How the Gophers’ football program has been overachieving

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Happiness was all over the faces of members of the Gophers football program on the field at Bank of America Stadium after its 24-10 win over Virginia Tech in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Friday night. This was outside of the hype toward coach P.J. Fleck’s mayonnaise bath, which went viral with celeb rapper Flavor Flav lending a hand in the dousing.

Among the joyful scenes, Minnesota assistant coaches had children in tow for the postgame party.

Offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh’s son wore a custom maroon No. 16 jersey with the name “QuarterMax” on the back — an affectionate nod to the legacy left by record-setting senior Max Brosmer. Two of receivers coach Matt Simon’s kids were latched onto their dad — one riding on his shoulders, the other clinging to arms. Wives and other kids were not far behind.

While the season has officially wrapped up, all coaches will be back in the office in short order.

After a strong finish to an 8-5 season, the Gophers will continue to scour the NCAA transfer portal for impact players this weekend — defensive reinforcements at the top of the wish list — and they will refocus attention on the 2026 high school recruiting class early next week.

This work ethic is considered necessary across college football, but especially at the U, where they need to overachieve to be successful in the ultra-competitive Big Ten Conference. The Gophers are already producing a higher return on investment.

Over the previous two years, the Gophers’ name, image and likeness (NIL) funds have grown from next to nothing to tangible, but it is believed to still lag behind most of its Big Ten brethren. Minnesota’s football NIL total is approximately $2 to $2.5 million, the Pioneer Press learned during bowl week in North Carolina.

Details of each program’s war chests have come out…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/gophers-football-program-overachieving-234400003.html

Author : Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Publish date : 2025-01-04 23:44:00

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