Gophers AD Mark Coyle receives 2-year extension
Minnesota Golden Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle looks on in the second quarter during the game against the Georgia Southern Eagles at TCF Bank Stadium on September 14, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ((Photo by David Berding/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images))
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents on Thursday approved a two-year extension for athletic director Mark Coyle.
The contract keeps Coyle as the Gophers’ AD through the 2030 school year. Coyle oversees a department that features 22 varsity sports and has 625 athletes, and 260 employees. He was hired as Minnesota’s athletic director in May of 2016. Since, Gophers’ teams have won 16 regular season conference titles, eight conference tournament titles and 17 individual NCAA titles.
Minnesota’s athletes are earning degrees in high numbers as well. In Dec 2023 data, the Gophers have a 95% graduation success rate. The Gophers finished 31st out of 305 schools in the 2023 Learfield Director’s Cup, which measures success across all sports.
Coyle helped lead the opening of Athletes Village in 2018, which houses space for athletes to study, train and get nutrition. He hired P.J. Fleck to lead the football program seven years ago, brought in Dawn Plitzuweit to replace Lindsay Whalen for the women’s basketball program, and hired Ben Johnson to run the men’s basketball program three years ago.