Briefs

Gophers sophomore safety Derrick Wells is slowly making a name for himself on the national stage.

Wells was named the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday, one day after he was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.

“It was a big accomplishment for me,” Wells said. “Now people are going to expect more from me, and I’m ready for the challenge.”

The Gophers soccer team ranks eighth in the Big Ten's preseason coaches' poll, which was released Monday.

Minnesota is coming off a 9-10-2 season (5-4-2 Big Ten) in which it finished fifth in the conference. It lost in the second round of the Big Ten tournament to eventual champion Penn State, which sits atop the poll.

Three Gophers players were named to the conference's list of 36 players to watch: sophomore Taylor Uhl, senior Cat Parkhill and senior Tamara Strahota.

Minnesota sophomore offensive lineman Jimmy Gjere has opted to end his football career due to his ongoing battle with concussion-like symptoms, the team announced Monday.

Gjere, a four-star recruit out of Irondale High School in 2010 according to Rivals.com, started five games for the Gophers last season before suffering a season-ending concussion in the 58-0 loss to Michigan on Oct. 1.

Mike Ellis, former associate athletics director at Virginia Commonwealth University, will join Minnesota's new AD Norwood Teague, the Star Tribune reported.

Ellis, who has been with VCU for 19 years, joins Teague and former colleague David Benedict, who left VCU for Minnesota last month.

The Rams' online bio about Ellis is glowing.

Three-star football recruit Keelon Brookins has decommitted from the Gophers and committed to play at Wisconsin, TheBadgerNation reported Wednesday on Twitter.

Brookins, a junior linebacker from Tartan High School, was the Gophers' first recruit for the Class of 2013, and he still has several months before he must sign a national letter of intent.

The Gophers have hired Chuck Merzbacher as their next head women's tennis coach, athletics director Norwood Teague announced Friday.

A Minnesota alum, Merzbacher was Ohio State's head coach for 16 years, leading the Buckeyes to nine NCAA tournament appearances while becoming the winningest coach in program history with 209 wins.

Gophers men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith and the University of Minnesota have come to terms on a contract extension through the 2016-17 season, athletics director Norwood Teague announced Monday.

The announcement ended months of anticipation about a possible deal, which started last season and carried over into Teague’s first month as athletics director.

“Unfinished business” was the theme of Trevor Mbakwe’s return to Gophers basketball this spring.

Nearly three months later, replace Mbakwe with Nick Bjugstad and basketball with hockey.

For the Gophers junior, the unfinished business is a national championship after he and the Gophers lost in the Frozen Four semifinals last year.

A little more than a month after Mikki Denney Wright resigned as head coach of the Gophers women’s soccer team, Stefanie Golan took charge.

Athletics director Norwood Teague announced Golan as Minnesota’s next head coach last Wednesday in one of his first major decisions on the job. Golan will move on from Army at West Point, where she’s been head coach for three years.

At first glance, Golan appears similar to her predecessor. Both were defenders in college, both are in their 30s and both have families.

The Gophers broke ground Monday on a new baseball stadium at Siebert Field on campus, which will replace the old stadium where Minnesota has played home games since 1971.

Fans, donors and media watched as University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler, outgoing athletics director Joel Maturi and head baseball coach John Anderson led the groundbreaking ceremony.