Le Journal
Golden Nugz
Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images A quick look at some news and notes that have broken over the last week It’s summer. The offseason is here. But news does keep leaking in. So here is the most recent version of the Golden Nugz with some of the stories you may have missed from the last week. Gopher Men’s Track Finishes 7th at NCAA Championships We updated you on the results through the first day of the men’s competition last week where Kostas Zaltos won the Hammer Throw NCAA Championship and Minnesota sat in first place through the first six events of the Championships. Minnesota has two more entries in their respective finals on Friday where the 4x100 relay team would finish in 7th place and Hakeem Ford would finish in 10th place in the triple jump. The Gophers finished with 25 team points and trailed only Texas A&M, USC, Arkansas, Auburn, New Mexico and Oklahoma. It was the best finish for the men since they won the NCAA Championship in 1948. Dawn Plitzuweit Gets an Extension The Minnesota Golden Gophers announced that women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit received a two year extension that will now keep her in charge of the Gopher women through the end of the 2031-32 season. Additionally if she leads the Gopher women to the NCAA Tournament in 2026, she gets an extra year on her deal through the end of the 2032-33 season. Plitzuweit will recieve a raise of roughly 7 percent to bring her base salary to $900,000 from $800,000 last season for 2025-26, with annual increases of $30,000 for each additional season. She will rank 9th out of the 17 schools who announce coaches salaries in the Big Ten. Minnesota is 45-27 overall under Plitzuweit, and she has led the Gophers to back-to-back postseason championship-game berths for the first time in program history (2024 WNIT, 2025 WBIT). Gopher Women Add Finau Tonga to Complete Roster Coach Plitzuweit added her 15th and final roster member last week with the announcement that San Jose transfer forward Finau Tonga will play for the Gophers in 2025-26. She will be a grad transfer and will have one year of eligibility/ Tonga is listed as a 6’2 forward and started 16 games for the Spartans last season. One of the most efficient players in the country, she scored at a 58% clip averaging 8.7 points per game. She was the Spartan’s second-leading rebounder with 5.2 per game. Prior to two seasons with SJSU she played wo years at Tonga spent two seasons at Salt Lake Community College and played one season at St. Mary’s. She should be another big bench option behind Sophie Hart and give the Gophers additional depth. The roster is now complete with the full 15 players as shown below. Your 2025-26 Golden Gophers #SkiUMah | #Gophers〽️ pic.twitter.com/yRLc3ktePK— Minnesota Women's Basketball (@GopherWBB) June 15, 2025 Gopher Hockey Announces full Non-Conference Schedule The Gophers announced their full slate of non-conference opponents and dates last week. Minnesota will open the season at home against former WCHA foe Michigan Tech. It will be the first meeting between the Gophers and Huskies since the end of the WCHA in 2012. Minnesota then will play a Thursday/Friday series against perennial power Boston College at 3M Arena At Mariucci the following week. The Gophers hit the road for the first time traveling up to Grand Forks for a series at North Dakota before returning back home to close out October with a home series against Minnesota-Duluth. After a pair of Big Ten series to be announced, the Gophers close out the home portion of the non-conference schedule by hosting Long Island for the first time ever on Nov. 14-15. The Sharks are in their sixth season of NCAA Division I men’s hockey. The final non-conference matchup of the regular season will take place either Nov. 28 or Nov. 29 (depending on the upcoming NHL schedule announcement) at Ball Arena in Denver where the Gophers will face the Denver Pioneers in the annual U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game as they meet for the first time since March…
Four-star RB Ryan Estrada commits to Minnesota
1000% committed Head coach P.J. Fleck and co. landed a coveted prospect Tuesday as their recruiting class nears capacity, with four-star running back Ryan Estrada committing to the Minnesota Golden Gophers over offers from Alabama and Michigan. 1000% Committed #RTB @GopherFootball @CoachJ_Everett @Coach_Fleck @Coach1Martinez @Coach_Macias @TopViewFit pic.twitter.com/K4vOILAx0D— RYAN ESTRADA (@RyanEstrada_1) June 17, 2025 Get to know Ryan Estrada Height: 5’9”Weight: 195 Power 4 Scholarship Offers: Alabama, Baylor, BYU, Cal, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, and Wisconsin 247 Sports Composite Rating: .9023 247 Sports Scouting Report Enormously productive running back with excellent totals and per-carry rate. Good juice in the first 10-20 yards combines with quick-footedness in the hole. Capable of making first defender miss at the second level. Runs with purpose, keeps pads square, does not dance too much. Strong enough to fight through arm tackles and displays above average contact balance. Good natural pad level. No verified data in regards to measurables or speed markers. Encouraging pass-catching reps as a freshman, but limited pass-catching exposure in past two seasons. Projects to the P4 level as a valuable piece of a RB room who could develop into a higher-volume, every-down runner with multi-year impact player potential. Hudl Highlights
