Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Minnesota Golden Gophers

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Conference
  
Big Ten

Athletic director
  
Mark Coyle

Varsity teams
  
23

NCAA
  
Division I/FBS

Location
  
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minnesota Golden Gophers

University
  
University of Minnesota

The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers or Gophs) are the college sports team of the University of Minnesota. The university fields both men's and women's teams in basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, swimming, tennis, and track and field. Men's-specific sports include baseball, football, and wrestling. Women's-specific sports include rowing, soccer, softball, and volleyball.

Contents

The Gophers women's ice hockey team is a six-time NCAA champion and seven-time national champion. In women's ice hockey, the Gophers belong to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. In all other sports, they belong to the Big Ten Conference. Most of the facilities that the teams use for training and competitive play are located on the East Bank of the Minneapolis campus. There are arenas for men's and women's basketball (Williams Arena) as well as ice hockey (Mariucci Arena and Ridder Arena). The Gopher football team began playing at TCF Bank Stadium in September 2009. The women's soccer team plays on the St. Paul campus in Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium.

The Cheerleaders and the Dance Team are also part of the university's athletic department; they are present at events for basketball, ice hockey, football, and volleyball.

During the 2006–2007 academic year, the Golden Gophers wrestling team won the NCAA national championship and the Big Ten team title. The Golden Gophers also won conference championships in men's ice hockey, men's golf, women's rowing, men's swimming and diving, and women's indoor track and field.

The "Golden" Gophers

The University Mascot is derived from a nickname for the state of Minnesota, "The Gopher State." The original design was based on the thirteen-lined ground squirrel. The state nickname derives from a political cartoon by R. O. Sweeny, published as a broadside in 1858. The cartoon depicted state legislators as gophers dragging the state in the wrong direction. The nickname was associated with the university as early as the publication of the first yearbook in 1888, which was titled "The Gopher". Other early yearbooks included depictions of gophers as well, and the University of Minnesota football coach Clarence Spears officially named the football team the Gophers in 1926. After the radio announcer Halsey Hall began referring to the team as the Golden Gophers due to the color of their uniforms, the team was renamed under coach Bernie Bierman.

School songs

School songs for the university include Minnesota Rouser, Minnesota March, Go Gopher Victory, Our Minnesota, Minnesota Fight, Hail! Minnesota, and the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

NCAA team championships

The Minnesota Gophers have won 19 NCAA national championships.

  • Men's (13)
  • Baseball (3): 1956, 1960, 1964
  • Golf (1): 2002
  • Ice Hockey (5): 1974, 1976, 1979, 2002, 2003
  • Outdoor Track & Field (1): 1948
  • Wrestling (3): 2001, 2002, 2007
  • Women's (6)
  • Ice Hockey (6): 2004, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
  • See also:
  • List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships
  • Big Ten Conference NCAA national team championships

    • Other national team championships

    Below are 13 national team titles that were not bestowed by the NCAA

  • Men's:
  • Basketball (3): 1902, 1903, 1919
  • Football (7): 1904, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960
  • Ice Hockey (2): 1929, 1940
  • Women's:
  • Ice Hockey (1): 2000

    • Notes: With the exception of football, national championships are awarded by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA itself does not award a championship for Division I-A football. The NCAA began awarding national championships for men's basketball in 1939; previous champions were retroactively named by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. The NCAA began awarding national championships for men's ice hockey in 1948; previous championships were awarded by the Amateur Athletic Union and by the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA began awarding national championships for women's ice hockey in 2001; previous championships were awarded by the American Women's College Hockey Alliance.

  • See also:
  • List of Big Ten Conference National Championships
  • List of NCAA schools with the most Division I national championships

    • Baseball

  • National Championships (3):
    • 1956, 1960, 1964
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances (31):
    • 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2016
  • Big Ten Regular Season Championships (23):
    • 1933, 1935, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2016
  • Big Ten Conference Tournament Championships (8):
    • 1982, 1985, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2010

    Men's basketball

  • Big Ten Regular Season Championships (8):
    • 1906, 1907, 1911, 1917, 1919, 1937, 1972, 1982
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances (8):
    • 1972, 1982, 1989, 1990, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013
  • Sweet 16 Appearances (3):
    • 1982, 1989, 1990
  • Elite Eight Appearances (1):
    • 1990
  • NIT Appearances (12):
    • 1973, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2012, 2014
  • NIT Championships (2):
    • 1993, 2014

    Note: A 1997 Big Ten regular season championship, NCAA Tournament appearances in 1994, 1995, 1997 (Final Four), and 1999, as well as NIT appearances in 1996 and 1998 (Championship) were vacated due to NCAA sanctions.

    Women's basketball

  • NCAA Tournament Appearances (8):
    • 1994, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009
  • Sweet 16 Appearances (3):
    • 2003, 2004, 2005
  • Elite Eight Appearances (1):
    • 2004
  • Final Four Appearances (1):
    • 2004

    Men's cross country

  • Big Ten Team Championships (4):
    • 1909, 1914, 1964, 1969

    Women's cross country

  • Big Ten Team Championships (2):
    • 2007, 2008

    Football

  • National Championships (7):
    • 1904, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960
  • Big Ten Conference Championships (18):
    • 1900, 1903, 1904, 1906, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1915, 1927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1960, 1967
  • Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the Northwest Championships (2):
    • 1892, 1893
  • Bowl Games (19):
    • Citrus Bowl – 2015 Hall of Fame Classic –1977 Holiday Bowl - 2016 Independence Bowl – 1985 Insight Bowl – 2006, 2008, 2009 Liberty Bowl – 1986 MicronPC.com Bowl – 2000 Music City Bowl – 2002, 2004, 2005 Quick Lane Bowl – 2015 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas – 2012 Rose Bowl – 1961, 1962 Sun Bowl – 1999, 2003 Texas Bowl – 2013
  • Bowl game victories: 1962 Rose Bowl, 1985 Independence Bowl, 2002 Music City Bowl, 2003 Sun Bowl, 2004 Music City Bowl, 2015 Quick Lane Bowl, 2016 Holiday Bowl

    • Traveling trophies

  • The Little Brown Jug – Accidentally left in Minnesota back in 1903 by Michigan coach Fielding H. Yost, it is painted with the victories of the two teams.
  • Floyd of Rosedale – Since 1935 the Gophers and the Iowa Hawkeyes have fought to win this bronze pig. The Gophers won the 2010 and 2011 match up for the pig, upsetting the favored Hawkeyes at TCF Bank Stadium.
  • Paul Bunyan's Axe – Minnesota and the Wisconsin Badgers have passed this trophy back and forth since 1948, although it records the two teams' encounters since 1890.
  • Governor's Victory Bell – The bell was created to commemorate the 1993 entrance of Penn State's Nittany Lions into the Big Ten.
  • $5-Bits-O-Broken-Chair Trophy - The newest of the five trophies. From a 2014 exchange on Twitter, Goldy Gopher created a trophy with a parody account of the then coach of Nebraska Bo Pelini.

    • Men's ice hockey

  • National Championships (2 pre-NCAA, 5 NCAA):
    • 1929, 1940, 1974, 1976, 1979, 2002, 2003
  • WCHA Regular Season Championships (14):
    • 1953, 1954, 1970, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1997, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2013
  • Big Ten Regular Season Championships (2):
    • 2013–14 2014–15
  • Big Ten Tournament Championships (1):
    • 2015
  • WCHA Tournament Championships (14):
    • 1961, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2003, 2004, 2007
  • NCAA Frozen Four Appearances (21):
    • 1953, 1954, 1961, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2012, 2014

    Women's ice hockey

  • National Championships (7):
    • 2000 (AWCHA), 2004, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
  • WCHA Regular Season Championships (8):
    • 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014
  • WCHA Tournament Championships (6):
    • 2002, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2014
  • NCAA Frozen Four Appearances (12):
    • 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

    Women's rowing

  • Big Ten Championships (1):
    • 2007
  • NCAA Champions in V2
    • 2007

    Women's soccer

  • Big Ten Championships (4):
    • 1995, 1997, 2008, 2016

    Softball

  • Big Ten Regular Season Championships (3):
    • 1986, 1988, 1991
  • Big Ten Tournament Championships (2):
    • 1999, 2014, 2016
  • Women's College World Series appearances (2):
    • 1976, 1978

    Spirit Squads

    Dance Team

  • National Championships (8):
    • 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

    Men's tennis

  • Big Ten Team Championships (15):
    • 1910, 1911, 1912, 1918, 1932, 1933, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2015

    Volleyball

  • Big Ten Championships (2):
    • 2002, 2015
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances (20):
    • 1989, 1993, 1996–97, 1999, 2000–13, 2015
  • Sweet 16 Appearances (15):
    • 1989, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015
  • Final Four Appearances (4):
    • 2003, 2004, 2009, 2015

    Wrestling

  • National Championships (3):
    • 2001, 2002, 2007
  • Big Ten Team Championships (12):
    • 1910, 1912, 1913, 1941, 1957, 1959, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007

    Rugby

    Minnesota rugby plays Division I college rugby in the Big Ten Universities conference against traditional Big 10 rivals such as Wisconsin and Iowa. Minnesota qualified for the national playoffs in 2008, and finished the 2008 season ranked 7th in the nation. Some of Minnesota's games have been well attended by fans, with the team drawing as many as 6,000 fans to watch the team play at TCF Bank Stadium.

    Golf

  • Tom Lehman
  • James McLean

    • Gymnastics

  • Newt Loken
  • Marie Roethlisberger
  • John Roethlisberger

    • Women's

  • Winny Brodt
  • Natalie Darwitz
  • Courtney Kennedy
  • Gisele Marvin
  • Noora Raty
  • Jenny Schmidgall-Potter
  • Krissy Wendell

    • Soccer

  • Mikki Denney Wright – Coach
  • Jennifer McElmury
  • Samuel Winter

    • Softball

  • Kim Niederluecke

    • Swimming

  • Justin Mortimer

    • Women's

  • Heather Dorniden
  • Gabriele Grunewald
  • Alicia Rue

    • Men's

  • Steve Plasencia, Head Coach
  • Paul Thornton, Assistant Coach
  • Scott Bennett, Assistant Coach
  • Roy Griak, Administrative Assistant
  • Hassan Mead
    • NCAA Champions Indoor
  • Ron Backes 1986 (Shot Put, 68–11¼)
  • Martin Eriksson 1993 (Pole Vault, 18–0½)
  • Vesa Rantanen 1998 (Pole Vault, 18–2½)
    • NCAA Champions Outdoor
  • Jack DeField 1942 (Pole Vault, 14–1)
  • Bob Fitch 1942 (Discus, 164–8½)
  • Jack DeField 1943 (Pole Vault, 14–1)
  • Fortune Gordien 1946 (Discus, 153–10¾)
  • Fortune Gordien 1947 (Discus, 173–3)
  • Fortune Gordien 1948 (Discus, 164–0¼)
  • Lloyd LaMois 1948 (Triple Jump, 45–10)
  • Garry Bjorklund 1971 (Six Mile, 27:43.1)
  • Adam Steele 2003 (400m, 44.57)

    • Current Roster of the Minnesota Gophers Track & Field team 2009–2010

    Wrestling

  • Verne Gagne – NCAA champion, owner of the defunct American Wrestling Association and its former heavyweight champion (10 times), member of Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, and several others.
  • Cole Konrad – 2 time undefeated, NCAA individual champion at 285 lbs; current mixed martial artist and the former Bellator Heavyweight Champion
  • Nik Lentz, wrestler; current mixed martial artist for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (featherweight)
  • Brock Lesnar – Former UFC Heavyweight Champion and former WWE champion.
  • J Robinson – Current coach
  • Dustin Schlatter – 79–2 record in two seasons with the Gophers
  • Jacob Volkmann – 3-time all-American, former UFC fighter.

    • Profession wrestling

  • Shelton Benjamin – Former WWE Superstar

    • Athletic directors

    Note: From 1974 to 2002, there were separate athletic departments for men and women's sports.

    References

    Minnesota Golden Gophers Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA