University of Minnesota Athletics

Mark Coyle - Stadium

Coyle Ranked No. 11 AD in the Nation

6/30/2020 11:37:00 AM | Football, Athletics

Gopher AD receives high praise for his football coaching hires from Stadium

University of Minnesota Director of Athletics Mark Coyle was ranked the No. 11 Athletic Director in the nation today by Stadium.  

Stadium insiders Brett McMurphy and Jeff Goodman graded and ranked the football and men's basketball hires of the current 130 FBS athletic directors. Coyle received an A- ranking for his football hires at Minnesota (P.J. Fleck), Syracuse (Dino Babers) and Boise State (Bryan Harsin).

In 2019, Fleck led Minnesota to unprecedented heights as the Gophers won 11 games for the first time since 1904. Minnesota also won seven Big Ten games for the first time in school history, beat two top-10 teams, won a Jan. 1 bowl game and ended the season ranked No. 10.

Babers led Syracuse to a 10-3 record in 2018. The 10 wins were the most by the Orange since they won 20 games in 2001. At Boise State, Harsin has a record of 64-17, six bowl appearances and three Mountain West titles. 

Coyle joined the Gophers in May 2016. A former athletic administrator at Minnesota from 2001 to 2005, he returned to Minnesota after serving as athletics director at Syracuse and Boise State, and as deputy athletics director at Kentucky.

Gopher student-athletes have recorded some of the highest grade-point averages in school history under Coyle's watch, and Minnesota has led the Big Ten in Academic All-Americans every year that Coyle has been at the helm of the Maroon and Gold. 

Minnesota has also excelled in competition, winning 15 conference titles during Coyle's tenure. Those titles have come from nine different programs, from baseball and track and field, to hockey and soccer. 

Minnesota finished the 2017-18 season ranked 19th in the Learfield Directors' Cup race and ended 2018-19 ranked 20th. The annual competition measures broad-based success across all programs. These rankings put Minnesota in the top seven percent of all Division I athletics departments in the country. 

It was also just the second time in the last 15 years that the Gophers notched back-to-back top-20 finishes. Only 14 other schools, including three in the Big Ten (Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State), joined Minnesota in posting consecutive top-20 finishes.

Minnesota was ranked 23rd in the most recent standings before the conclusion of the 2019-20 season was halted by COVID-19. 
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