Brent Brekke will join the Golden Knights Men's Hockey staff as an assistant coach on July 5, 2018.
Brekke comes to Clarkson with a wealth of college coaching experience at the Division I level. He was most recently associate head coach at Miami University for eight years from 2010-18 and was a RedHawks assistant coach from 2008-10. Previous to his 10-year stint in Oxford, the 46-year old spent nine seasons (1999-2008) at Cornell University. Brekke was part of a staff that reached the Frozen Four in 2003 (Cornell), 2009 and 2010 (Miami).  He was honored with the Terry Flanagan Award in 2015, presented by the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) to an outstanding assistant coach.
"Brent comes to our program with a great deal of experience at the Division I level," Jones said. "We are very excited to add a person of his character and ability to our coaching staff. Brent will build strong relationships with our student-athletes and support them in becoming great citizens and hockey players."
Originally from Minot, N.D., Brekke had a four-year career (1990-94) on defense at Western Michigan University before a brief professional career. He began coaching in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) for the Chicago Freeze, serving as an assistant coach and director of player personnel for the 1998-99 season.
"I'm extremely excited to be a part of Clarkson University, the Golden Knights hockey program and the Potsdam community," said Brekke. "I'm looking forward to continuing the great hockey tradition and working with Casey, Josh (Hauge) and the entire staff. They are a tremendous group of people. Casey has done an outstanding job with the program and I'm thankful for the opportunity."
While at Miami, Brekke played a prominent role in helping to establish the RedHawks as one of the top defensive teams in the nation. Miami ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA defensively in each of Brekke's first five seasons. He was also instrumental in coaching Miami's penalty kill unit, which ranked in the top 10 nationally five times during his tenure.
Brekke was also Miami's co-recruiting coordinator and handled all aspects of game scheduling for the RedHawks.
While at Cornell, Brekke helped the team make four appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including a trip to the Frozen Four in 2003.
Brekke graduated from Western Michigan with a degree in marketing in 1994. He served as the Bronco's assistant captain for the 1992-93 season, and during the 1993-94 season was the first player in the program's history to be unanimously named the team's captain by his teammates.
A ninth-round selection (188th overall) of the Quebec Nordiques in 1991, Brekke skated with the USA Hockey National Junior Team that placed fourth in the 1991 World Junior Hockey Championships. Once his time at Western Michigan was complete, Brekke went on to play for the Cornwall Aces, Quebec's American Hockey League affiliate, for the 1994-95 season. One season later, he went on to captain the Dayton Bombers of the East Coast Hockey League.
Brekke and his wife, Stacey, a former track and field athlete at Western Michigan, have a daughter, Bailee, and a son, Cody.
