It’s understandable why Mark Coyle has emerged, according to numerous sources, as the preferred candidate to become the Gophers’ next athletic director.
University of Minnesota representatives are reportedly meeting with Coyle today. Media outlets say he has resigned as athletic director at Syracuse. His willingness to travel to Minneapolis and have his named revealed in national media as the lone finalist for the U job indicates an agreement is all but completed. High profile candidates don’t put their names in the spotlight without intent to move on from present positions.
Coyle, 47, is a surprise name but Sports Headliners was told by a source close to Gophers athletics earlier in the week the short list of candidates for the job could include someone who hasn’t drawn media speculation. Coyle was hired at Syracuse last June with assignments that included dealing with a troubled athletic department facing image and NCAA concerns.
The Gophers Athletic Department has its own problems including a basketball program with issues specific to winning, academic performance and behavior of its players. University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler no doubt believes Coyle can provide guidance with basketball and other top priority issues at Minnesota.
Among those tasks will be completing the fund-raising for the $190 million Athletes Village project. Coyle was athletic director at Boise State from 2011-2015 and was credited with raising millions of dollars including seven-figure gifts. Prior to taking over at Boise, Coyle was Associate Athletics Director for Development at Kentucky where his responsibilities included fund-raising. He reportedly raised more than $140 million while at Kentucky.
Coyle joined the Wildcats after working for Gophers athletic directors Tom Moe and Joel Maturi. Coyle’s responsibilities while at Minnesota included overseeing corporate sponsorships and suite sales, marketing and promotions, athletic communications, video services, the ticket office, licensing and gophersports.com.
While Coyle was at Boise State, his teams posted the highest grade-point average in school history, with 18 teams establishing GPA records and more than 72 percent of the athletes earning GPAs above 3.0. The Broncos placed the most student-athletes on the Mountain West Conference Scholar-Athlete team in late 2014.
Coyle has a football background that includes playing the sport at Drake University in Des Moines. He also hired successful Boise football coach Bryan Harsin. After last season at Syracuse he replaced Scott Shafer with one of the hot names in college football coaching, Bowling Green’s Dino Babers.
Moe was impressed with Coyle’s skills and personality back when Coyle was developing his career. “You could see that he had a great future in athletics administration,” Moe told Sports Headliners today.
Media reports indicate Syracuse officials are sorry to see Coyle move on. “You can just tell from the places he’s been and the reviews he’s received, he’s been consistently highly thought of,” Moe said. “I think Syracuse was…both surprised and sorry to see him leave.”
Kaler no doubt finds a lot to like in Coyle who fulfills several criteria considered to be essential for the Gophers’ AD job. Those include prior administrative success, experience in fund-raising and other revenue producing areas, football knowledge, and a familiarity with the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul and the state.
Kaler might be as right with this hire as he was off on Norwood Teague who he made Gophers athletic director in 2012.