The Minnesota Golden Gophers will not retain wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator Matt Simon next season, according to a report by 247 Sports’ Ryan Burns.
Simon was one of only two assistant coaches who have been part of head coach P.J. Fleck’s staff since he arrived at Minnesota. Now, only offensive line coach Brian Callahan remains.
Simon deserves credit for helping Minnesota become the first program in Big Ten history to have two first-team All-Big Ten wide receivers in the same season.
He inherited Tyler Johnson but signed Rashod Bateman out of high school, and under his watch, the pair became the top pass-catching duo in the Big Ten in 2019. Both wide receivers went on to become NFL Draft picks after making their mark at Minnesota.
In the years since, Simon had all but exhausted the goodwill from that special season.
Of the 24 high school recruits Simon has signed since 2017:
- 14 have transferred out of the program
- 3 have retired from football
- 4 have finished their college career at Minnesota
- 3 are currently on the roster
That is an alarming amount of roster attrition for one position group. Worse yet, of the 14 transfers, seven transferred down to an FCS program. So you could make the argument they weren’t even Big Ten-caliber talent.
If you’re going to whiff to this degree on high school recruits, you’d better make up for it in the transfer portal.
Unfortunately, Simon did not.
When you recruit from the portal, you aren’t typically looking for developmental players. The Gophers have taken a couple of projects but have also signed a handful of transfers who were fairly productive at their previous programs. The results have been relatively the same across the board: Disappointing.
Elijah Spencer, of course, was able to produce in his second year with the program, finishing his senior season with 52 receptions for 684 receiving yards and six touchdowns. But outside of him and Javon Tracy, Minnesota has struggled to bring in wide receivers who can make an immediate impact out of the transfer portal.
Now Fleck and the Gophers will look for a new voice in their wide receivers room.
