DENVER – University of Denver head Nordic ski coach Rogan Brown, who has served in his position for the last four seasons, has resigned for personal and family reasons, Vice Chancellor for Athletics and Ritchie Center Operations Josh Berlo announced on Wednesday.
Brown will remain on the skiing coaching staff to assist the program until a new coach is both hired and able to begin at DU. A national search will begin immediately for Denver's next Nordic head coach.
"The past four years coaching the University of Denver Nordic ski team have been an incredible journey filled with growth, meaningful relationships and moments I'll carry with me forever," Brown said. "After careful reflection, I've made the difficult decision to step away from coaching to pursue a new chapter in my professional life. Balancing the demands of collegiate ski coaching at this level with my young family has become increasingly challenging, and I'm ready for a new chapter that allows me to realign personally and professionally. I'm immensely proud of what we've built with DU Skiing on top of a storied legacy, and I'm confident the team is positioned for continued success. Thank you to Vice Chancellor Josh Berlo, head Alpine ski coach Joonas Rasanen and countless others for their support throughout the years, and to the team for their tireless investment in their goals at DU and this program."
Brown, 34, has helped the Pioneers ski team finish in the top four overall in each of the four NCAA Championships during his time at Denver, including three third-place finishes. He helped Nordic skiers earn 14 All-American awards and 23 individual victories, including 17 wins by Andreas Kirkeng (2022-2025) to tie the program's men's record (Pietro Broggini). Additionally, four men's Nordic skiers have also won races at the NCAA West Regional and conference championships since 2022.
"During my time with Rogan, he has been a tremendous leader of the program displaying excellence in everything he does," Berlo said. "Rogan is a first-class human who is also very knowledgeable in his craft, making him an impactful member of this athletic department during his tenure, competitively and academically. We'll miss Rogan, but wish him, his wife and his young family all the best in this next chapter of their lives. They will always be Pioneers and leave DU with a strong Nordic skiing program."
The Durango, Colorado, native guided the Pioneers to the overall Nordic regular-season title in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association in 2025, beating out eventual national champion Utah. DU also claimed the RMISA men's Nordic regular-season championship for the third time in four years this past season (also 2022 and 2024).
Denver picked up its first meet win since 2020 in winter 2025 at the Nordic-only Alaska Fairbanks Invitational, and graduate student Lea Wenaas won her first career individual event earlier in the season at the Denver Invitational 10K freestyle pursuit; it was the first victory by a Pioneer woman since Eveliina Piippo in the 5K freestyle interval start at the 2020 NCAAs.
At the 2025 NCAA Championships in Dartmouth, New Hampshire, Kirkeng earned his fourth career All-American award by picking up second-team honors in the 20K freestyle and Wenaas earned first-team accolades by placing fourth in the women's 20K—the best finish by a DU woman in a Nordic mass start distance race at the collegiate nationals since Linn Eriksen in 2018 (third place, 15K freestyle).
Brown first joined DU's staff as an assistant coach in 2020 when the Pioneers won the RMISA Championship and earned three other top-five finishes. He served as the interim Nordic head coach of the program in April 2021 before being hired full-time two months later.
As an assistant coach in 2020, he helped guide Denver to five individual Nordic wins, including Piippo's national championship victory as a freshman. Additionally, Bernhard Flaschberger claimed first-team All-American honors in the men's 10K freestyle that year after finishing third at the NCAA Championships.
Prior to joining the Pioneers in fall 2019, he spent the previous 13 months working as the head coach for both the elite and post-graduate Nordic teams at the Bridger Ski Foundation in Bozeman, Montana.
Before getting into coaching, the University of Vermont alum raced professionally for three-plus seasons with the Sun Valley Ski Foundation Nordic Gold Team in Sun Valley, Idaho. As a student-athlete at UVM, he was named to the Eastern Intercollegiate Ski Association's All-East Second Team in back-to-back seasons in 2013 and 2014, claiming two podiums and recording six top-five finishes during the 2014 campaign. Brown capped off his collegiate career in 2015 with seven podium appearances, three EISA wins and was named to the conference's All-East First Team and a Second Team All-American.
He graduated from Vermont in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, and Brown earned his master's degree in business administration from the University of Denver in 2024.
Brown's wife Anja, who was a teammate of his at the University of Vermont, is also an accomplished Nordic skier as she won two NCAA individual championships in the 5IKK classic in 2013 and 2014. The couple has two young daughters.
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