Breaking: The Gophers football team has hired a new coach

The Gophers football team has hired a new coach

 

The 2024 Minnesota Gophers football season has long since ended. Draft-eligible players are getting ready for the NFL Draft, while those who have exhausted their eligibility are preparing for life beyond football.

 

 

Meanwhile, the team’s underclassmen are already gearing up for next season, and head coach PJ Fleck, along with his staff, is traveling nationwide to recruit high school prospects and transfer portal targets.

 

 

 

This offseason, the Golden Gophers’ coaching staff has seen more changes than the roster. Minnesota lost another defensive coordinator when Corey Hetherman was hired by Miami, leading to the promotion of defensive backs coach Danny Collins as his replacement.

 

 

 

Fleck also saw running backs coach Nic McKissic-Luke depart for the same role with the New York Jets, following the earlier loss of Winston DeLattiboudere—Minnesota’s top young assistant—who left for the Arizona Cardinals after serving as defensive line coach and assistant head coach.

 

C.J. Robbins is hired as the Rush Ends Coach for the Minnesota Gophers football team.

 

On Monday, PJ Fleck took a step toward filling the coaching vacancy left by Winston DeLattiboudere by hiring Central Michigan defensive line coach C.J. Robbins as Minnesota’s new Rush Ends coach. However, Robbins is no stranger to Fleck’s program—he was previously part of the Gophers’ coaching staff in 2020 and 2021.

 

 

Sources: Minnesota is expected to hire Central Michigan defensive line coach C.J. Robbins as the school's new rush ends coach. Robbins coached previously at Kent and South Dakota. He was also on the staff at Minnesota for two seasons in 2020 and 2021 and is a Northwestern grad. pic.twitter.com/0RorjumzYD

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 11, 2025

 

A native of Peru, Illinois, Robbins was a three-year starter for Northwestern from 2014 to 2016, serving as a team captain in his senior year and earning Academic All-Big Ten honors twice.

Following his playing career, Robbins began coaching at Miami (Ohio) in 2019 as an assistant defensive line coach. He then joined Minnesota, where he primarily worked with Rush Ends, the same role he will now resume.

 

 

 

After leaving Dinkytown in 2021, Robbins spent two seasons at the University of South Dakota, coaching outside linebackers. In 2023, he moved on to Kent State, where he coached Rush Ends under former Minnesota running backs coach Kenni Burns for the past two seasons.