Is Minnesota the only Big Ten program losing coordinators every year?

Gophers defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman has officially accepted the same position at Miami, which means Minnesota will have to replace its offensive or defensive coordinator for the third consecutive offseason.

After returning to the program in 2022, offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca left for a reported raise at Rutgers. After five seasons leading the defense, Joe Rossi left Minnesota for the same position at Michigan State last offseason. Hetherman has now continues a trend. Coordinator turnover happens all over the country, but three straight offseasons of a successful coordinator leaving for another power conference coordinator job is abnormal.

Big Ten comparison (since 2023 offseason)

It's common to see a change at coordinator positions, but it's not as common to see coordinators leave one power conference school for the same position at another power conference school. We will refer to that as getting "poached." The Big Ten looks a lot different than it did in 2023, so for this exercise we'll compare Minnesota to the non-West Coast schools. Take a look at how many coordinators each team has had poached since the 2023 offseason:

Minnesota: 3
Nebraska: 1
Penn State: 1
Michigan State: 0
Wisconsin: 0
Ohio State: 0
Michigan: 0
Rutgers: 0
Illinois: 0
Iowa: 0
Indiana: 0
Northwestern: 0
Purdue: 0
Maryland: 0

Ohio State and Michigan are on a different level financially than the rest of the Big Ten, and they're typically the ones poaching coordinators from the smaller schools. The schools have seen coordinators leave for either head coaching jobs or NFL coordinator jobs.

Penn State saw defensive coordinator Manny Diaz leave to become the head coach at Duke last offseason and now defensive coordinator Tom Allen is reportedly leaving for the same position at Clemson this offseason.

Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White left this offseason for the same position at Florida State after two seasons with the Cornhuskers. This was the first time Nebraska had a coordinator hired elsewhere since Matt Rhule became head coach during the 2023 offseason.

Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin have seen some program turmoil in the last three years and all three have seen their fair share of struggles. They've all made some coordinator changes, but none have willingly left for a lateral move at another power conference program.

Curt Cignetti was hired by Indiana during the 2024 offseason and he's already had to replace a quarterbacks coach this offseason, but the Hoosiers were able to retain their offensive and defensive coordinators.

Since Bret Bielema returned to the Big Ten in 2021, Illinois has been a very comparable peer to Minnesota, winning 28 games compared to the Gophers' 32. Since hiring Bielema, the Fighting Illini have had one coordinator get poached, but it wasn't a lateral move. Instead, they saw defensive coordinator Ryan Walters leave for the head coaching job at Purdue.

Minnesota has had to replace a coordinator every single offseason in the same time frame.

Lastly, Maryland and Rutgers have both made coordinator changes, but again, neither school had a coordinator leave for another coordinator position at a different power conference school.

Ultimately, Minnesota routinely ranks near the bottom of the Big Ten when it comes to assistant coach salary pool. P.J. Fleck has brought the program to a level of consistency it hasn't seen since the 1960s, but if the U wants to take the next step, it will have to show a willingness to increase the money it's willing to pay its coordinators.

More alarming is that Hetherman bolted after signing a new contract while the U reportedly reached a program high when it comes to money allocated for assistant coaches.

From the outside looking it, it appears Minnesota doesn't to have the cash to keep coordinators around.

Fleck has objectively missed on only one offensive or defensive coordinator hire since Ciarrocca left following the 2020 season. There's a great chance he could keep the hot streak going this offseason when he promotes from within to find the next defensive coordinator, but replacing coordinators every single offseason is not the way for a program to level up.

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