Omaha fires assistants Jutting, Todd after second-half collapse

Omaha coach Dean Blais dismissed both of his assistant coaches (photo: Bradley K. Olson).
Omaha has fired assistant coaches Troy Jutting and Alex Todd, the school announced Wednesday.Jutting was an Omaha assistant for four years after a 12-year stint as head coach at Minnesota State.Todd had been with the Mavericks for three seasons after eight years as the head coach at Castleton.”Given the difficult end to our season, we took a hard look at our team and how we support the players as a staff,” head coach Dean Blais said in a news release. “In the end, I decided that this was one area where we needed to improve to stay competitive in the NCHC.”I want to thank Troy and Alex for their work on behalf of Maverick hockey. We’ll immediately begin to look for the best candidates to fill the assistant coach positions.”The Mavericks were 14-3-1 and ranked No. 6 in the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll at the holiday break after being as high as No. 2 earlier in the season.But they were 4-14 in the second half and missed the NCAA tournament one year after advancing to the school’s first Frozen Four. Omaha finished the season 18-17-1 overall but just 8-17-1 in the NCHC.