I have lived through Murray Warmath, Cal Stoll, Joe Salem, Lou Holtz, John Gutekuhnst, Jim Wacker, Glen Mason, Tim Brewster, Jerry Kill, Tracy Claeys, and P.J. Fleck. 11 different football coaches!
The best of these is P.J. Fleck.
Fun to play Virginia Tech. Gophers have never played them, they are really never on our radar. We really do not recruit the same areas. So one of the bonus things about Bowl Games. And Charlotte is a nice City.....
Also add "Fereentz is a cheating jerk" to get a rise out of some Hawk fans. I almost got in a fist fight down here with one.
DeJean was/is a great athlete. But they did try to cheat.
One of the really cool things about Bowl season is playing some team you are not that familiar with, and getting to know some of their fans. Va Tech and Minnesota have never met before. I have a brother who did grad school in Charlottesville. He says the Va- Va Tech rivalry is pretty intense...
I always get nervous when we are in these "pools" of teams for Bowl games. 50 years following the Gopher program - it very often seems like we get passed over by the better Bowls. Year after year. Perceptual evidence only, but I am thinking of the Alamo Bowl, the Outback Bowl, the Vegas Bowl...
It also makes sense that if we fell in the overall Big Ten pecking order for Bowls, we would say that we were just in the Pinstripe Bowl. (Two years ago). So if we do have to fall, send us to Phoenix, where it is at least warm. And we have a pretty strong alumni base down there, we had fans...