Gopher Assistant Football Coaches 2026

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60's Guy

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Special Teams Coordinator: Bob Ligashesky out and Daniel Da Prato New Mexico's Special Teams Coordinator from the Rate Bowl in.
Defensive Line Coach: Dennis Dottin-Carter out and Travis Moore will be assistant Defensive Line Coach. Was at Northern Illinois as Defensive Line coach. He was a teammate of PJ's at Northern Illinois. C.J. Robbins was promoted from within to be the new Defensive Line Coach.
Outside Linebackers Coach: Kevin Kane moved to Purdue as DC and ?
Rush DE Coach: Reportedly Bobby April III is the new Rush DE coach. April was the Stanford DC. C.J. Robbins was the Rush DE Coach before becoming the new DL Coach.
RB Coach: Jaydon Everett moved to Wisconsin and Mo Ibrahim is replacing him. Was at Kent State one year under Kenni Burns. Obviously after 5 years or so Mo knows what Kenni knows about RB's and more.
WR Coach: Matt Simon out and Isaac Fruechte in. Fruechte was North Dakota OC...last year he was a strong candidate to be their head coach as interim head coach but was not chosen. His dad, Carl is a Caledonia, 10X State Champion Football Head Coaching legend.
Assistant Quarterbacks Coach: Keegan O'Hara promoted from within earlier in season.

Greder says the Outside Linebackers Nickel Backs Coaching position is still open.

Bobby April III doesn't have a lot of internet confirmation. Bobby April III is definitely the most high profile coach of the incoming or outgoing group. Hope he's a Gopher!
 
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Screenshot 2026-01-03 at 5.44.05 AM.pngAnd of course Mark Coyle's operation is of no help. We also have a special teams quality control coach that didn't fit the page. 19 coaches listed in total from last season.
 
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mkAz said:
Did some quick reading up on him, it sounds like he was the OSU version of Danny Collins, good assistant coach, overwhelmed as DC.
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Yeah, OK State was such a mess the last few years with Gundy I’m probably willing to give him a pass.

According to Gundy, Nardo coached a 3 man front and Gundy didn’t let him bring coaches that had experience coaching that type of defense. Seems like he was set up to fail.
 

GreasyGopher said:
Yeah, OK State was such a mess the last few years with Gundy I’m probably willing to give him a pass.

According to Gundy, Nardo coached a 3 man front and Gundy didn’t let him bring coaches that had experience coaching that type of defense. Seems like he was set up to fail.
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Interesting, so Gundy took the blame himself on that?
 









MaxyJR1 said:
Fleck likes young guys to coach and mentor. Sometimes I’d like him to find himself a veteran mentor.
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I wonder how much it is a culture clash of sorts.

Reading between the coach speak lines it seems like younger coaches seem to get along with / genuinely like PJ. Some older coaches get all old man yells at cloud about PJ.

I actually don't think PJ is all THAT different than other coaches, everyone has their slogans and such, but perception is a thing and might play into it.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Fleck likes young guys to coach and mentor. Sometimes I’d like him to find himself a veteran mentor.
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I don't doubt that Fleck and like many others do have a mentor that we just don't know about it. Most of us have someone whom we look up to and to pick their brains.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I wonder how much it is a culture clash of sorts.

Reading between the coach speak lines it seems like younger coaches seem to get along with / genuinely like PJ. Some older coaches get all old man yells at cloud about PJ.

I actually don't think PJ is all THAT different than other coaches, everyone has their slogans and such, but perception is a thing and might play into it.
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PJ has helped make a lot of young/up and coming coaches a lot of money.
 
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GoldRush said:
So we'd have 2 former DCs on staff and one former OC. None of them coaching at that level for us.
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Wise counsel for existing Coordinators, and redundancy in case you sack a Coordinator before or in the middle of the season?
 


Do we have room for Winston DeLattiboudere if and when he's let go by AZ at the end of the NFL season, should they clean house?
 


60's Guy said:
Bobby April III doesn't have a lot of internet confirmation. Bobby April III is definitely the most high profile coach of the incoming or outgoing group. Hope he's a Gopher!
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It's Bobby April Jr.
Here's at least some confirmation:

www.minnesotasportsfan.com

Significant Shakeup Brings Big Names to MN Gophers Staff

The Minnesota Gophers are hiring Isaac Fruecthe, Mo Ibrahim, Daniel De Prato, and Travis Moore to P.J. Fleck's coaching staff.
www.minnesotasportsfan.com www.minnesotasportsfan.com
 

USAF said:
It's Bobby April Jr.
Here's at least some confirmation:

www.minnesotasportsfan.com

Significant Shakeup Brings Big Names to MN Gophers Staff

The Minnesota Gophers are hiring Isaac Fruecthe, Mo Ibrahim, Daniel De Prato, and Travis Moore to P.J. Fleck's coaching staff.
www.minnesotasportsfan.com www.minnesotasportsfan.com
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Wow Bobby April I definitely knew of, I don’t recall him being that old though! Clearly have the veteran presence some have asked for.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Sounds like him going to Michigan State is pretty much a done deal.
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Whatever. They will be bottom feeders going forward. The defense was beyond terrible all year and now Fitzgerald who was terrible last two years are going to fix it? Northernestern is now better off with Braun…without the locker room garbage. If an ex coach/player wants to go there so be it.
 


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