The Gophers are bringing in a veteran special teams coordinator
ESPN’s Pete Thamel is reporting that the Minnesota Golden Gophers are set to hire Syracuse special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky to the same position.
It was reported earlier this week that Rob Wenger would be stopping down after seven years at Minnesota as the special teams coordinator under head coach P.J. Fleck.
Ligashesky is a 38-year coaching veteran who has spent the past two seasons at Syracuse following a one-year stint at Bowling Green and five seasons at Illinois. Prior to that, he had a 15-year stretch of coaching special teams in the NFL, with stops in Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, St. Louis, Denver, Oakland, Tampa Bay, and Houston.
He and Fleck coached together with the Buccaneers.
In his first year with the Orange, Ligashesky oversaw a kickoff return unit that ranked third nationally with an average of 26.1 yards per return. Syracuse return specialist Trebor Pena also finished second in the ACC and 23rd nationally in combined kick return yardage (508) and ranked in the top 20 in punt return average (8.7 yards per return).