The Minnesota Gophers are gearing up for the start of spring practice about a month from now, and for the most part, the roster and coaching staff are both set until then.

For the most part, it was a successful offseason for PJ Fleck & Co. They reeled in the best recruiting class in modern Gopher history and followed that up with one of the better transfer classes since Fleck took over in 2017.

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On the coaching staff, there’s certainly been some shuffling between 2025 and 2026. But for the first time since 2019-20 the Gophers will enter a new season with the same offensive (Greg Harbaugh Jr & Matt Simon) and defensive coordinators (Danny Collins & Nick Monroe) as the year prior.

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Another veteran assistant coach returning on PJ Fleck’s staff in 2026 is tight ends coach, Eric Koehler, 51, who’s held that position since 2024, been with the Gophers since 2023 and coached offense at a variety of college levels since 1997.

Minnesota Gophers hire additional tight ends coach

Sometime recently, however, the Minnesota Gophers hired some help for Koehler, signing former NFL tight end Brandon Bostick as an assistant tight ends coach. Bostick broke the news himself via some changes to his profile page on X.

Brandon Bostick, 36, comes to the University of Minnesota from the University of North Dakota, where he coached tight ends last season. Before he got to UND, Bostick coached at Sagauro high school in Scottsdale, AZ, according to his CoachUp profile.

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Before he coached football, Brandon Bostick played it at a very high level. In 2013, he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Packers out of Newberry College in South Carolina.

Related: Mo Ibrahim Helps MN Gophers Land New RB Commit

He played in Green Bay for two seasons, but broke onto the scene as a rookie with 7 receptions for 120 yards and 1 touchdown. Not a bad season for an undrafted rookie tight end. Unfortunately, that was the high point of Bostick’s NFL career, and by 2017, he was no longer in the league.

He played one more season with the Packers, before ending his NFL career with the Jets in 2016. Bostick’s NFL career finished with 17 total receptions, 186 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns, but not before he played a one preseason with the Minnesota Vikings back in 2015. Brandon stuck around the league as a practice squad player and training camp tryout until 2017.

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What really matters about Brandon Bostick

We’ll see how Brandon Bostick fairs as the newest member of the Minnesota Gophers coaching staff, but without a doubt, he made a wonderful early impression on local football fans back in 2014.

That’s when Bostick made one of the most notorious mistakes in playoff history, muffing an onside kick late in the NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks that cost Aaron Rodgers and the Packers a chance at the Super Bowl that season.

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