Brad Fast - Men's Ice Hockey Coach - Michigan State University Athletics

Brad Fast

Title:
Director of Hockey Operations
Email:
fastbrad@ath.msu.edu
Phone:
355-1639

Education:
Bachelor’s degree in General Management and Psychology from Michigan State (2003)

Collegiate Playing Experience:
Michigan State (1999-2003)
   Team Captain (2002-03)
   All-American (2002-03)
   Outstanding Defensive Player (2003)
   Amo Bessone Award (2003)
   NCAA Frozen Four (2001)
   NCAA Qualifier (2000-02)
   Great Lakes Invitational Title (1999, 2000)

Previous Collegiate Coaching Experience:
Michigan State, Video Coach/Operations, 2015-19

Former Michigan State hockey captain Brad Fast serves the Spartan Hockey program as the Director of Player Development.

Fast has a considerable background in player development in addition to his own experience as a high-level collegiate player and professional athlete. He provides the Spartan players with individually-focused skills training which has not only helped a total of 18 players not only establish new personal bests in terms of offensive numbers, but has also helped guide the program to team-wide improvements in all facets of the game to achieve team success at the league and national level.

Brad Fast

Fast helps mentor the Spartan defensive corps – as one of the youngest units in college hockey in 2023-24, MSU saw considerable growth from its four freshmen blueliners and saw senior captain Nash Nienhuis also post career-best offensive numbers. Improved offensive output has been evident throughout the Spartan lineup, as a total of 18 players posted offensive career bests over Fast’s two seasons in the Nightingale regime.

Fast also assists Mike Towns with coaching the Spartan power play, which finished the season fifth in the country (second in the Big Ten) in 2023-24 with a .271 success rate, an improvement of more than 70 points from the 2022-23 campaign. MSU’s offense over the two seasons has nearly doubled as well: from 76 goals in 2021-22 to 107 in the staff’s first year, and 147 scores in 2023-24 as the Spartans earned both the regular-season and tournament titles in the Big Ten.

Previously the Director of Hockey Operations at MSU (2015-19), Fast returned to his alma mater as a part of Adam Nightingale's first staff. He had previously spent a year and a half at Honeybaked Hockey Club in Detroit as the club’s Director of Athlete Development, where he worked alongside specialized professionals and coaches to create, implement, and oversee player development plans and best-practice teaching protocols.

The former Spartan defenseman has been involved in hockey skill development and coaching at every level, from youth hockey through working with professional athletes. He founded the East Lansing-based Elevation Hockey in 2011, a training organization that mentored players of all ages to enhance their skills and performance. He owned and was the head skills coach at Elevation while also serving as the hockey director of the Lansing Hockey Club. In that role, Fast oversaw the selection and education of coaches as well as planning the development of individual and team advancement.

Brad Fast

A standout blueliner at Michigan State from 1999-2003, Fast compiled 114 career points in 164 career games and helped lead MSU to the Frozen Four in 2001. As a senior and team captain, he garnered both All-America and Academic All-America honors that season and was also named the CCHA’s Best Defensive Defenseman. Fast’s team-leading 35 assists in 2002-03 ranks as the seventh-highest single-season total by a defenseman in school history. Additionally, he was selected as the winner of the Dr. James Feurig Achievement and Service Award, honoring an MSU senior student-athlete who carries a minimum 3.0 GPA and is active in community service initiatives.

Fast was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in the third round of the 1999 NHL Draft, played one game for the club and a total of three seasons in the organization. In 2006, he moved overseas and played in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and South Korea until his retirement in 2011.

Fast, a native of Fort St. John, British Columbia, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in general management and psychology from MSU in 2003. Fast and his wife, Lindsay, have three sons: Riley, Beckett and Gavin.