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Gophers Road Trip comes to Fairmont

FAIRMONT — Fairmont residents traded in their Cardinal red for maroon and gold and joined others from the area to pack into the Holiday Inn on Tuesday afternoon. Coaches and staff from the University of Minnesota athletic department arrived in town as part of the six-day Gophers Road Trip.

The trip began at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Monday and traveled by charter bus to Winona and Rochester. On Tuesday, the group stopped in Owatonna before visiting Fairmont and New Ulm. The final leg of the road trip consists of stops in Hibbing and Sartell on June 7.

A local committee comprised of Bill Crawford, Tim Hested and Kevin Zimmer helped bring the road trip to the town for the first time in its history.

“We ask people to buy tickets, to make donations to our program. This gives us a chance to go back and invest in them to say, ‘Thank you,’ because the backbone of our program is the fans,” said Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle. “If we don’t have fans in the stands, we don’t have anything.”

Fans were greeted with a lunch and had a chance to engage with Goldy Gopher, the team’s mascot. After lunch, program emcee and voice of the Gophers Mike Grimm introduced the coaches, including men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino, football coach P.J. Fleck, men’s hockey coach Don Lucia, women’s golf coach Michelle Redman, and women’s swimming and diving coach Kelly Kremer, among others.

Dan Helvig, a local resident and University of Minnesota alum, was glad he was able to attend the program live.

“When you see the videos, it’s cool to see them in person,” he said. “It’s pretty nice.”

Pitino said being part of the road trip is one of his favorite activities every year.

“We’ve got a packed house in here, which is fun to support. … There’s a lot to be excited about right now across the board,” he said. “It’s good to tell our story and get people excited. More than anything, it’s good to meet people and say, ‘Thank you.'”

Pitino added that this year’s road trip is much easier than last year’s after completing a major program turnaround, going from an 8-23 record in the 2015-2016 season to 23-8 in 2016-2017.

“I’d always believed we’d be good. I knew what we were building and you never know how it’ll all play out from an injury standpoint from a luck standpoint,” Pitino said. “But, obviously, they exceeded my expectations. It was a terrific regular season.”

As a whole, the Gophers athletic program has seen much success, with the football team going 9-4 on the season and winning the Holiday Bowl. The softball team marked a historic year, producing a 56-5 record and winning its first Big Ten regular season title since 1991, and its third Big Ten Tournament championship in four years. The Gophers men’s hockey team set NCAA records for most tournament bids (37) and most consecutive regular-season conference championships with six.

“We try to have sustained excellence,” Lucia said.

“It’s a lot easier to talk when you’re winning, there’s no doubt about that. We have such a broad-based program with a lot of success,” Coyle said. “In addition to the athletic success, we have a lot of academic success. We’re the highest-rated public school in the country with respect to student-athlete success, so we’re proud of that too.”

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