Shortly after Minnesota defeated Auburn in the Outback Bowl on New Year’s Day, head coach P.J. Fleck went out and found the next offensive coordinator for his program. With Kirk Ciarrocca leaving for Penn State, the Gophers needed someone to fill the void.

It didn’t take long for Fleck to offer the job to Utah State offensive coordinator and former Western Kentucky head coach Mike Sanford Jr. Just a few days after Minnesota’s 11-2 season came to an end, the new offensive coordinator had been hired.

Thursday, Sanford met with the media and talked about his relationship with Fleck. It’s a connection that started when Fleck was the head coach at Western Michigan and Sanford was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame.

“Over the years we were somewhat neighbors between Kalamazoo and South Bend and had a chance to further our relationship and our friendship there,” Sanford said. “Most importantly, I think the thing I’m so excited about with working with Coach Fleck going forward — at a time when I was a head football coach, learning, growing, going through the highs and lows and all that, this was a friend of mind who was at the height of his career. He was growing and growing, and he’d reach out to me and check in on me and give me some advice about how to proceed forward.”

While Sanford was at Notre Dame, Fleck was leading Western Michigan to a perfect 13-0 season and a Cotton Bowl appearance.

After having such a successful year offensively in 2019, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of impact Sanford has on the unit in the 2020 season.