BREAKING: Gophers Football Hires New Familiar Position Coach

The 2024 Minnesota Gophers football season has long concluded. Last year’s draft-eligible players are getting ready for the NFL Draft, while those who exhausted their eligibility are preparing for life beyond football.

Meanwhile, the team’s underclassmen are already focused on next season, as head coach PJ Fleck and his staff travel nationwide to recruit high school prospects and transfer portal targets.

This offseason, the Golden Gophers’ coaching staff has undergone significant changes—perhaps even more than the roster. Minnesota lost another defensive coordinator when Corey Hetherman took a job with Miami, leading to the promotion of defensive backs coach Danny Collins. Additionally, Fleck saw running backs coach Nic McKissic-Luke depart for the same role with the New York Jets. This followed the earlier departure of top young assistant Winston DeLattiboudere, who coached the defensive line and served as assistant head coach before joining the Arizona Cardinals.

Minnesota Gophers football hires C.J. Robbins as Rush Ends Coach

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 the Gophers’ program—he was previously on staff in 2020 and 2021.

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

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

Following his departure from the Gophers 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 two seasons.