Minnesota Golden Gophers football | |
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First season | 1882 |
Athletic director | Mark Coyle |
Head coach | P. J. Fleck 2nd season, 12-13 (.480) |
Stadium | TCF Bank Stadium |
Location | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
NCAA division | Division I FBS |
Conference | Big Ten Conference |
Division | West |
All-time record | |
Bowl record | 8–12 (.400) |
Claimed nat'l titles | 7 (1904, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960) |
Unclaimed nat'l titles | 2 (1911, 1915) |
Conference titles | 18 |
Rivalries | Wisconsin (rivalry) Iowa (rivalry) Michigan (rivalry) Penn State (rivalry) Nebraska (rivalry) |
Heisman winners | 1 |
Consensus All-Americans | 33 |
Colors | Maroon and Gold[1] |
Fight song | Minnesota Rouser |
Mascot | Goldy Gopher |
Marching band | Minnesota Marching Band |
Outfitter | Nike |
Website | gophersports.com |
The Minnesota Golden Gophers football program represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. Founded in 1882, the program is one of the oldest in college football. Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its inception in 1896 as the Western Conference. The Golden Gophers claim seven national championships: 1904, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, and 1960.[2] Since 2009, the Gophers have played all their home games at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[3] In January 2017, the Gophers fired head coach Tracy Claeys and hired former Western Michigan head coach P. J. Fleck as the new head coach.[4]
The Minnesota Golden Gophers college football team played its first game on September 29, 1882, a 4-0 victory over Hamline University. Eight years later in 1890, the Gophers played host to Wisconsin in a 63-0 victory. With the exception of 1906, the Gophers and Badgers have played each other every year since then. The 128 games played against each other is the most played rivalry in Division I-A college football.
The sport's beginnings were humble. Students began gathering to play the game recreationally and its popularity grew.
Once the sport had taken off, it was only a matter of time before a team was formed to play against other schools. Early teams were very loosely organized, not requiring all of the players to be students and not having designated coaches. The players on the team started to recruit faculty members who had played football at schools in the East to help organize the team. Some years, they played without a coach. Other years, they played with multiple coaches. In total, from 1882 through 1899, the team played 16 seasons of football and had 15 different coaches. As the years went by, the leadership structure started to become more formal. In 1900, the hiring of Dr. Henry L. Williams, the school's first full-time salaried coach, signaled the end of the early, chaotic days.[5]:15
The Gophers enjoyed quite a bit of success in the early 20th century, posting winning records from 1900 to 1919. Head coach Henry L. Williams developed the "Minnesota shift", a predecessor to later quick line shifts, which was adopted widely.[6] Also Henry L. Williams led Minnesota to one of the NCAA's longest unbeaten streaks of 35 games, from 1903 to 1905 with 34 wins and 1 tie.[7] In 1932, Bernie Bierman became the Gopher head coach and led the Gophers to their first dynasty. From 1934 to 1936 the Gophers went on a run of winning three straight National Championships, the last Division I team to accomplish this feat. During the run, Minnesota went unbeaten in 28 straight games, 21 of which were consecutive victories. The school record for consecutive victories is 24, which spanned 3 seasons from 1903 to 1905. The Gophers also won two more national championships in 1940 and 1941. Those two seasons comprised most of an 18-game winning streak that stretched from 1939 to 1942.
After some mediocre seasons throughout the remainder of the 1940s and 1950s, the Gophers rose back to prominence in 1960 with their seventh national championship (because polling ended after the regular season, the Gophers were crowned AP and UPI national champions despite losing the Rose Bowl to Washington). That national championship followed a 1-8 record in 1958 and 2-7 record in 1959. Minnesota played in bowl games the two following years as well, in 1961 and 1962. The Gophers earned their first berth in the Rose Bowl by winning the 1960 Big Ten title. The following year, Minnesota returned to Pasadena despite a second-place finish in the conference. The Ohio State Buckeyes, the Big Ten champions in 1961, declined an invitation to the Rose Bowl because of tension between academics and athletics at the school. Minnesota beat UCLA 21-3 to claim its first and only Rose Bowl victory. Minnesota's last Big Ten title was in 1967, tying the Indiana Hoosiers and Purdue Boilermakers atop the standings.
After their 8-2 record in 1967, the Gophers would not win 8 games in a season again until they went 8-4 in 1999.[8] Their 10-3 record in 2003 gave the Gophers their first 10 win season since 1905.
The 2006 team had the dubious distinction of blowing a 38-7 third-quarter lead in the Insight Bowl against Texas Tech, losing 44-41 in overtime. The collapse, which was the biggest in the history of Division I-A postseason football, directly led to the firing of head coach Glen Mason. On January 17, 2007, Tim Brewster was officially announced as the next head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers.[9]
In 1981, the Gophers played their last game in Memorial Stadium and played their home games in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome until 2008. The Gophers moved back to campus with a 20-13 win against Air Force on September 12, 2009, when their new home, TCF Bank Stadium, opened.
In 2010, after a 1-6 record to start the season, the Gophers football head coach Tim Brewster was fired. Jeff Horton served as the interim head coach going 2-3. On December 6, 2010, Jerry Kill, former Northern Illinois University head coach, was hired to take over the University of Minnesota football program.[10]
In 2014, The Gophers reached an 8-4 record while going 5-3 in Big Ten games, falling just short of making the Big Ten Championship Game by losing to The Wisconsin Badgers in the season finale. After being revitalized in the Big Ten contention, The Gophers were awarded an appearance in the Citrus Bowl on January 1 against Missouri. In 2018 the Gophers Beat the Badgers to claim Paul Bunyan's Axe.
Minnesota has won nine national championships from NCAA-designated major selectors.[11][12]:111-113 Minnesota claims seven (1904, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, and 1960) of these championships.[13] The 1960 championship is a consensus national championship.[12]:120
Season | Coach | Selectors | Record | Bowl | Result |
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1904 | Billingsley | 13-0 | |||
1911 | Henry L. Williams | Billingsley | 6-0-1 | ||
1915 | Henry L. Williams | Billingsley | 6-0-1 | ||
1934 | Bernie Bierman | Billingsley, Boand, Dickinson, Football Research, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Sagarin, Sagarin (ELO-Chess) | 8-0 | ||
1935 | Bernie Bierman | Billingsley, Boand, Football Research, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Poling | 8-0 | ||
1936 | Bernie Bierman | AP, Billingsley, Dickinson, Dunkel, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Poling | 7-1 | ||
1940 | Bernie Bierman | AP, Berryman, Boand, DeVold, Dickinson, Football Research, Houlgate, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Sagarin, Sagarin (ELO-Chess) | 8-0 | ||
1941 | Bernie Bierman | AP, Billingsley, Boand, DeVold, Dunkel, Football Research, Helms, Litkenhous, National Championship Foundation, Poling, Sagarin, Sagarin (ELO-Chess) | 8-0 | ||
1960 | Murray Warmath | AP, FB News, NFF, UPI | 8-2 | Rose |
Claimed national championships
Minnesota has won 18 conference championships, 11 shared and seven outright.
Season | Coach | Conference | Overall Record | Conference Record |
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1892 | No coach | Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the Northwest | 5-0 | 3-0 |
1893 | Wallie Winter | Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the Northwest | 6-0 | 3-0 |
1900+ | Henry L. Williams | Western Conference | 10-0-2 | 3-0-1 |
1903+ | Henry L. Williams | Western Conference | 14-0-1 | 3-0-1 |
1904+ | Henry L. Williams | Western Conference | 13-0 | 3-0 |
1906+ | Henry L. Williams | Western Conference | 4-1 | 2-0 |
1909 | Henry L. Williams | Western Conference | 6-1 | 3-0 |
1910+ | Henry L. Williams | Western Conference | 6-1 | 2-0 |
1911 | Henry L. Williams | Western Conference | 6-0-1 | 3-0-1 |
1915+ | Henry L. Williams | Western Conference | 6-0-1 | 3-0-1 |
1927+ | Clarence Spears | Big Ten Conference | 6-0-2 | 3-0-1 |
1933+ | Bernie Bierman | Big Ten Conference | 4-0-4 | 2-0-4 |
1934 | Bernie Bierman | Big Ten Conference | 8-0 | 5-0 |
1935+ | Bernie Bierman | Big Ten Conference | 8-0 | 5-0 |
1937 | Bernie Bierman | Big Ten Conference | 6-2 | 5-0 |
1938 | Bernie Bierman | Big Ten Conference | 6-2 | 4-1 |
1940 | Bernie Bierman | Big Ten Conference | 8-0 | 6-0 |
1941 | Bernie Bierman | Big Ten Conference | 8-0 | 5-0 |
1960+ | Murray Warmath | Big Ten Conference | 8-2 | 6-1 |
1967+ | Murray Warmath | Big Ten Conference | 8-2 | 6-1 |
+ Co-champions
Minnesota has played in 20 bowl games, garnering a record of 8-12.
Tenure | Coach | Years | Record | Pct. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1882 | No coach | 1 | 1-1 | .500 |
1883 | Thomas Peebles | 1 | 1-2 | .333 |
1884-1885 | No games played | 2 | ||
1886-1888 | Frederick S. Jones | 3 | 3-3 | .500 |
1889 | Al McCord, D. W. McCord, Frank Heffelfinger, Billy Morse | 1 | 3-1 | .750 |
1890 | Tom Eck | 1 | 5-1-1 | .786 |
1891 | Edward Moulton | 1 | 3-1-1 | .700 |
1892 | No coach | 1 | 5-0 | 1.000 |
1893 | "Wallie" Winter | 1 | 6-0 | 1.000 |
1894 | Tom Cochrane Jr. | 1 | 3-1 | .750 |
1895 | William Heffelfinger | 1 | 7-3 | .700 |
1896-1897 | Alexander Jerrems | 2 | 12-6 | .667 |
1898 | Jack Minds | 1 | 4-5 | .444 |
1899 | John Harrison, William C. Leary | 1 | 6-3-2 | .636 |
1900-1921 | Henry L. Williams | 22 | 136-33-11 | .786 |
1922-1924 | William H. Spaulding | 3 | 11-7-4 | .591 |
1925-1929 | Clarence Spears | 5 | 28-9-3 | .738 |
1930-1931 | Fritz Crisler | 2 | 10-7-1 | .583 |
1932-1941, 1945-1950 | Bernie Bierman | 16 | 93-35-6 | .716 |
1942-1944 | George Hauser | 3 | 15-11-1 | .574 |
1951-1953 | Wes Fesler | 3 | 10-13-4 | .444 |
1954-1971 | Murray Warmath | 18 | 87-78-7 | .526 |
1972-1978 | Cal Stoll | 7 | 39-39 | .500 |
1979-1983 | Joe Salem | 5 | 19-35-1 | .355 |
1984-1985 | Lou Holtz | 2 | 10-12 | .455 |
1986-1991 | John Gutekunst | 6 | 29-36-2 | .448 |
1992-1996 | Jim Wacker | 5 | 16-39 | .291 |
1997-2006 | Glen Mason | 10 | 64-57 | .529 |
2007-2010 | Tim Brewster | 4 | 15-30 | .333 |
2010 | Jeff Horton | 1 | 2-3 | .400 |
2011-2015 | Jerry Kill | 5 | 29-29 | .500 |
2015-2016 | Tracy Claeys | 2 | 11-8 | .579 |
2017-present | P. J. Fleck | 2 | 12-13 | .480 |
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2018) |
The winner of the game is awarded Paul Bunyan's Axe. The series with Wisconsin is tied 60-60-8 through the 2018 season.[14]
The winner of the game is awarded the Floyd of Rosedale trophy. Minnesota leads the series with Iowa 62-48-2 through the 2018 season.[15]
The winner of the game is awarded the Little Brown Jug. Michigan leads the series 75-25-3 with the last game played in 2017.[16]
The winner of the game is awarded the Governor's Victory Bell. Penn State leads the series 9-5 with the last game played in 2016.[17]
Minnesota leads the series with Nebraska 32-25-2 through the 2018 season.[18]
TCF Bank Stadium is the football stadium for the Minnesota Golden Gophers college football team at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 52,525-seat on-campus "horseshoe" style stadium is designed to support future expansion to seat up to 80,000 people, and cost $303.3 million to build. The stadium was the temporary home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League for the 2014 and 2015 seasons while U.S. Bank Stadium was being built.
The complex houses the team administrative offices, locker room, meeting rooms, equipment room, training room, and players' lounges. It is named after Gopher teammates from the 1920s, George Gibson and Bronko Nagurski.
Minnesota has retired five jersey numbers.[19][20]
No. | Player | Position | Career | Date of Retirement |
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10 | Paul Giel | Tailback | 1951-53 | September 24, 1991 |
15 | Sandy Stephens | QB | 1959-61 | November 18, 2000 |
54 | Bruce Smith | RB | 1940-41 | June 27, 1977 |
72 | Bronko Nagurski | FB/T | 1927-29 | October 27, 1979 |
78 | Bobby Bell | LB/DE | 1960-62 | September 18, 2010 |
Players
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Coaches
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Players
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Coach
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Inductees as of 2017.[42][43]:173
Name | Position(s) | Inducted | Years |
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Bert Baston | End | 1954 | 1914-1916 |
Bobby Bell | T | 1991 | 1960-1962 |
Bernie Bierman | Head Coach | 1955 | 1932-1941 1945-1950 |
Tom Brown | G | 2003 | 1958-1960 |
Fritz Crisler | Head Coach | 1954 | 1930-1931 |
Carl Eller | DT | 2006 | 1959-1962 |
George Franck | RB | 2002 | 1938-1940 |
Paul Giel | RB | 1975 | 1951-1953 |
Lou Holtz | Head Coach | 2008 | 1984-1985 |
Herb Joesting | FB | 1954 | 1925-1927 |
Pug Lund | RB | 1958 | 1932-1934 |
Bobby Marshall | End | 1971 | 1904-1906 |
John McGovern | QB | 1966 | 1908-1910 |
Bronko Nagurski | T, FB | 1951 | 1927-1929 |
Leo Nomellini | T, G | 1977 | 1946-1949 |
Eddie Rogers | End | 1968 | 1900-1903 |
Bruce Smith | RB | 1972 | 1939-1941 |
Sandy Stephens | QB | 2011 | 1959-1961 |
Clayton Tonnemaker | C | 1980 | 1946-1949 |
Ed Widseth | T | 1954 | 1934-1936 |
Dick Wildung | T | 1957 | 1940-1942 |
Henry L. Williams | Head Coach | 1951 | 1900-1921 |
Inductees as of 2017.[43](p172)
Name | Position(s) | Class | Team(s), Years |
---|---|---|---|
Bobby Bell | DE, LB | 1983 | Kansas City Chiefs, 1963-1974 |
Tony Dungy | Head Coach | 2016 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1996-2001 Indianapolis Colts, 2002-2008 |
Carl Eller | DE | 2004 | Minnesota Vikings, 1964-1978 Seattle Seahawks, 1979 |
Bud Grant | Head Coach | 1994 | Minnesota Vikings, 1967-1983, 1985 |
Bronko Nagurski | FB | 1963 | Chicago Bears 1930-1937, 1943 |
Leo Nomellini | DT | 1969 | San Francisco 49ers 1950-1963 |
Charlie Sanders | TE | 2007 | Detroit Lions 1968-1977 |
Name | Position(s) | Class | Team(s), Years |
---|---|---|---|
Tom Brown | DL | 1984 | BC Lions, 1961-1967 |
Bud Grant | TE Head Coach |
1983 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 1953-1966 |
Golden Gophers in the NFL | |
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NFL Draft selections | |
Total selected: | 333 |
1st Round: | 18 |
NFL achievements | |
Total Players: | 215 |
Hall of Famers: | 7 |
Source:[43] |
Player | Position(s) | Draft Class | Current Team |
---|---|---|---|
Briean Boddy-Calhoun | CB | Undrafted in 2016 | Cleveland Browns |
De'Vondre Campbell | LB | 2016 | Atlanta Falcons |
MarQueis Gray | TE/FB | Undrafted in 2013 | Miami Dolphins |
Eric Murray | S | 2016 | Kansas City Chiefs |
Jalen Myrick | CB | 2017 | Minnesota Vikings |
Marcus Sherels | CB/KR | Undrafted in 2010 | Minnesota Vikings |
Maxx Williams | TE | 2015 | Baltimore Ravens |
Damien Wilson | LB | 2015 | Dallas Cowboys |
Nate Wozniak | T | Undrafted in 2018 | New Orleans Saints |
Player | Position(s) | Current Team |
---|---|---|
Simoni Lawrence | LB | Hamilton Tiger-Cats |
Troy Stoudermire | DB/KR | Calgary Stampeders |
Drew Wolitarsky | WR | Winnipeg Blue Bombers |
Player | Position(s) | Current Team | League |
---|---|---|---|
David Cobb | RB | San Antonio Commanders | AAF |
Andre McDonald | WR | Green Bay Blizzard | IFL |
Andrew Stelter | DT | San Diego Fleet | AAF |
Garrison Wright | G | Birmingham Iron | AAF |
Minnesota plays the other six Big Ten West opponents once per season.
Even Numbered Years | Odd Number Years |
vs Iowa | at Iowa |
at Wisconsin | vs Wisconsin |
at Nebraska | vs Nebraska |
vs Northwestern | at Northwestern |
at Illinois | vs Illinois |
vs Purdue | at Purdue |
Year | Indiana | Maryland | Michigan | Michigan State | Ohio State | Penn State | Rutgers |
2019 | HOME | HOME | AWAY | ||||
2020 | AWAY | HOME | AWAY | ||||
2021 | AWAY | HOME | HOME | ||||
2022 | AWAY | AWAY | HOME | ||||
2023 | HOME | HOME | AWAY | ||||
2024 | HOME | AWAY | AWAY | ||||
2025 | HOME | HOME | AWAY |
Announced schedules as of June 1, 2018[68]
2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vs South Dakota State | vs Florida Atlantic | vs Miami (OH) | vs New Mexico State | vs Eastern Michigan | vs North Carolina | vs Bowling Green | vs Mississippi State | at Mississippi State |
at Fresno State | vs Tennessee Tech | at Colorado | vs Colorado | at North Carolina | at BYU | |||
vs Georgia Southern | vs BYU | vs Bowling Green |