Bethany Brausen, who has been serving as St. Thomas women's hockey interim coach since November, was named the head coach by the school on Sunday.

The former Gophers player and assistant coach, in her fourth year on the St. Thomas staff, took over on an interim basis on Nov. 19 following the resignation of Joel Johnson, who had led the program since its transition to Division I in 2021. Tommies athletic director Phil Esten said at the time that an incident on Nov. 15 led to Johnson's resignation.

"Bethany Brausen has demonstrated an alignment with our athletics and institutional values and is committed to the pursuit of comprehensive excellence," Esten said in a statement Sunday. "I am thrilled to introduce Bethany as our new women's hockey head coach as she has established herself as one of the best emerging coaches in women's college hockey. Coach Brausen's leadership over the last four years has made me confident that she is the right person for the job, especially as we enter a new era of Tommie hockey. I am confident she will lead St. Thomas women's hockey with poise and uphold the core values of Tommie athletics at the highest level."

The Tommies, who are 7-17-2 overall and 4-15-1 in the WCHA, are 2-9-1 overall and 2-8 in conference play under Brausen. Last week, the Tommies swept No. 4 Minnesota Duluth, winning 3-2 and 4-3 in St. Paul the first sweep of a top-five program by the Tommies in their D-I era.

Brausen, who went to high school at Roseville, played for the Gophers from 2010 to '14, playing on two national championship teams, and served as a Gophers assistant from 2016 to '21. She also was a guest coach for the Boston Bruins' development camp.

"It is both an immense honor and one of the greatest privileges of my professional career to be named the head coach of the women's hockey program at the University of St. Thomas," Brausen said in a statement. "Our program is uniquely positioned within the landscape of women's college hockey to offer an unparalleled academic and athletic experience — one that stands apart from any other institution in the country."