Columbus is a college town, but a coach who came to the Blue Jackets from the college ranks is ready to head back to school.
It was reported Wednesday that Blue Jackets assistant coach Brad Berry is interviewing for a job on the coaching staff at his alma mater, the University of North Dakota. Berry - who played 241 NHL games with the original Winnipeg Jets and the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars - was on the Fighting Sioux coaching staff for six seasons before leaving for the pro ranks, and just completed his second season with Columbus after two years with the Canucks' former minor league affiliate in Winnipeg.
According to beat writer Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch, Berry is expected to get the job, which would leave newly re-signed head coach Todd Richards with two vacancies for assistants on his coaching staff. It would also mark a second instance of a former North Dakota coach coming to the Blue Jackets and deciding to return to the college ranks. In 2004, the Blue Jackets hired North Dakota head coach Dean Blais to join their staff, and he served as an assistant coach during the 2005-06 season before becoming director of player development. Blais left Columbus to take over an expansion team in the United States Hockey League (the top junior hockey league in the U.S.), and is now the head coach at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
The Blue Jackets went 29-46-7 in 2011-12 and finished fifth in the Central Division. Richards, who took over for the fired Scott Arniel midway through the season, was signed to a new two-year contract on Monday. He's the eighth head coach the Blue Jackets have had (including two interim coaches) in their 12-year existence.
