On Tuesday afternoon, it was first reported by ESPN's Pete Thamel that Minnesota running backs coach Kenni Burns was finalizing a deal to become the next head coach of the Kent State Flashes. While that deal has been officially finalized, we are going to launch up our first running backs coach big board as P.J. Fleck will look to begin his search for Minnesota's next running backs coach.
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First, this initial running backs coach big board is purely based on research and some educational guesses. Currently, there is little to no intel about which way the Gophers will look to potentially replace Keni Burns. In other words, this is pure speculation but that's the fun of a coaching search whether it's a head coach, an offensive or defensive coordinator, or a positions coach.
Internal Options
Looking at the Gophers' coaching staff, there aren't many options here when it comes to someone who could take over as running backs coach. Matt Simon, Brian Callahan, and Greg Harbaugh Jr should all remain at their positions and no none of the defensvie coaching staff would make a ton of sense from a resume standpoint.
One name to potentially watch? Special teams coordinator Rob Wenger. While he doesn't have experience as a running backs coach in his career, he's shown the ability to adapt to various roles throughout his career and get results.
External Options
Moving into the external options, we already have listed quite a few possibilities. We have linked each's current team profile while also providing a little insight in each coach and why they may be intriguing to P.J Fleck.
Coaches with connections:
Scott is in his fourth year with West Virginia after spending time at North Carolina, Troy, Texas Tech, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Lousiville. His track record as a running backs coach is strong and he's done a good job at West Virginia as well. Quality recruiter over his career as well. Scott spent a year with Kirk Ciarocca in West Virginia and with Neal Brown's long-term future in doubt in Morgantown, moving to Minneapolis where Fleck just signed a long-term contract could be appealing.
- Eric Evans (Western Michigan)
Evans was part of Western Michigan's staff during Greg Harbaugh Jr's tenure in Kalamazoo. He's spent time at different positions throughout his coaching career including as a passing game coordinator, a quarterbacks coach, and a wide receivers coach. Has coached running backs such as Jordan Howard (UAB), Darrin Reaves (UAB), and Jarvion Franklin (WMU) among others. Also spent time early on in his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Northwestern.
- Robert Reeves (Hill-Murray High School)
Could Reeves be back as the Gophers' running backs coach? Probably not but he has connections to the staff and university that could make him an option. He's currently the head coach at Hill-Murray High School.
Regional / No connections:
Johnson is in an interesting spot with his former head coach Sean Lewis headed to Colorado to be the Buffaloes' head coach. Johnson during his time with the Golden Flashes was phenomenal, his running backs as a position group consistently dominating on the ground. This past season, his top three running backs totaled over 1,999 yards and 17 touchdowns. He's also shown to be a quality recruiter.
Another current running back coach in Ohio, Cole has spent much of his time as a coach at Toledo after also playing for the Rockets from 2008-2011. Since 2019, Cole has been Toledo's running backs coach with his position group posting quality numbers. This season, Cole's primary ballcarriers totaled 1,453 yards and nine touchdowns over 13 games. Another coach who has shown to be a quality recruiter throughout his time at Toledo.
- Joe Beschorner (North Dakota State)
Beschorner has only been North Dakota State's running back coach since 2021 but he has connections to the area beyond that as he was the offensive coordinator at Minnesota State University Mankato for six years. He also spent time at Simpson University as an offensive coordinator and at South Dakota as a running backs coach. This season, North Dakota State totaled nearly 3,500 rushing yards and over 269 yards per game on the ground.
Out of region/no connections:
Bergeron is one of the up-and-coming names in the college football coaching ranks and has done a great job with the Rajin' Cajuns since taking over as their running backs coach at the end of last season. This season, Lousiana's rushing attack averaged 143 yards per game with two of their top three rushers averaging over 5.0 yards on the ground. He's also spent time in his career at Southern Miss and Arizona State in various roles.
Notably, he has no direct connections to the Minnesota coaching staff or the area.
One of the longer resumes on this list, Foster is currently ECU's recruiting coordinator and running backs coach. As a coach, he has produced a pair of All-Americans and five future NFL players. Has also coached at Georgia Southern, Maryville, Appalachian State, and Gardner Web. No direct connections to the staff or the midwest but is has a good recruiting pedigree and has had production out of his backs at every stop.
Pimpleton has followed Willie Taggert for most of his career but with Taggert headed to Boulder to be part of Deion Sanders's coaching staff, Pimpleton appears to be on the market. His career includes stops at UMass, Florida State, Oregon, USF, Kentucky Wesleyan, Western Kentucky, and Louisville. Running backs that Pimpleton has either recruited or coached or both include Cam Akers, Marlon Mack, De'Ernest Johnson, Royce Freeman, and Jacques Patrick. There's a lot to like about Pimpleton.
Johnson has spent most of the last decade with now Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze but with Cadillac Williams being retained with the Tigers, it appears Johnson could be an option. Outside of his time as LIberty's runnings back coach since 2019, he also spent a season at Indiana as the Hoosiers director of on-campus recruiting while at Ole Miss he was a quality control analyst, coached the offensive, coached tight ends, as well as a myriad of recruiting and player personnel roles. The Flames have averaged 150+ rushing yards in each of four seasons at Liberty and helped set a school record in 2020 of 2,776 total rushing yards on the season.
- Christian Taylor - William & Mary
The offensive coordinator and running backs coach at William & Mary, Taylor does have Big Ten experience, serving as an offensvie analyst on Michigan's 2011 Sugar Bowl winning team. Since then, he's spent time at Illinois Wesleyan and the University of San Diego as a wide receivers coach. Since getting back to his alma mater, William & Mary's offensive has been dynamic and explosive, especially on the ground where they've ranked near the top of FCS team stats in each of his three seasons as offensive coordinator.
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