Fleck and Minnesota had familiarity with Hetherman.
Minnesota lost longtime defensive coordinator Joe Rossi this offseason as he made a lateral move to be the DC under new head coach Jonathan Smith at Michigan State. P.J. Fleck and the Gophers decided to go a familiar route and hire former Rutgers linebackers coach Corey Hetherman as his replacement.
"We kept that hire within the family, Corey was an instant fit though," Fleck said. "You talk about a football coach, I mean this guy eats, breaths and sleeps football. Really intelligent, our players really fell in love with him the minute he got in there and he was all ball and he's done a great job so far."
Hetherman has been a defensive coordinator at Maine and James Madison at the FCS level, but this season will be his first at the FBS level. He brings 20 years of coaching experience to Minnesota. At Big Ten Media Days Thursday, Fleck mentioned how the program also hired a new special team's coordinator, Bob Ligashesky.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Report: Gophers' DC Corey Hetherman wants to be 'more aggressive than Joe Rossi'Minnesota's defense might look a little different under new coordinator Corey Hetherman.
Read more »
Where does Gophers' 2025 class stack up to other years under P.J. Fleck?Will Minnesota be able to ink its best class ever under Fleck?
Read more »
Ranking the Gophers' 5 best transfer players in the P.J. Fleck eraWhich transfers have made the biggest imapct at Minnesota?
Read more »
Anonymous Big Ten coach thinks P.J. Fleck 'chased' jobs to 'get out' of MinnesotaFleck is signed with the Gophers through 2029.
Read more »
'Corey Doing Corey Things.' Texas Rangers Slugger Corey Seager Ignites Hit ExplosionTexas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager moved up the all-time home run list for Rangers shortstops, closing in on leader Alex Rodriguez.
Read more »
Ranking the 5 best QBs the Gophers will face in 2024Minnesota will face a lot of new faces at the quarterback position this season.
Read more »