The next offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Golden Gophers will be both wide receivers coach Matt Simon and tight ends coach Greg Harbaugh, the program announced on Monday.
Also according to Thamel, both coaches will receive pay raises in the process. It's unclear currently who will be the primary play caller.
The decision comes just a few days after it became official that Rutgers was hiring away Gophers' offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca to be their own offensive coordinator. The Scarlet Knights ultimately landed on the Pennsylvania native after missing on several other options but did give the now two-time former Minnesota OC a substantial pay raise with his salary set to be around the $1.5 million mark.
For Simon, the job title will not be of any change. The long-time Fleck assistant was the Gophers' co-offensive coordinator this season on top of his duties as the wide receivers coach. For Harbaugh, however, it will be a slight promotion as he goes from solely being the tight ends coach to being the co-offensive coordinator and now quarterbacks coach, opening up the tight ends coaching job.
It's the second job that Gophers' head coach PJ Fleck has had to feel in the past week, also reportedly choosing Akron defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere to lead the Gophers' defensive line after Brick Haley chose to leave the Gophers for the same opportunity at Purdue.
Two jobs remain open for the Gophers as they'll need to find a new tight ends coach thanks to the Ciarocca departure and Harbaugh's move to quarterbacks/co-OC as well as a new cornerbacks coach after Paul Haynes left the program for Wisconsin last week.
MORE TO COME
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