It is a day University of Minnesota Men’s Gymnastics head coach Mike Burns will never forget. The program he had poured his heart and soul into for 16 years would be dropped by the university.

“It was Sept. 10, 2020,” Burns recalled. It was the first semester back after the disruption of COVID-19. Burns was asked to join a Zoom call where he was told the news. The program would be cut beginning in 2021.

Burns tried to fight the decision. When he realized he wasn’t going to win, he decided to turn that fighting energy into keeping the program alive even though he was out of a job.

“We just decided that if there was ever a chance of us being reinstated, we’d have to maintain a program,” he said.

Burns drove for Uber and made deliveries for Shipt to help pay his personal bills.

The nonpr

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