David Benedict knows Minnesota’s new athletics director Norwood Teague well.

In fact, Minnesota will be the third athletics department the two have worked at together.

Teague announced Friday that Benedict, the former associate AD at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been named the new executive associate AD at Minnesota.

“Every AD needs somebody in his right hand that knows him and understands him,” said Vic Cegles, the athletics director at Long Beach State. “David compliments Norwood in a lot of different ways.”

Cegles, who has been at LBSU since 2006, hired both Teague and Benedict when they worked at Arizona State’s athletics department together in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “They really developed a family relationship,” Cegles said. “That’s what Norwood will try to do at Minnesota, and that’s what you really need to be successful: a family atmosphere.”

Benedict worked with Teague at ASU from 1999-2001 and more recently for two years at VCU, serving as the interim AD after Teague left for Minnesota this May. Benedict will start at Minnesota on July 9, three weeks after Teague, who began last Monday.

“David is a star,” Teague said in a release. “I have a long working relationship with him, and he is a superior person and a great addition to our staff. I want to emphasize that David is an addition to our staff. We have a long way to go and a short time to get there, and he will be a key element in this process. This is a great move for Gopher athletics and a great move for him.”

Benedict oversaw numerous aspects of VCU’s athletics department as associate AD, including student-athlete welfare and sport supervision. He, like Teague, has a strong résumé of successful fundraising campaigns.

He served as the head of VCU Athletics’ development operations. Cegles said Benedict is gifted when it comes to fundraising.

“I’ve been in the fundraising business for 30 years now,” Cegles said. “He is one of the best fundraisers I’ve ever been around.”

Cegles said it takes a unique type of skill set to make a good fundraiser, and Benedict and Teague both possess it.

“You have to know what motivates people,” Cegles said. “[Benedict] has the skills to relate to a lot of different people, and Norwood is the same way.

“Those guys are a great team.”