After months of watching his players take part in summer leagues, Ty McDevitt gets to be hands-on again. The Gophers are in the middle of regular fall practices.

He has been Minnesota’s pitching coach since 2019 and, before that, was a player and volunteer for the program.

The 2011 Eastview high school graduate is the Gophers’ 16th head coach in program history. He signed a 3-year contract earlier this year after being formally announced in late May.

Our Darren ‘Doogie’ Wolfson stopped by a recent practice and spoke with McDevitt and junior catcher/infielder Weber Neels (East Ridge HS).

***Click the video box above to watch our conversations with McDevitt and Neels***

McDevitt is credited with helping develop pitchers and has worked with several Gophers who were drafted by MLB teams. That list includes Max Meyer, who the Marlins selected No. 3 overall in the 2020 Draft.

He succeeds legend John Anderson — who led the program for the past 43 years and finished with 1,390 career wins — and is just the fourth head coach of the Gophers since 1948, when Dick Siebert’s tenure started.

The Gophers will just focus on practicing the next handful of weeks. They won’t be playing any exhibition games.