Nick Oliver, head coach of the 2023 USHL Regular Season Champion Fargo Force, is joining the Wisconsin men’s hockey team as an assistant coach.
“We are excited to bring Nick and his family to the University of Wisconsin,” Wisconsin head coach Mike Hastings said in a statement. “His depth of experience as a player and coach will help set our youth up for success. Nick has earned a reputation as one of the best youth coaches in our game through his work ethic and ability to develop meaningful relationships with his players.”
“I am very grateful and honored to have the opportunity to join the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey program,” Oliver added. “I couldn’t be more excited to have the opportunity to work with Coach Hastings, Coach (Todd) Nutt and the rest of the University of Washington staff. I look forward to beginning to build relationships with our players and having the opportunity to honor the many people who have come before us in this program. My family and I can’t stand it. Waiting to get to Madison and join the Badger family.”
Oliver spent one year as head coach at Fargo, leading the organization to 40 wins and a league-best 88 points to win the franchise’s first Anderson Cup as USHL regular season champions. He was recognized for his efforts as the USHL Coach of the Year.
Success continued in the postseason with the Force reaching the final of the Clark Cup.
Prior to Fargo, Oliver served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, St. Cloud State, where he helped the Huskies to an 81-44-9 mark in four seasons.
He also spent time with the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL from 2015 to 2018 as an assistant coach and director of scouting.
Oliver’s coaching career began right after his playing days at St. Cloud State ended in 2015. A captain his junior year and alternate captain as a junior, the Oliver’s Huskies won the WCHA regular season title in 2013. The Badgers upset their Division 1-ranked team in the semifinals in the 2013 WCHA The Final Five are on their way to a postseason crown in their final year of WCHA play. SCSU made it to the school’s first NCAA Frozen Four anyway.
The following season, St. Louis won.
Oliver is a 2015 SCSU graduate with a degree in Business Finance.