Former Purdue defensive coordinator Kevin Kane has secured a new position within the Big Ten. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Kane will be joining Minnesota in an on-field coaching capacity, although specific job details haven’t been disclosed.
Kane moves to Minnesota to work alongside PJ Fleck after two seasons at Purdue under coach Ryan Walters. With nearly two decades of college coaching experience, Kane has established himself in the field.
While Fleck and Kane have not worked together in DeKalb, they share connections to Northern Illinois. Fleck played as a wide receiver for the Huskies from 1999 to 2003 and later served as an assistant coach from 2007 to 2009, while Kane was an assistant at NIU from 2011 to 2014 and then became the defensive coordinator from 2016 to 2017.
This marks Kane’s third straight position at a Big Ten university; before his tenure at Purdue, he coached outside linebackers for Bret Bielema at Illinois from 2021 to 2022. A former linebacker at Kansas (2002-05), Kane has also held coaching roles at Kansas (2006-07, 2015), Wisconsin (2008-10), and SMU (2018-20). He will be joining a Minnesota team that concluded the 2024 season with an 8-5 record.
