BleedGopher
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For starters, Fleck explains that while they emphasize things being fair at Minnesota, that is not the same as everything being equal.
"We talk about in our program that nothing's equal. The world's not equal. I mean, that—that—that's a pretty life—that's a big life lesson that you need to find out at a very early age. Now, it's fair. It's fair. Maybe some people get more opportunities than other, maybe some guys got other reps than other people, but everybody's got an opportunity.
We just showed our team Tom Brady talking about he got two reps. That was the only opportunity he got, but he did really well with those two opportunities, then went to four reps, then went to eight, and now he's maybe the greatest football player that ever lived. So the fair piece I think's critical, and I think that's part of connecting a locker room."
Gratitude, empathy, and radical transparency also play key roles, as Fleck goes on to explain.
"We always used to say it's gratitude and empathy that connect the locker room, but I also think part of that is now in this NIL world is - is what you're paying players fair? Because kids talk, you know, and any player can walk into my office at any moment and say, 'You know what? Bang! Garrett's making more money than me. Why?' And I'll pull out a list of why that person makes that much money."
"So they can ask me why to anything, from the way we practice to what we pay them. They can always ask why. So everything in our program is fair. I sit down and tell parents in this exact office, 'It's going to be fair. You walk into this program, you're not going to be the highest paid player on this team. I'm not going to overpay for freshmen. I'm not, because they haven't done anything at Minnesota yet.' If I did that, it could ruin my locker room. So the locker room is so, so important. No matter if we're in the NIL world, the portal world, 1968 - it doesn't matter.
The connection in that locker room is really, really key, as we see along, uh, college football with—with some elite programs that might be underperforming and programs that maybe haven't performed in the past that have invested that are performing at a high level. So I think that that "fair" word, it can go a lot of different ways. But within our program, we feel like we have a very fair developmental educational college football program."
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Go Gophers!!
"We talk about in our program that nothing's equal. The world's not equal. I mean, that—that—that's a pretty life—that's a big life lesson that you need to find out at a very early age. Now, it's fair. It's fair. Maybe some people get more opportunities than other, maybe some guys got other reps than other people, but everybody's got an opportunity.
We just showed our team Tom Brady talking about he got two reps. That was the only opportunity he got, but he did really well with those two opportunities, then went to four reps, then went to eight, and now he's maybe the greatest football player that ever lived. So the fair piece I think's critical, and I think that's part of connecting a locker room."
Gratitude, empathy, and radical transparency also play key roles, as Fleck goes on to explain.
"We always used to say it's gratitude and empathy that connect the locker room, but I also think part of that is now in this NIL world is - is what you're paying players fair? Because kids talk, you know, and any player can walk into my office at any moment and say, 'You know what? Bang! Garrett's making more money than me. Why?' And I'll pull out a list of why that person makes that much money."
"So they can ask me why to anything, from the way we practice to what we pay them. They can always ask why. So everything in our program is fair. I sit down and tell parents in this exact office, 'It's going to be fair. You walk into this program, you're not going to be the highest paid player on this team. I'm not going to overpay for freshmen. I'm not, because they haven't done anything at Minnesota yet.' If I did that, it could ruin my locker room. So the locker room is so, so important. No matter if we're in the NIL world, the portal world, 1968 - it doesn't matter.
The connection in that locker room is really, really key, as we see along, uh, college football with—with some elite programs that might be underperforming and programs that maybe haven't performed in the past that have invested that are performing at a high level. So I think that that "fair" word, it can go a lot of different ways. But within our program, we feel like we have a very fair developmental educational college football program."
PJ Fleck lays out how Minnesota connects and manages the locker room dynamic in the NIL era
It's hard to believe that the 2026 season will mark PJ Fleck's 10th season leading the Minnesota program.In that decade at the helm, Fleck has had just two losing seasons (outside of the 3-4 C
www.footballscoop.com
Go Gophers!!
