The Lakeville Public School District has made it official. Josh Storm won’t return as Lakeville South’s varsity boys hockey coach.

Storm was called into a meeting Thursday, March 19, and asked to resign, a person familiar with the situation said.

The school district placed Storm on a leave of absence on Jan. 28, pending an investigation. Storm also teaches physical education at South and was reinstated to teach on Feb. 4, with the coaching decision undecided at that time.

Lakeville South activities director Eric Albright on Feb. 10 named Kurt Weber the interim boys hockey coach for the rest of the season. Weber is currently South’s girls hockey coach and had previously coached the boys team for a decade.

The school district, citing employee privacy, has not stated a reason for the investigation into Storm. Storm declined comment. Sources familiar with the situation have said Storm had times when he lost his temper, pointing specifically to a profane postgame tongue-lashing he gave players on the team bus following their 3-0 loss at Grand Rapids on Jan. 16.

In a Feb. 10 statement, Albright said, “Due to employee privacy, no additional information can be shared at this time.”

Storm, 44, guided South to the state tournament in three of his first four years there. He graduated from Lakeville High School in 2000 and went on to play hockey and baseball at Bethel.

Storm had a successful 10-year run as Owatonna’s coach before replacing Janne Kivihalme as South’s coach for the 2021-22 season.

This season, the Cougars went 8-9-1 before Storm was placed on leave and finished 15-13-3. After outscoring three opponents 15-3 in the Class 2A, Section 1 playoffs, they played eventual champion Moorhead tough in the state quarterfinals. Lakeville South trailed just 2-1 midway through the third period but lost 4-1.

The Cougars were 5-3 under Weber, who has said he plans to return as the school’s girls hockey coach next season.