Special Teams Coach Bob Ligashesky will not be retained for next season.

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I think PJ should coach special teams. Clearly he knows what he wants, but can’t find someone to do it.
 

I believe Lig was also the third highest paid asst on the team so probably looking to save some money there
 


Hopefully we can find a new coach that can bring along a great kicker.
 



We need playmaking from our special teams, we can’t just mail it in and play to avoid a mistake.
 



GoGophersUMN said:
I don't agree with Koi Perich being a bright spot on special teams. He has the one punt he nearly ran back for a TD but he also muffed 2 punts and his average punt return decreased by nearly a third compared to last year.

Weston was also 12th in average punt distance in the conference of punters with significant playing time compared to being 9th in the conference in 2024.

Hard to tell what was coaching vs players but special teams was a weak point this year.
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Agree! Add on that we are rarely able to return punts because our blocking of the gunners absolutely sucks.
 



60's Guy said:
And in addition Callahan developed a couple of NFL guys at Western Michigan. NFL 2nd round, Taylor Moton and NFL 3rd round in Chukwuma Okorafor. Add them to the two Gopher 2nd rounders and Faalele in the 4th round. Callahan is not the issue. That's 5 picks in rounds 2 thru 4.
When Kirk Ciarrocca is the offensive coordinator Callahan is elite. Ciarrocca was also at Western Michigan for those two NFL O-Linemen. Harbaugh is the issue.
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Ding, ding, ding. Ciarocca is a very, very good offensive coach.
 


A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Is punt return yards really even a thing you can count on outside a random freak athlete here or there?

The amount of truly returnable punts and kicks are so low anyway.

Personally I'd be ok with even taking a loss yardage wise and having guys run laterally more to see if it opens a big opportunity ...
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I agree on an individual punt but if that's the strategy, the occasional big return should offset those minimal or negative returns over the course of the season.

To call punt returning a "bright spot" I'd expect to see at least some bigger returns, or at least protecting the ball combined with good decisions around when to call a fair catch, when to return it, and when to let it go over your head. Without big returns, 2 muffed punts and the fair catch inside the 5 make returning not a bright spot.
 

Interview questions;

Catch the punt or drop it?


If catch, what about at the 2?


between the posts or around the posts?


If you’re guy can kick a touchback should you kick it to the 5 and not cover?
 





I vaguely remember Fleck after whyowa about kicking/punting to their return guy and his response was something like "all punts were supposed to be out of bounds". Makes sense to dump him if true.
 



Paraphrasing GGR (Gopher Gridiron Radio -- Ryan James's podcast which features his cousin Derek, a former Gopher OL):

Lig took Dragan Kesich, who was one of the best kickers in the Big Ten in 2023, and made the Gophers last in FG in the Big Ten in 2024 ... then turned in another last in the Big Ten performance in 2025.

That alone ... I don't see how you can keep the guy

And then, the other ST blunders this year. Anything has to be an improvement ...
 

pharmacygopher said:
Am I the only one that is confused why people want Callahan gone so badly? I get the OL was rough this year but figured he's built up some goodwill at least. It's not like guys haven't developed

Ersery- NFL
JMS- NFL
Faalele-NFL
Daniels- starting on tOSU
Lewis- starting on NW

Guessing there might be some other transfers that are playing as well.

Consider the streak of zero OL drafted was over a decade, not ready to replace the guy yet.
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Great post! Largely agree ... here's the thing.

Again, paraphrasing GGR (see post above):

Callahan has shown he is elite at coaching OL when the offense is an RPO, and usually coached by Ciarrocca. Is he still elite in this new scheme?


They mentioned that this was one of the worst OL performances in quite some time. That it was nearly impossible to for zone running schemes to work, because there was so much penetration being given up by the OL.

Rather, there seemed to be some modest success when going away from zone blocking and doing more plays like counters, power, etc.


Like you, there's no way I let this guy go yet, and I think there's no chance he will be. But we missed badly on portal guys this year. That can't happen two years in a row, that badly.
 

GopherGrit said:
Great post! Largely agree ... here's the thing.

Again, paraphrasing GGR (see post above):

Callahan has shown he is elite at coaching OL when the offense is an RPO, and usually coached by Ciarrocca. Is he still elite in this new scheme?


They mentioned that this was one of the worst OL performances in quite some time. That it was nearly impossible to for zone running schemes to work, because there was so much penetration being given up by the OL.

Rather, there seemed to be some modest success when going away from zone blocking and doing more plays like counters, power, etc.


Like you, there's no way I let this guy go yet, and I think there's no chance he will be. But we missed badly on portal guys this year. That can't happen two years in a row, that badly.
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Another contributing factor IMO is they had some serious misses in the 21 and 22 OL classes. Those are guys would should be upperclassmen and being contributors.

2021
Cameron James - transferred to Jackson State 2022
Logan Purcell - don't recall meaningful snaps. Left in 2024 it looks like
Saia Mapakaitolo- transferred to Arizona in 2022

2022
Ashton Beers- solid B1G starter
Tony Nelson- has played some. Hopefully continues to develop
Cade McConnell- transferred to Vanderbilt in 2024
Spencer Alvarez- no meaningful snaps to my knowledge. I think left the program

That's 1-2 B1G players in 2 classes. Not good.
2023 was a bit better ID'ing talent at least with Johnson (starter), Williams (TBD), Daniels (starter but transferred to OSU), Tripp (miss, transferred out), Mister (transferred to Howard).

The next season or 2 will be paramount to see if Callahan needs to be replaced.
 

Maybe a dumb question but what is up with Luke Ryerse? I don't follow closely enough to notice if he was injured or something, but he was considered pretty highly ranked, and with our kicking & punting woes I was surprised we didn't see him at all, even if just for a game or two while maintaining a redshirt.
 

Cmich Gopher said:
Can anyone find an example of an offense this bad for multiple years that subsequently became good without a major staff change? Genuinely curious.
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Wild random thought. Bad or complementary?

Bad if you are trying to trade blows with the likes of Indiana, OSU (Iowa?), Oregon. One could argue complementary with everyone else.
 

STPGopher said:
Wild random thought. Bad or complementary?

Bad if you are trying to trade blows with the likes of Indiana, OSU (Iowa?), Oregon. One could argue complementary with everyone else.
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Any unit will certainly look better if you disregard their 3 worst performances.

I'm not sure what you mean by complementary? They didn't turn the ball over much and made some clutch end-of-game drives, which is good.

Scoring very few points (as they did) is not very complementary in my opinion. Over the long term that will yield fewer wins and more uncompetitive games against good teams.
 
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