MINNEAPOLIS — Saturday's loss to Wisconsin may have kept the Minnesota Gophers football team from playing in the Big Ten Championship game on Saturday, but it didn't diminish what was accomplished this season.
And the rest of the coaches in the conference agreed.
P.J. Fleck was named the Big Ten Hayes-Schembechler Coach of the Year Tuesday after leading the Gophers to a 10-2 record after the program won just five games two seasons prior.
Gophers safety Antoine Winfield Jr. won the Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year award, which is given to the conference's top defensive back. Winfield is the first Gophers defensive back to earn the award.
Winfield also earned a spot on the First Team All-Big Ten Team, while teammate Carter Coughlin was named to the Second Team All-Big Ten Team.
Coney Durr, Kamal Martin, Sam Renner, Thomas Barber and Benjamin St-Juste were named All-Big Ten Honorable Mention and Winston DeLattiboudere was Minnesota's recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
