Carter Coughlin was the first to refer the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ 2016 recruiting class as the “Empire Class.” It all started with a Tweet from March 2015:
I am very excited to announce my commitment to the University of Minnesota! God is so good! Building and Empire #BrickByBricku303dufe0f
— Carter Coughlin (@Cmoe34) March 12, 2015
(I think we can forgive the typo.)
It became the official class designation in July 2015, after Coughlin invited seven other players verbally committed to Minnesota to spend a weekend at his family’s cabin in Pequot Lakes.