University of Wisconsin women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson officially turned down the chance to be the first men’s hockey coach at Penn State, Badgers athletic director Barry Alvarez confirmed Friday.
Johnson has not commented since it was announced last Sunday the Nittany Lions hired Guy Gadowsky from Princeton.
“As I understand it, (Johnson) was offered the job,” Alvarez said after the monthly UW Athletic Board meeting.
Johnson formally interviewed for the job last week after guiding the UW women to their fourth national title in the past six years.
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Alvarez admitted he couldn’t compete with what Penn State was able to offer a men’s coach. “You can’t keep good people from looking,” Alvarez said. “He was always very transparent when he talked to people.
“First thing I told him, ‘I cannot compete with a men’s job at Penn State financially. I can’t do that.’ We were able to make some adjustments, but not to that extent.”
Some more in a moment.