–> Longtime Gophers DC Joe Rossi accepted the same role at Michigan State over the weekend. Coaching staff change is inevitable at a program like Minnesota, so where does PJ Fleck go from here?
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COULD:
The biggest issue for the Gophers when it comes to retaining coordinators like Joe Rossi is salary. According to USA Today, their ten on-field assistants were paid $4.633 million in 2023. In comparison, Wisconsin’s assistant staff made $5.4 million and Iowa’s ten assistants totaled $6.73 million. At their peak schools like Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State are only more.
When you look at the pool of money that Minnesota likely has to work with when hiring Rossi’s replacement, His expected $1.15 million salary in 2024 is gone, plus Michigan State likely paid the $330,000 buyout in his contract, so you could have as much as a $1.48 million salary to offer… but we all know how their current athletic department likes to operate when it comes to finances.
Unrealistic “Home-Run” Options
- Nick Rallis, DC, Arizona Cardinals
Rallis would easily be the most fun and most exciting option for the Gophers. Currently 29 years old, he is the youngest coordinator in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals after being the LB coach for the NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles last season. The only reason why this is even worth a mention is because Rallis was a former Eden Prairie HS standout and played for the Gophers from 2012-16. So maybe in some alternate universe, he wants to come home and help out his alma mater, but I highly doubt he would want to leave the NFL at this moment.
- Jim Leonhard, Defensive Analyst, Illinois
Former Wisconsin DC Jim Leonhard is a name that I keep seeing floated around amongst Gophers fans on the Gopherhole message boards. He had a really interesting/messy departure from his alma mater Wisconsin. After being defensive coordinator for 5 seasons he was promoted to interim head coach after Paul Chryst was surprisingly fired. Many rumored Leonhard to get the full-time job, then after they went with Luke Fickell many hypothesized that he could stay on the staff. At one point it looked like that would be the case until they decided to go elsewhere and Leonard is now a defensive analyst at Illinois with Bret Bielema. So now that Leonhard is still only 41 years old and a DC job at a Big Ten school would still be a step up for him, I am not sure if the Gophers have deep enough pockets or if he would want to coach for his rival.
SHOULD:
Between hiring Mike Sanford Jr. and promoting Greg Harbaugh Jr./Matt Simon for two of their last OC positions, we all know that PJ Fleck and the Gophers don’t always make the flashiest hire at the coordinator positions. With that being said, I think Fleck is well aware of how important his hire can be for his future and the future of this program, so I would imagine that he does want to take at least a calculated risk.
Options
- Seth Wallace, Assistant Iowa DC/LB coach
Wallace might be my pick for the most realistic and exciting external option. 44 years old, Wallace has been working with Iowa’s defense since 2015 and he has been the team’s assistant DC since 2017. We all know how dominant the Hawkeyes’ defense has been for the past half-decade and I think Wallace has “paid his dues” enough to want a full-time DC role at another program. He is from Danville, Kentucky and attended Coe College so I think his ties to the University lie at nothing more than where he got his first big shot, so there is a possibility.
- Spence Nowinsky, Ohio DC
Ohio defensive coordinator Spence Nowinsky played his college football at Minnesota State in Mankato, making him a possible option for the Gophers. Last season at Ohio, the Bobcats allowed 15.4 PPG which ranked 5th best in the entire country. In only his second season in Athens, he has developed his defense into one of the best units in the group of five.
Originally from Hatley, Wisconsin, Nowinsky is a Midwest guy through and through. He had previous stints at Illinois State and Miami (OH) working with the defense in both those places. At 52 years old he has experience and he deserves a chance to make a jump to the next level. This would be a calculated risk that the Gophers could make.
- Winston DeLattiboudere III, DLine Coach
DeLattiboudere is one of the brightest young minds on the Gophers’ coaching staff. Just finishing up his first season as defensive line coach, he is incredibly well-respected amongst the players and his future is incredibly bright. With only two seasons as a position coach and only one season at a major conference level, there is a concern for whether DeLattiboudere, but I think hiring him as DC could be the realistic risk that Fleck and the Gophers could take.
- Joe Harasymiak, DC, Rutgers
Joe Harasymiak was with the Gophers from 2019-2021 after acting as head coach of Maine from 2016-18. He has been the DC at Rutgers over the last two seasons and could maybe return to Minnesota. While he has a connection with Fleck, he seems like a Northeast guy. Growing up in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the Rutgers fits seems to make sense and he has been having some great success each of the last two seasons. So while it is possible, I would be a bit surprised if he came back to the Gophers.
- Chad Wilt, former Indiana DC
Former Gophers DL coach Chad Wilt was recently let go from Indiana after they cleaned house, firing HC Tom Allen. He had been the DC in Bloomington since 2022. Indiana’s defense struggled, but they improved from 33.9 PPG allowed to 29.9 PPG allowed year over year. Wilt was Minnesota DL coach from 2020-22 and developed a handful of great players such as Boye Mafe and recruited Anthony Smith. He is still fairly young and has Big Ten coordinating experience and a relationship with Fleck, so it’s certainly a name to look out for.
WILL:
If I was a betting man, I certainly would say that the Gophers promoting current co-DC Nick Monroe to the No. 1 spot and promoting S coach Danny Collins to co-DC is the most likely outcome.
Most likely internal options
- Nick Monroe, Co-DC/CBs Coach
I wouldn’t say that promoting Monroe is a bad option, it just might be putting a band-aid on a bigger issue. He was brought in as the CB coach last offseason. He had been with the Syracuse defensive staff since 2016 and he had the Orange with one of the most underrated secondaries year in and year out. As a native of Mahtomedi, Minnesota he is a local guy. He was previously at Bowling Green for five seasons before that. With the bowl game only a few weeks away it could be an opportunity to get a trial run, he has a mixture of experience and potential and he would be more than capable of taking on a bigger role in 2024.
- Danny Collins, S Coach
Over the past few seasons, Fleck has shown the desire to promote a coach to co-coordinator in a situation like this. As the two secondary coaches on the team, Collins and Monroe obviously have a close relationship and Collins is a guy that has worked with Fleck for quite a while now, so he is someone that he trusts. He has been the program’s safety coach for each of the last two seasons, so a promotion is definitely a likely scenario.