Gophers' long coordinator search appears to be over

More than two weeks after it began, the Gophers' search for an offensive coordinator might be over. Football coach Tim Brewster's quest --which appears longer and bumpier than expected -- has ended at a familiar place.

According to sources, Jedd Fisch, a former Denver Broncos assistant who was let go when Mike Shanahan was recently fired, was in the Twin Cities on Tuesday afternoon and offered the job. He is expected to accept it as early as this morning. By picking Fisch -- who was Denver's wide receivers coach in 2008 -- Brewster taps into the Shana- han coaching tree. Brewster's last job before taking over the Gophers was as an assistant in Denver.

Fisch, 32, is an energetic coach whose stock appears on the rise. He interviewed for the offensive coordinator job at UCLA a year ago and for the same job with the Detroit Lions on Monday.

But he comes with less of a public profile than some might have expected. On the day the Gophers announced Mike Dunbar would be replaced, Brewster promised an ''absolute knockout" hire, one that would quickly happen.

It ended up taking more than two weeks, with numerous candidates surfacing.

Before Dunbar was let go, a report surfaced in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoting interim Rams coach Jim Haslett saying Rams offensive line coach Jim Chaney had been offered the job. Brewster denied the report, and Chaney ended up going to the University of Tennessee as new coach Lane Kiffin's offensive coordinator.

Published reports out of Texas said Longhorns assistant Major Applewhite was contacted about the job. Later, multiple reports had the job being offered to Oklahoma quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel, who chose to stay with the Sooners.

Last week three coaches visited the Twin Cities -- Oklahoma State co-offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer, former Wisconsin quarterbacks coach Jeff Horton, who was with the Rams last season, and East Carolina offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Todd Fitch. According to a source, Fitch turned the job down rather than accept a one-year contract offer.

Choosing Fisch would signal a change in approach by Brewster, whose original coaching staff included two veteran coordinators in Dunbar and Everett Withers.

Fisch presumably would have a lot of energy for recruiting, but he would be a first-time coordinator working with running game coordinator Tim Davis, a former offensive line coach at USC who also coached with Miami in the NFL. It would be Fisch's first time calling plays.

Brewster has said he wants his offensive coordinator to coach the quarterbacks. The Gophers will have a bevy of talent at the position next fall. Starter Adam Weber returns for his junior season. Behind him are much-heralded recruits MarQueis Gray, Moses Alipate and John Nance, making it one of the deeper positions on the roster.

Fisch also has experience in Shanahan's offense, which traditionally has featured a productive running attack. Brewster has pledged not to abandon facets of the spread offense he began with in Minnesota. But the addition of Davis came with a desire to add a power running facet to the attack.

Fisch's coaching résumé began in Florida in 1999, when the Florida alum -- but not a college football player -- became a graduate assistant with the Gators for two years.

From there he was a defensive quality control coach for three seasons with the NFL's Houston Texans. In 2004 he moved to the Baltimore Ravens, where he spent one year as an offensive assistant, two seasons as assistant quarterbacks/wide receivers coach and a season as the assistant quarterbacks coach.

In 2008 he went to work in Denver as Shanahan's wide receivers coach.

New Broncos coach Josh McDaniels let go Fisch and passing coordinator Jeremy Bates. Bates was hired as USC's offensive coordinator Monday.

Fisch has a relatively short résumé, but there are some highlights, particularly coaching wide receivers.

With the Ravens he helped develop Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton. With the Broncos, Fisch was credited with getting the most out of mercurial receiver Brandon Marshall and helped turn Eddie Royal -- the Broncos' second-round pick in 2008 -- into the most productive rookie receiver in the league.

• Gopherillustrated.com reported late Tuesday evening that the Gophers were in negotiations with USC to add the Trojans to the Minnesota schedule in a home-and-home series. No deal has been finalized, the website said, but if finished it would add USC to the schedule twice between 2010 and 2016.