what they're doing, knowing what they want to do, and making it happen. I'm impressed.

Q: You played a large part in getting the video board installed in the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. How important was that project to you and other great alums and donors of the program?

DF: When Mel first came to town, he and I were talking and he said what we really need a video scoreboard to change the environment in the building. I said tremendous idea and I said I'm in.

Fortunately we had a few other guys, John Opie, John Rockwell and a couple of others who really bought in and made it happen. It's a tremendous enhancement to the building and the whole athletic department, because you can do so much with the video streaming now. Now that the program is getting better it's just a great addition.

Q: Do you miss coaching?

DF: I miss certain aspects of it. I really loved game days. I strived on teaching skill development. The recruiting was tough then and it's a lot tougher now.

Q: What was summer hockey school like when you first started it?

DF: I ran the first three years of it and it just exploded. The first summer the Student Ice Arena was open we only had four weeks and could've went eight. The second year was eight weeks and we turned away dozens and dozens.

It was a success situation from the get-go, and it had to do with the success of the varsity hockey program. We were being featured all over the Midwest due to the success, and we had a lot of guys playing in the NHL who enjoyed coming back to work the camps in the offseason.