Coyle says Gophers still have to fundraise $42-43MM to pay off Athletes Village

[BleedGopher]

per his Q&A with Doogie:

Among talking points:

• Coyle's run as AD and all that has happened in the last 5-years
• His level of content working for Minnesota and if this is his dream job
• The challenges of navigating the athletic department through the pandemic
• Sky-high expectations for the football team this year
• Chances of welcoming back a full TCF Bank Stadium in September
• Hiring of new men's hoops coach Ben Johnson
• The transfer portal
• NCAA champion and Gophers wrestler Gable Steveson
• Conversations with St. Thomas AD Dr. Phil Esten and wanting to see non-conference games between the schools

Coyle received a contract extension Feb. 2020 that has him locked in with the 'U' through June 2026.

Q&A: Mark Coyle on 5-year run as Gophers AD, sky-high football expectations, Lindsay Whalen, and more

We had a wide-ranging conversation with Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle this week...

kstp.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[Ragnor]

I heard 42-43 million when I listened to it.

 

[GopherBlood777]

Full stadium attendance with no restrictions, let's put the vaccine to the test!

 

[GopherJack]

Is Sweet Lou (Nanne) from the Sault still driving the fund-raising bus?

 

[BleedGopher]

I heard 42-43 million when I listened to it.

You may be right. I actually had to listen to it twice to hear the amount and there's a good chance I heard it wrong.

If it is 42-43, we haven't raised a dime in two or so years.

Go Gophers!!

 

[WindyCityGopher]

You may be right. I actually had to listen to it twice to hear the amount and there's a good chance I heard it wrong.

If it is 42-43, we haven't raised a dime in two or so years.

Go Gophers!!

We desperately need to get some big money donors through the transfer portal, because they don't seem to be grown organically around here anymore. All the old boosters with deep pockets have seemingly died off, and that has to keep Coyle up at night, every night.

 

[nitramnaed]

He definitely said 42-43. I don't know what position Lou has on fundraising. I don't listen to Barreiro anymore so I don't get any insight on Lou.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Losing T. Denny Sanford as a donor may be one of the worst losses in Gopher sports history.

Looking back, it might have been smarter to give T. Denny the terms he wanted for naming rights to the new FB stadium, just to keep him on good terms with the U of MN.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

We desperately need to get some big money donors through the transfer portal, because they don't seem to be grown organically around here anymore. All the old boosters with deep pockets have seemingly died off, and that has to keep Coyle up at night, every night.

And/or go the honorary degree route. There must be a degree which can be conferred to MPG, so henceforth he is Dr. MPG aka Lindell.

The only caveat is that he can never speak at U of M sanctioned event!!

 

[BleedGopher]

I realize it's a lot more difficult to raise money for a private, athlete-use only village than it is a public-facing basketball arena, but it will take an extremely dynamic, forward thinking, money-raising machine as AD to get the funds to make a material difference on a renovation for The Barn or even more to knock it down and rebuild. We are coming up on 30 years since any meaningful updates have been made. Even to a modern stadium, 30 years is WAY overdue for modernization, let alone one that is more than 90 years old.

Hopefully Coyle has been hiding his dynamic leadership style for some big unveiling at some point.

Go Gophers!!

 

[howeda7]

Losing T. Denny Sanford as a donor may be one of the worst losses in Gopher sports history.

Looking back, it might have been smarter to give T. Denny the terms he wanted for naming rights to the new FB stadium, just to keep him on good terms with the U of MN.

He has...other problems. We probably don't want our stadium named after him.

 

[SDSUgopher]

He has...other problems. We probably don't want our stadium named after him.

I mean he was an accused child p*rn watcher but that hasn't stopped anybody in the Dakota's from taking his money... plus they investigated and found nothing.

 

[howeda7]

I mean he was an accused child p*rn watcher but that hasn't stopped anybody in the Dakota's from taking his money... plus they investigated and found nothing.

I guess that's what $ and hiring the former state AG as your attorney gets you.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

I realize it's a lot more difficult to raise money for a private, athlete-use only village than it is a public-facing basketball arena, but it will take an extremely dynamic, forward thinking, money-raising machine as AD to get the funds to make a material difference on a renovation for The Barn or even more to knock it down and rebuild. We are coming up on 30 years since any meaningful updates have been made. Even to a modern stadium, 30 years is WAY overdue for modernization, let alone one that is more than 90 years old.

Hopefully Coyle has been hiding his dynamic leadership style for some big unveiling at some point.

Go Gophers!!

His dynamic leadership style is like a cicada, it emerges from the ground every 17 years. So since he started as AD in 2016 he should be ready to start fundraising in 2033.