Minnesota State sent out a press release tonight announcing that they had reassigned head coach Troy Jutting to a new position within the university, and will begin the search for a new coach immediately.

Jutting still had another year on his contract with Minnesota State, and conventional wisdom was that the Minnesota State athletic department couldn't afford to pay the rest of the contract and hire a new coach. But after two consecutive dismal 11th place finishes that saw home attendance drop to embarrassing levels, the MSU athletic department reached a point where they couldn't afford not to get rid of him.

Jutting has over a quarter-century of history with Mankato with 12 seasons as a head coach, 10 as an assistant coach, and four as a player, but it was time for him to go. The Mavericks had not won a WCHA playoff series, nor appeared in the NCAA tournament since the 2002-2003 season, and had finished with a losing record in eight of the last nine seasons.