Gophersports: Fleck Announces Promotions, Welcomes New Hires

[noamfromm]

University of Minnesota head football coach P.J. Fleck announced seven promotions and four new hires today. Fleck announced promotions for Joe Harasymiak, Rob Wenger, Danny Collins, Austin Starnes, Will Henry, Emily Litwin and Bradley Parker Jr. and welcomed newcomers Tyler Majewski, Nick Murphy, Derek Schmidt and Brian Sheppard.

"I am honored to announce these well-earned promotions and to welcome four elite individuals to our football family," said Fleck. "Head coaches are the product of the people around them and we have tremendous individuals working with our student athletes to help them grow daily in their academic, athletic, social and spiritual endeavors."

Joe Harasymiak was promoted to Defensive Backs, Safeties and Co-Defensive Coordinator. Harasymiak was previously the Defensive Backs and Safeties coach. Harasymiak joined the Minnesota staff in December 2018 from Maine after being named the FCS National Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.

Fleck Announces Promotions, Welcomes New Hires - University of Minnesota Athletics

Seven staff members promoted, while four new faces set to Row The Boat

gophersports.com

 

[MNVCGUY]

It is shocking how much they have allowed teams to expand their coaching staffs in recent years. It used to be so much more streamlined, now it is much closer to the NFL model where you have a coach for pretty much everything.

 

[re3886]

How does Wenger have a job, let alone gets a promotion? They cherry pick one stat that was OK, and ignore every other one that was worst in the nation, or close to it. I guess firing Rob Smith was a one off, and incompetence gets rewarded from here on out.

 

[btowngopher]

How does Wenger have a job, let alone gets a promotion? They cherry pick one stat that was OK, and ignore every other one that was worst in the nation, or close to it. I guess firing Rob Smith was a one off, and incompetence gets rewarded from here on out.

Little harsh. He's been Fleck's special teams coach since 2014 it looks like and has had good results. The special teams wasn't the complete train wreck it was made out to be. The kick coverage and kick offs in general were poor as far as touch backs, along with the punt/kick return game being pretty much a non threat. It seemed like often times the philosophy seemed to be don't make a mistake instead of make a play. Lets see what happens this year before we throw out the incompetence gets rewarded from here on out.

 

[btowngopher]

"Minnesota has returned one kickoff and two punts for a touchdown under the guise of Wenger. Rodney Smith returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown against Nebraska in 2017 and Antoine Winfield Jr., and Demetrius Douglas both returned punts for touchdowns in 2018. Minnesota has returned only 12 punts for a touchdown ever and the last time it happened prior to 2018 was in 2013." This was an interesting stat.

 

[noamfromm]

How does Wenger have a job, let alone gets a promotion? They cherry pick one stat that was OK, and ignore every other one that was worst in the nation, or close to it. I guess firing Rob Smith was a one off, and incompetence gets rewarded from here on out.

I think his promotion was just a reshuffling. He was coaching OLB and ST and now he is coaching Rush Ends and ST

 

[PMWinSTP]

I think his promotion was just a reshuffling. He was coaching OLB and ST and now he is coaching Rush Ends and ST

So really a lateral move.

 

[matt]

Minnesota's special teams have seen success under Wenger

......

On the other hand, the Offensive QC hire appears to have a pretty strong resume.

Sheppard is the team's Offensive Quality Control and comes to Minnesota from VMI where he was the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach for two seasons. Last year, VMI's offense featured a 3,000-yard quarterback, a 1,000-yard running back and a 1,000-yard wide receiver. Sheppard also served as the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach at Northern Arizona (2017), Indiana State (2013-16) and Williamette (2012).