Minneapolis ? Tim Brewster spent 13 years learning the tricks of the recruiting trade under guru Mack Brown.

Six years after leaving Brown for the NFL, Brewster will finally put that knowledge to work in his first head coaching job.

The little-known Denver Broncos tight ends coach was hired by Minnesota on Tuesday to breathe new life into the Golden Gopher football program. He will be introduced today at a news conference.

“He is the guy,” associate athletic director Tom Wistrcill said.

People who know Brewster describe him as an outgoing personality who excels in recruiting.

Brewster spent the last two seasons with the Broncos after three years as tight ends coach for the San Diego Chargers, where he is credited with developing Antonio Gates from a raw basketball player into one of the best tight ends in the league.

“He’s been around winning programs and he knows what it takes to get your program to elite status,” said Minnesota Vikings long snapper Cullen Loeffler, who played tight end under Brewster at Texas.

That’s a plateau that Glen Mason couldn’t quite reach in 10 years at Minnesota.

Mason was fired Dec. 31, two days after the Gophers blew a 31-point third-quarter lead in the Insight Bowl to lose to Texas Tech in the biggest comeback in major-college bowl history.

When the Gophers hired Mason in 1997 to take over a program that was at the bottom of the Big Ten, they chose a proven head coach who had succeeded at Kent State and Kansas.