Eric Rud, one of the most decorated defensemen in the history of Tiger Hockey and a rising star in the sport’s coaching fraternity for the last decade, returned to the Colorado College staff in 2011-12 after a six-year absence.
Rud served as head coach and general manager of the United States Hockey League’s Green Bay Gamblers during the 2010-11 season, guiding them to an overall record of 41-15-4 and a spot in the Clark Cup finals. He resigned in July, 2011, to become an assistant coach at CC for the second time. He has been involved with numerous USA Hockey camps and clinics since the early 2000s, and has helped coached a pair of select teams that competed internationally in Slovakia (under-17) and the Czech Republic (under-18).
Known for his acute hockey sense, commitment to academics and positive manner with which he relates to student-athletes, Rud launched his coaching career as an assistant with the USHL’s Cedar Rapids Roughriders in 2002 after playing professionally for five years and six different minor-league teams. He returned temporarily to his alma mater for the 2004-05 campaign, when the Tigers posted a 31-9-3 record en route to the program’s most recent Frozen Four appearance, then went on to spend the next five seasons on Bob Motzko’s staff at St. Cloud State University. There he helped the Huskies earn four appearances at the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s Final Five as well as three trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Before reuniting with Scott Owens and Joe Bonnett at CC in the summer of 2011, Rud enjoyed remarkable success in his debut as a head coach. In addition to its glittering record and post-season achievements, Green Bay allowed just 131 goals – the fewest by any team in the entire USHL – during his year at the helm. Defenseman Aaron Harstad, one of his top players with the Gamblers and a 2011 draft pick of the Winnipeg Jets, emerged as Colorado College’s top rookie in ‘11-12.
A native of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., Rud enjoyed an outstanding playing career (1993-97) with the Tigers, who claimed a then-unprecedented three consecutive WCHA regular-season titles his first three years and reached the Frozen Four his last two. He ranks 24th on the school's all-time assists list, with 90, as well as ninth among blue-line specialists in overall points, with 112. The two-time WCHA Defensive Player of the Year appeared in 168 consecutive games, third most ever in program history. As a junior in 1996, his first of two seasons as team captain, he helped lead CC to the national championship game – a 3-2 overtime loss to Michigan at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum.
Rud and his wife Amy, who married in August of that same year, are the proud parents of an 11-year-old daughter, Gabbie, as well as two sons, Sam and Max, ages 13 and 9.
