Fleck names 9 assistants at Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) New Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck has hired nine coaches for his staff, including offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca and defensive coordinator

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) New Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck has hired nine coaches for his staff, including offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca and defensive coordinator Robb Smith.

The Golden Gophers announced the additions on Tuesday night. Ciarrocca follows Fleck from Western Michigan and Smith comes to Minnesota from Arkansas. Five of the assistants worked under Fleck at Western Michigan.

Fleck also hired Kenni Burns to coach running backs, Brian Callahan to coach tight ends, Matt Simon for the receivers and Ed Warinner for the offensive line.

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Robert Wenger is the new special teams coordinator, Maurice Linguist will coach defensive backs and former NFL star Bryce Paup will coach the defensive line.

Fleck also named Gerrit Chernoff as the team's general manager, Dan Nichol as head strength and conditioning coach and Marcus Hendrickson as director of player personnel.

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