Gophers football team adding Isaac Fruechte, Mohamed Ibrahim as assistant coaches

The Gophers football program made substantial changes to its coaching staff on Friday, Jan. 2, bringing in two familiar names as assistant coaches and parting ways with one of coach P.J. Fleck’s longtime assistants.

Isaac Fruechte, a former Gophers and Vikings player who has spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at North Dakota, will become the Minnesota wide receivers coach, a source with knowledge of the situation told the Minnesota Star Tribune. Fruechte, a Caledonia, Minn., native, replaces Matt Simon, the Farmington native who’s coached with Fleck from 2014 to ’16 at Western Michigan and 2017 to ’25 with the Gophers.

Under Fruechte, a Gophers wide receiver from 2014 to ’16, the Fighting Hawks averaged 32.9 points and 387.3 yards per game in 2025 and advanced to the second round of the FCS playoffs, finishing 8-6. In 2024, UND was 5-7 and averaged 30.8 points and 360.2 yards per game.

Mohamed Ibrahim, the Gophers’ all-time leading rusher, is returning to Minnesota as running backs coach, the source said. He replaces Jayden Everett, who left for a similar position at Wisconsin. Ibrahim spent the 2025 season as Kent State running backs coach. The Baltimore native played for Fleck from 2017 to ’22, rushing for 4,668 yards and 53 touchdowns.

Daniel Da Prato joins the Gophers as special teams coordinator, replacing Bob Ligashesky, who was not retained after two seasons at Minnesota. De Prato spent the 2025 season as associate head coach and special teams coordinator at New Mexico, the team the Gophers defeated 20-17 in overtime in the Rate Bowl on Dec. 26. The Lobos’ Damon Bankston had a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Gophers.

Travis Moore joins Minnesota as assistant defensive line coach after spending the past seven seasons as defensive ends coach at Northern Illinois. Moore also played at Northern Illinois and was teammates with Fleck from 2000 to ’03.

The Gophers bolstered their depth at quarterback, adding Michael Merdinger out of the transfer portal.

A three-star recruit, Merdinger was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and moved to the United States when he was 8. He is believed to be the first Israeli-born athlete to play at the FBS level.

Defensive end Karter Menz, whose 6½ sacks ranked second on the team in 2025, is returning to the Gophers for his redshirt junior season in 2026. The West Fargo, N.D., native will team with Anthony Smith to form an end duo that combined for 19 sacks and 26½ tackles for loss last season.