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University of Minnesota Athletics
Linguist Named Assistant Head Coach
12/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
University of Minnesota football coach P.J. Fleck announced today that Maurice Linguist has been named assistant head coach. Linguist joined the Gopher football program in January 2017 and coached the defensive backs this past season, which he will continue to do.
"Coach Lingusit is an elite man, who does an incredible job of leading our young people," said Fleck. "He is a tremendous husband, father, coach and recruiter and is on his way to becoming a head coach one day in the future. He is a relationship builder and represents our culture at the highest level. He thrives on connecting people and gives our program his absolute best every day, whether that is coaching on the football field or recruiting the next class of Gophers."
The Gophers signed a program-record top 25 recruiting class yesterday, and Coach Lingusit and his relationships in Georgia and Texas played a large role in Minnesota's recruiting success.
Minnesota's secondary saw success last season despite a lack of depth and significant injuries. The Gophers used 11 defensive backs in 2017, which included four freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors and two seniors. Seven of those eleven players missed time with an injury, and safety Jacob Huff was the only secondary member to play in every game. Despite this, Minnesota allowed only 16 passing touchdowns and 174.5 passing yards per game, which ranked 11th in the NCAA.
