U-of-M President Eric Kaler has named Mark Coyle as the next director of Gopher athletics, pending approval by the Board of Regents. Coyle is currently athletics director at Syracuse University and a former athletics administrator at the U. Kaler says Coyle’s previous experience at Minnesota, plus leadership at other major athletics departments, “make him the ideal candidate to lead Gopher Athletics into the future.” Coyle says he’s honored to have the opportunity to return to the University of Minnesota and the Big Ten.