Three football coaches Iowa fans love to hate (PJ Fleck, Minnesota)

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Underwood:

P.J. Fleck, Minnesota​

In one of the oldest rivalries in college football, Iowa fans will hate whoever is in charge of Minnesota football. It does not help that, regardless of the sport, Minnesota fans can be heard chanting "we hate Iowa" and other anti-Iowa chants from the stands.

Whether it is the "row the boat" phrase or the anti-Iowa chants, Iowa fans despise Minnesota Head Coach P.J. Fleck. Since Fleck took over the Minnesota program in 2017, the Hawkeyes have crushed them every year but one (2023).

The games have all been close, but it feels nice to bring home the Floyd of Rosedale every season.

Fleck has had success at Minnesota with a 56-39 record, including an impressive 6-0 record in bowl games, but has not had success against the rival Hawkeyes.

Iowa fans hope that trend continues as long as Fleck is head coach.

dearoldgold.com

Three football coaches Iowa fans love to hate

Iowa Hawkeye Football is a little under three months away. Multiple question marks surround the 2025-2026 season, including the health and status of projected s
dearoldgold.com dearoldgold.com

Go Gophers!!
 



BleedGopher said:
Per Underwood:

P.J. Fleck, Minnesota​

In one of the oldest rivalries in college football, Iowa fans will hate whoever is in charge of Minnesota football. It does not help that, regardless of the sport, Minnesota fans can be heard chanting "we hate Iowa" and other anti-Iowa chants from the stands.

Whether it is the "row the boat" phrase or the anti-Iowa chants, Iowa fans despise Minnesota Head Coach P.J. Fleck. Since Fleck took over the Minnesota program in 2017, the Hawkeyes have crushed them every year but one (2023).

The games have all been close, but it feels nice to bring home the Floyd of Rosedale every season.

Fleck has had success at Minnesota with a 56-39 record, including an impressive 6-0 record in bowl games, but has not had success against the rival Hawkeyes.

Iowa fans hope that trend continues as long as Fleck is head coach.

dearoldgold.com

Three football coaches Iowa fans love to hate

Iowa Hawkeye Football is a little under three months away. Multiple question marks surround the 2025-2026 season, including the health and status of projected s
dearoldgold.com dearoldgold.com

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
Crap, it’s going to be a loooooong summer
 

Idk why the Iowa fans would hate PJ, other than an invalid fair catch penalty, their team beats him every year.
 




Stuff said:
Idk why the Iowa fans would hate PJ, other than an invalid fair catch penalty, their team beats him every year.
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We have a few games against Iowa where we could play the "other than" card too. Have had some close ones.
 




Word said:
We have a few games against Iowa where we could play the "other than" card too. Have had some close ones.
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Yes. But I just don't see them hating PJ. I don't believe he's ever said or done anything to make Iowa hate him. Maybe they still hate him because of the invalid fair catch penalty, but he really didn't have anything to do with that.

Or maybe I'm over thinking this and he just got thrown in there due to be a border state rival.
 
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Stuff said:
Yes. But I just don't see them hating PJ. I don't believe he's ever said or done anything to make Iowa hate him. Maybe they still hate him because of the invalid fair catch penalty, but he really didn't have anything to do with that.

Or maybe I'm over thinking this and he just got thrown in there due to be a border state rival.
Click to expand...
Think of where MN stood prior to PJ. While we have not had the wins we would hope to have against Iowa, MN has raised the bar in competing in other ways. We recruit and win recruiting battles against Iowa. We are competitive and with PJ one could argue our future looks much brighter than Iowa.

Plus PJ is everything that Iowa is not. Iowa is a football is football program and get to the NFL at all costs (remember the stories of tolerating racism and kids getting sick.) PJ runs a life giving culture to develop young men and is in some ways surpassed/equaled Iowa as an NFL developmental program.

While I think Iowa feels comfortable in coaching against PJ, I think they see that as potentially flipping soon.
 

Stuff said:
Yes. But I just don't see them hating PJ. I don't believe he's ever said or done anything to make Iowa hate him. Maybe they still hate him because of the invalid fair catch penalty, but he really didn't have anything to do with that.

Or maybe I'm over thinking this and he just got thrown in there due to be a border state rival.
Click to expand...

I think Iowa fans may not like Fleck because he is very opposite of Ferentz personally.

It should be noted that as far as how they coach they are remarkably similar in how they want their teams to play and win.
 

gophernut1 said:
Plus PJ is everything that Iowa is not. Iowa is a football is football program and get to the NFL at all costs (remember the stories of tolerating racism and kids getting sick.) PJ runs a life giving culture to develop young men and is in some ways surpassed/equaled Iowa as an NFL developmental program.

While I think Iowa feels comfortable in coaching against PJ, I think they see that as potentially flipping soon.
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Iowa currently has 41 former players on NFL rosters. Minnesota has 28.

Since the 2018 draft (first draft of the Fleck era) Iowa has had 31 players selected. Minnesota has had 19 players selected.
 
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