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ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Nick Tomczyk's career has taken some interesting twists and turns since he graduated from Northern Michigan University.

The last couple have been sharp and quick turns.

Tomczyk has been hired to be the director of hockey operations and video coordinator for the St. Cloud State University men's hockey team. He replaces T.J. Jindra, who left the position to become the video scouting coordinator for the Minnesota Wild.

How quick have things turned for Tomczyk? Let's put it this way, he and his wife, Kristi, bought a house on Aug. 10 in Michigan that they are now trying to sell so that their family can move to in the St. Cloud area. Oh, and Tomczyk had been working as a scout for the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League since May.

"It's a lot of change, but absolutely where we're supposed to be," said Tomczyk, who is 38 and a native of Detroit, Mich. "We've just got to get through these next few months. We're in two months of dad being gone and trying to fly home once a month."

Kristi is finishing out the season as an assistant women's soccer coach for Oakland University (Mich.) and their four sons (Easton, Colton, Hudson and Boston) are staying with her until the end of the soccer season and they get their house sold.

With St. Cloud State, Tomczyk will be in charge of the team's meals, travel arrangements, academic coordination of the players, scheduling players community service and appearances and with video. That may sound like a lot, but Huskies head coach Brett Larson has a lot of confidence in him.

"He's a real high energy, positive energy, guy," said Larson, who is beginning his second season as a college head coach. "I think the players are going to love him.

"He's also high detail oriented, like T.J. was. As I learned the role of head coach, I realized how important it was to have somebody taking care of all the details behind the scenes so that I could focus more on coaching and recruiting."

Tomczyk came to mind for the St. Cloud State job because both Larson and Huskies assistant coach Nick Oliver have both worked with him at USA Hockey Select 15 camps over the last three years.

"Two guys where you hit it off and your personalities and values just click," Tomczyk said.

Before taking the Omaha Lancers job, Tomczyk has spent a lot of time in a variety of roles in hockey since graduating from Northern Michigan with a degree in physical education and health in 2004.

At Northern Michigan, he played one season for the club hockey (American Collegiate Hockey Association) team before joining spending four years as the varsity team's manager for head coaches Rick Comley and Walt Kyle.

"Being under those guys, it gave me that passion that I wanted to get into coaching," said Tomczyk, who can be on the ice but not coach players for the Huskies. "Ever since then, it's been a desire and a dream and a drive to get back to this level. There's been a lot of different levels along the way."

After graduating from college, he was the head coach at Stevenson High ÍáÍáÂþ»­ in Sterling Heights, Mich., for two years. Then he spent two years working with the Oakland Junior Grizzlies in AAA hockey, took a stint as the head coach at Utica (Mich.) High ÍáÍáÂþ»­, three years as an associate head coach for the ACHA Division I Oakland University team and then spent three years starting the ACHA team at Rochester College in Rochester Hills, Mich.

"These were all part-time jobs and I still had a real job on top of all that," he said.

Then he was an assistant coach for the Honey Baked AAA team in Michigan and he also spent three seasons as the American scout for the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League (major junior) before taking the job with the Lancers ... for that short stint before the St. Cloud State job opened.

"I couldn't have asked for a better spot to be in or a better staff to work with," said Tomczyk, who graduated with a master's degree in school administration from Saginaw Valley State in 2010.

St. Cloud State opens its season with an exhibition game against Alberta at 1:07 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.