Minnesota Golden Gophers
University	University of Minnesota
Conference	Big Ten (primary) WCHA (women’s ice hockey)
NCAA	Division I (FBS)
Athletic director	Mark Coyle
Location	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Varsity teams	21 (9 men's; 12 women's)
Football stadium	Huntington Bank Stadium
Basketball arena	Williams Arena
Ice hockey arena	3M Arena at Mariucci (men) Ridder Arena (women)
Baseball stadium	Siebert Field U.S. Bank Stadium (February and March, 2017–present)
Soccer stadium	Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium
Other venues	Maturi Pavilion
Mascot	Goldy Gopher
Nickname	Golden Gophers
Fight song	Minnesota Rouser
Colors	Maroon and gold[1]
Website	gophersports.com

TheMinnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened toGophers) are thecollege sports teams of theUniversity of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in theBig Ten Conference.

TheGophers women's ice hockey team is a six-timeNCAA champion and seven-time national champion.^[2][3] In women's ice hockey, the Gophers belong to theWestern Collegiate Hockey Association. In all other sports, they belong to theBig Ten Conference. Most of the facilities that the teams use for training and competitive play are located on the East Bank of theMinneapolis campus. There are arenas for men's and women's basketball (Williams Arena) as well as ice hockey (Mariucci Arena andRidder Arena). The Gopher football team began playing atHuntington Bank Stadium in September 2009. The women's soccer team plays on theSt. Paul campus in theElizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium.

TheCheerleaders and the Dance Team are also part of the university's athletic department; they are present at events for basketball, ice hockey, and football, and compete for UCA/UDA national titles in the winter. The University of Minnesota spirit squad was the first as sideline cheerleading was invented at the U of M, and it prides itself in being one of the largest spirit squads in the country. The U of M spirit squad currently consists of three cheerleading teams (all girl, coed, and small coed), a dance team,Goldy Gopher, and a unique ice hockey cheerleading team. The dance team won its 19th national title in 2019.^[4]

During the 2006–07 academic year, the Golden Gophers wrestling team won theNCAA national championship and the Big Ten team title. The Golden Gophers also won conference championships in men's ice hockey, men's golf, women's rowing, men's swimming and diving, and women's indoor track and field.

• National Championships (3):

1956,1960,1964

• NCAA Tournament Appearances (32):

1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2018

• Big Ten Regular Season Championships (24):

1933, 1935, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2016, 2018

• Big Ten Conference Tournament Championships (9):

1982, 1985, 1988, 1992, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2010, 2018

• Big Ten Regular Season Championships (8):

1906, 1907, 1911, 1917, 1919, 1937, 1972, 1982

• NCAA Tournament Appearances (10):

1972,1982,1989,1990,2005,2009,2010,2013,2017,2019

• Sweet 16 Appearances (3):

1982,1989,1990

• Elite Eight Appearances (1):

1990

• NIT Appearances (12):

1973, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2012, 2014

• NIT Championships (2):

1993, 2014

Note: A 1997 Big Ten regular season championship, NCAA Tournament appearances in 1994, 1995, 1997 (Final Four), and 1999, as well as NIT appearances in 1996 and 1998 (Championship) were vacated due to NCAA sanctions.^[5][6]

• NCAA Tournament Appearances (10):

1994, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2018

• Sweet 16 Appearances (3):

2003, 2004, 2005

• Elite Eight Appearances (1):

2004

• Final Four Appearances (1):

2004

• Big Ten Team Championships (4):

1909, 1914, 1964, 1969

• Big Ten Team Championships (2):

2007, 2008

• National Championships (7):

1904, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, 1960

• Big Ten Conference Championships (18):

1900, 1903, 1904, 1906, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1915, 1927, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1960, 1967

• Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the Northwest Championships (2):

1892, 1893

• Bowl Games (20):

Citrus Bowl –2015

Duke's Mayo Bowl - 2025

Guaranteed Rate Bowl - 2021

Hall of Fame Classic –1977

Holiday Bowl –2016

Independence Bowl –1985

Insight Bowl –2006,2008,2009

Liberty Bowl –1986

MicronPC.com Bowl –2000

Music City Bowl –2002,2004,2005

Outback Bowl –2020

Pinstripe Bowl - 2022

Quick Lane Bowl –2015,2018

Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas –2012

Quick Lane Bowl - 2023

Rose Bowl –1961,1962

Sun Bowl –1999,2003

Texas Bowl –2013

• Bowl game victories: 1962 Rose Bowl, 1985 Independence Bowl, 2002 Music City Bowl, 2003 Sun Bowl, 2004 Music City Bowl, 2015 Quick Lane Bowl, 2016 Holiday Bowl, 2018 Quick Lane Bowl, 2020 Outback Bowl, 2021 Guaranteed Rate Bowl, 2022 Pinstripe Bowl, 2023 Quick Lane Bowl, 2025 Duke's Mayo Bowl

• TheLittle Brown Jug – Accidentally left in Minnesota back in1903 byMichigan coachFielding H. Yost, it is painted with the victories of the two teams.
• Floyd of Rosedale – Since1935 the Gophers and theIowaHawkeyes have fought to win thisbronzepig. The Gophers won the 2010 and 2011 match up for the pig, upsetting the favored Hawkeyes at TCF Bank Stadium.
• Paul Bunyan's Axe – Minnesota and theWisconsin Badgers have passed this trophy back and forth since1948, although it records the two teams' encounters since1890.
• Governor's Victory Bell – The bell was created to commemorate the1993 entrance ofPenn State'sNittany Lions into the Big Ten.
• $5-Bits-O-Broken-Chair Trophy – The newest of the five trophies. From a 2014 exchange on Twitter,Goldy Gopher created a trophy with a parody account of the then coach of NebraskaBo Pelini.

• National Championships (2 pre-NCAA, 5 NCAA):

1929,^[7] 1940,^[8] 1974, 1976, 1979, 2002, 2003

• WCHA Regular Season Championships (14):

1953, 1954, 1970, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1997, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2013

• Big Ten Regular Season Championships (7):

2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2025

• Big Ten Tournament Championships (2):

2015, 2021

• WCHA Tournament Championships (14):

1961, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2003, 2004, 2007

• NCAA Frozen Four Appearances (22):

1953,1954, 1961, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1983,1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995, 2002,2003,2005,2012,2014, 2023

• National Championships (7):

2000 (AWCHA), 2004, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016

• WCHA Regular Season Championships (8):

2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014

• WCHA Tournament Championships (7):

2002, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

• NCAA Frozen Four Appearances (15):

2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

• Big Ten Championships (1):

2007

• NCAA Champions in V2

2007

• Big Ten Championships (4):

1995, 1997, 2008, 2016

• Big Ten Regular Season Championships (4):

1986, 1988, 1991, 2017

• Big Ten Tournament Championships (5):

1999, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018

• Women's College World Series appearances (3):

1976, 1978, 2019^[9]

Dance Team

• National Championships (13):

2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019

• Big Ten Team Championships (15):

1910, 1911, 1912, 1918, 1932, 1933, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2015

• Big Ten Championships (3):

2002, 2015, 2018

• NCAA Tournament Appearances (21):

1989,1993,1996,1997,1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2015,2016,2017,2018

• Sweet 16 Appearances (16):

1989, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016

• Final Four Appearances (5):

2003, 2004, 2009, 2015, 2016

• National Championships (3):

2001, 2002, 2007

• Big Ten Team Championships (12):

1910, 1912, 1913, 1941, 1957, 1959, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007

Minnesota rugby plays Division Icollege rugby in theBig Ten Universities conference against traditional Big Ten rivals such asWisconsin andIowa.^[10] Minnesota qualified for the national playoffs in 2008, and finished the 2008 season ranked 7th in the nation.^[11] Some of Minnesota's games have been well attended by fans, with the team drawing as many as 6,000 fans to watch the team play at TCF Bank Stadium.^[12]

The University Mascot is derived from a nickname for the state of Minnesota, "The Gopher State." The original design was based on thethirteen-lined ground squirrel. The state nickname derives from a political cartoon by R. O. Sweeny, published as a broadside in 1858. The cartoon depicted state legislators as gophers dragging the state in the wrong direction.^[13] The nickname was associated with the university as early as the publication of the first yearbook in 1888, which was titled "The Gopher".^[14] Other early yearbooks included depictions of gophers as well, and the University of Minnesota football coachClarence Spears officially named the football team the Gophers in 1926.^[15] After the radio announcerHalsey Hall began referring to the team as the Golden Gophers due to the color of their uniforms, the team was renamed under coachBernie Bierman.^[16]

School songs for the university includeMinnesota Rouser,Minnesota March,Go Gopher Victory,Our Minnesota,Minnesota Fight,Hail! Minnesota, and theBattle Hymn of the Republic.

• Tom Lehman^[127]
• James McLean^[128]

• Newt Loken^[129]
• Marie Roethlisberger^[130]
• John Roethlisberger^[131]

• Winny Brodt^[164]
• Natalie Darwitz^[165]
• Courtney Kennedy^[166]
• Gisele Marvin^[167]
• Noora Raty^[168]
• Jenny Schmidgall-Potter^[169]
• Krissy Wendell^[170]

• Yoav Meiri (born 1975), Israeli Olympic swimmer
• Justin Mortimer
• Bar Soloveychik (born 2000), Israeli swimmer

• Gabriele Grunewald

• Hassan Mead
• Buddy Edelen

• Shelton Benjamin — professional wrestler, 36–6 record in two seasons with the Gophers.
• Verne Gagne – NCAA champion, owner of the defunctAmerican Wrestling Association and its former heavyweight champion (10 times), member ofProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame, and several others.
• Cole Konrad – 2 time undefeated, NCAA individual champion at 285 lbs; currentmixed martial artist and the formerBellator Heavyweight Champion^[171]
• Nik Lentz, wrestler; currentmixed martial artist for theUltimate Fighting Championship (featherweight)^[172]
• Brock Lesnar – FormerUFC Heavyweight Champion and currentWWE champion.
• Dustin Schlatter – 79–2 record in two seasons with the Gophers
• Jacob Volkmann – 3-time all-American, former UFC fighter.
• Gable Steveson - Olympic gold medalist

Note: From 1974 to 2002, there were separate athletic departments for men and women's sports.

• List of college athletic programs in Minnesota

Wikimedia Commons has media related toUniversity of Minnesota athletics.

• Official website

• Minnesota Golden Gophers
• Sports in Minneapolis

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from September 2018
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1: unfit URL
• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Commons category link is on Wikidata