Find out how Garrett Raboin is building his program, how he’s been recruiting players and what has gone into forming the program’s identity.

Garrett Raboin put in more work than any other NCAA Division I Head Coach last season, and yet had zero wins to show for it.

That’s what comes with setting up a brand new hockey program from scratch.

Raboin, formally Assistant Coach for the University of Minnesota, was selected to be the inaugural Head Coach of the Augustana University Viking Men’s Hockey program, set to take the ice in the 2023-24 academic year.

There are no wins under Raboin’s belt because his team has yet to take the ice. When it does, the 38-year-old’s hard work behind the scenes will be evident.

Establishing a brand new program is a daunting task, admits Raboin during his 23-minute Virtual Coaching Clinic presentation, but it’s one he has enjoyed so far. The blank slate he’s been given means the sky is the limit.

“The phrase we’ve been using is We Hold The Pen. Our mindset is our players come here and I don’t want them to be boxed in. I want our guys to be excited about it because whatever they put into it, they’ll get out of it. Wins and losses will be defined by the media, but we’re most worried about what’s inside this program. We control how we work, how we prepare and we hold the pen as we write the first chapter of Augustana Hockey.”

The Vikings are the ninth league member of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and will compete in one of six NCAA conferences. They’ll hit the ice in October of 2023 and South Dakota is already buzzing for the Vikings to drop the puck.

You may not be starting a D1 hockey program from scratch yourself, like Raboin, but hearing how he’s handling such a gruelling task will leave you with takeaways on how to improve your program – guaranteed.

Find out how he’s building his program out, how he’s been recruiting players, what has gone into forming the program’s identity, and what it takes to run a Division I NCAA program.