After a strong season with the Gophers, and amid Rutgers’ interest in bringing him back to New Jersey, Corey Hetherman received a $150,000 annual raise to remain Minnesota’s defensive coordinator through the 2026 season.

Hetherman netted a pay bump from $850,000 to $1 million per year. He also is in line for $200,000 retention bonuses on Feb. 1, 2025, and Feb. 1, 2026. All told, Hetherman will receive compensation increases of $350,000 in both 2025 and ’26.

The contract is subject to approval by the U’s Board of Regents at their meeting later this week.

Hetherman’s raise comes as USA Today’s updated database on Wednesday showed the Gophers last among the 15 Big Ten programs reporting total salaries for assistant coaches. Minnesota checked in at a combined $4.5 million, with rivals Wisconsin 11th at $5.3 million, Iowa fourth at $7.9 million and Ohio State tops at $11.4 million.

Three programs are not required to share: Penn St., USC and Northwestern.

Hetherman’s contract extension was announced by the U on Saturday, less than a week after Rutgers’ defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak left to be the head coach at Massachusetts. Hetherman was the Scarlet Knights’ linebackers coach for two seasons before joining Minnesota this year.

Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck on Sunday downplayed the chances of Hetherman leaving, describing the previous 48 hours with Hetherman as: “Just calm normal conversations. Just talking about life. I give credit to our administration,” Fleck later said. “It takes a lot of people to get to the end result, which is signing a contract. Thank his agent Thayer Evans and what he was able to provide, and just insight into a lot of different things. It’s a unique process to go through. You know you are going to go through it every single year when you have really good coaches, which we do. It’s a credit to Corey and his staff for all they accomplished this year.”

After a down year in 2023, the Gophers improved significantly in the 12 games going into the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Jan. 3. They went from 93rd in the nation in yards per play (5.95) in 2023 to 15th (4.77) this year, and from 69th in points per game (26.7) to 11th (17.5) this fall.

“Corey Hetherman is a great man,” Fleck said. “He loves the University of Minnesota. He loves the players he gets to coach. He loves the staff. I think that was very evident in the process. We’ve only known him in the organization for the last 10, 11 months. I think he has made a huge impact on and off the field with our players and our staff.”