2024 Hall of Fame Profile - Dan Stauber

The world of sports offers a unique perspective. As a player, the focus is largely training, practicing and game-time performance. Coaching requires managing skills and personalities. Dan Stauber has seen both sides as a Yellowjacket.

Stauber, who will be inducted into the UW-Superior Athletic Hall of Fame July 20, arrived at UW-Superior as a member of the men's hockey team before serving as assistant coach and then head coach of the program.

"Coach Gary Harker recruited me," said Stauber. "He was a hall of famer and thought [UW-Superior] was a good fit for me and it was. It was probably the best decision at that age to come over and play and have four great years."

In his time playing for the Yellowjackets (1984-88), Stauber was coached by Gary Harker and Steve Nelson. He led the team in scoring as a freshman and was a team captain. Three times he received all-conference honorable mention. While he points to sweeping Bemidji State in 1986 for the first time in Wessman Arena as a particular highlight, Stauber is also quick to mention the many friendships made on the ice.

"The friendships and the competitiveness that the program had," he said. "I met some really, really good friends that I still have to this day and just some great people."

Outside of athletics, Stauber credits talented faculty members for helping to round his undergraduate experience at UW-Superior.

"I probably, early on, had the best professors over there," he said. "Lydia Thering and Glenn Gerdes, before he passed away, but it was a great fit for me."

The supportive learning environment also helped Stauber discover a passion for coaching.

"I would tell you it's just like any kid now that goes to school – you're kind of floundering a little bit," he said. "I took a couple of classes and then Gary Harker took me in the summer to Eagle River, Wisconsin, where I was fortunate to experience coaching and I just fell in love with it. I went back and said, well, I want to get into education because that gives me the best chance to coach high school.

"Lydia Thering had a lot of trust in me and liked how I was as a student. The same thing with Dr. Gerdes. So, they kind of steered me toward education and then with Harker giving me a chance to work hockey schools and the coaching aspect of it."

After graduating from UW-Superior with a bachelor's degree in education in 1988, Stauber landed his first head coaching position in Waupaca, Wisconsin.

"They were a new program trying to develop," he said. "They hadn't won a game in like three years, and then when I took over, we were .500. We had three good years there, making playoffs, things like that."

When an assistant coach positioned opened with Nelson and the Yellowjackets, Stauber knew that was where he wanted to be.

"I felt like I was prepared to come back and help my school," he said. "And from there, everything else kind of fell into place."

When Nelson stepped down two years later in 2000, Stauber got his opportunity to lead the program.

"Steve started and was very successful at finishing the job and winning the championship," Stauber said. "It was very special to be coaching the program."

During his first season, the Yellowjackets set program records for wins in a season (30), longest winning streak (19 games) and longest unbeaten streak (23 games) on the way to the program's eighth NCAA Frozen Four, before losing in the semifinals and finishing the year with a record of 30-4-1. The following year, Stauber guided the Yellowjackets to the top of the college hockey mountain, as they came from behind to defeat Norwich University to claim the second National Championship in program history.

It was the first national title in nine trips to the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championships for the Yellowjacket men's hockey program.

Stauber led his teams to a pair of NCHA regular season and playoff championships, and five times guided a team to the NCAA tournament – 2001, 2002, 2006, 2009 and 2011. Two times he was named Coach of the Year by the NCHA or the WIAC. He coached 18 players who received All-American honors from the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA).

While guiding the men's hockey program, Stauber also coached golf for two years and taught classes in broomball, curling and golf. Yet, with coaching the Yellowjackets for 16 years, what stands out to Stauber more than the wins are the relationships built along the way.

"There's so many players," he says. "You build a relationship with a lot of your captains. Those players you have a lot more individual meetings with and you become closer to them. You're trying to get the pulse of the team and things like that. Kyle Nosan, Rob Turville – you know, those guys are the ones that have the pulse on the team."

Stauber retired from coaching at the college level in 2016, fashioning a record of 258-148-58 in 16 seasons. The 258 wins are the most in program history.

Since retiring as head coach, has kept busy with community and family.

"I think when I left Superior, it was a good time for me," he said. "I've been able to expand my horizons a little bit and enjoy my family."

Stauber continued his education and earned a master's degree in education with his wife Julie, also a UW-Superior graduate, earning her principalship and her superintendent license. He's also worked with the Proctor School District as athletic director and coach and oversaw the building of a state-of-the-art hockey facility.

"You know, that was a big accomplishment how we put that together," he said. "Then after that, once I built the rink, I said 'I gotta be done.' It's just time to pass the torch down to someone else and really focus on my family."

"I'm grateful to be inducted into the UW-Superior Athletic Hall of Fame. I'm grateful and honored to accept this award. I don't know how many in the past have been players and coaches, so I feel very, very honored because of that."

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2024 Hall of Fame Profile - Dan Stauber