Minnesota hockey Olympian Potter succeeds OSU coach who was forced out

Jenny Potter, a four-time Olympian and college hockey star in Minnesota, is the new head women's coach at Ohio State University.

Potter succeeds Nate Handrahan, who stepped down under pressure last month while under school investigation for allegedly making sexually explicit comments to numerous players on the team and retaliating against players who complained. The Buckeyes were 67-64-15 in Handrahan's four seasons.

Potter, 36, had been the head coach at Division III Trinity College in Connecticut for the past two seasons, leading the Bantams in 2014-15 to their first conference championship and second NCAA tournament berth in program history.

"Her experience in the sport of hockey as a highly decorated player both at the NCAA and Olympic level will give the student-athletes an instant `winners' mentality," Shaun Richard, OSU's associate athletic director for sport administration, said in making the announcement Sunday.

Ohio State finished the 2014-15 season 17-16-3 overall and 12-13-3-1 in the WCHA.

Potter said, "I am proud to be a Buckeye, and I look forward to coaching and mentoring these young women."

Potter, who starred at Edina High School when her last name was Schmidgall, was an All-America forward all four years in college, three times with Minnesota, Duluth and once with Minnesota. She was on Duluth's national championship team in 2003.

Potter ranks as the Bulldogs' all-time leading scorer and shares the NCAA record for goals in a game with six. In the 1999-00 season, she not only led the nation in scoring, but also was named the WCHA's Most Valuable Player. She won the same award in 2002-03.

A member of the WCHA All-Decade team for the 2000s, Potter earned her bachelor's degree from Duluth in organizational management.

In 1998 in Nagano, Japan, she was on Team USA's Olympic gold medal squad. She claimed silver medals in 2002 and 2010, and bronze in 2006. She also helped Team USA win World Championship titles in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2011.

Her coaching experience includes stints on the girls high school staffs at Coon Rapids (with husband Rob Potter) and Maple Grove.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482