PJ Fleck rumored as a candidate at Arkansas in On3 article

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Zero chance IMHO...He'd be a fool to go there.

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Arkansas is like the 12th best program in the SEC. And you if you go 7-5 every year, they'll still fire you in about 4 years.
 






If he is looking to move, I think Arkansas could make sense for him.

The program has a lot of donors and PJ might see that as what he needs to get to the next level. They'll likely be a little unrealistic, but people act like Bielema was canned for going .500, he won under 30% of his SEC games, he was given 5 years and it was trending in the wrong direction.
Luke Fickell has a considerably higher conference winning percentage at WI than Brett Bielema had at Arkansas. It wasn't going well. Meanwhile, Houston Nutt was revered and he was .500.

My point is that the fanbase is not as unrealistic as other fanbases (in comparison to fan bases with similar amounts of $$). He might see it as MN with better funding for assistants and NIL.

Fayetteville is 3 hours from Kansas City and the area isn't really culturally southern (IMO). Fayetteville feels very Midwest.

Do I think he'd be successful there? I doubt it. It's a brutal schedule
 

Gopher Mac said:
He might want to give Brett Bielema a call see want he thinks about the Arkansas job!
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Do you think Illinois would have kept him on if he had an under .300 winning percentage in the Big 10 in his 5th year?
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
If he is looking to move, I think Arkansas could make sense for him.

The program has a lot of donors and PJ might see that as what he needs to get to the next level. They'll likely be a little unrealistic, but people act like Bielema was canned for going .500, he won under 30% of his SEC games, he was given 5 years and it was trending in the wrong direction.
Luke Fickell has a considerably higher conference winning percentage at WI than Brett Bielema had at Arkansas. It wasn't going well. Meanwhile, Houston Nutt was revered and he was .500.

My point is that the fanbase is not as unrealistic as other fanbases (in comparison to fan bases with similar amounts of $$). He might see it as MN with better funding for assistants and NIL.

Fayetteville is 3 hours from Kansas City and the area isn't really culturally southern (IMO). Fayetteville feels very Midwest.

Do I think he'd be successful there? I doubt it. It's a brutal schedule
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Also, it’s been reported in the past that PJ’s kids live in the St. Louis area. Fayetteville isn’t all that far.
 



Going from a top half B1G program with a lot of current stability and a prestigious (albeit long ago) history to a bottom 4ish SEC team with tons of instability and lesser history in a region where he has no personal connections. Ok, sure.

Arkansas is also surrounded by states with bigger/better programs and isn’t a huge recruiting hotbed (Drake notwithstanding!).

Only way he says yes is if Arkansas breaks out the Wal-Mart checks, but I don’t think Arkansas does that for someone like PJ.

In the south, I’m more concerned about the opening at Florida and potential opening at FSU. Those programs may be looking for a less expensive hire who could bring some stability, and they’d be a step up the coaching ladder. Arkansas is a step down.
 


DelawareGopher said:
Going from a top half B1G program with a lot of current stability and a prestigious (albeit long ago) history to a bottom 4ish SEC team with tons of instability and lesser history in a region where he has no personal connections. Ok, sure.

Arkansas is also surrounded by states with bigger/better programs and isn’t a huge recruiting hotbed (Drake notwithstanding!).

Only way he says yes is if Arkansas breaks out the Wal-Mart checks, but I don’t think Arkansas does that for someone like PJ.

In the south, I’m more concerned about the opening at Florida and potential opening at FSU. Those programs may be looking for a less expensive hire who could bring some stability, and they’d be a step up the coaching ladder. Arkansas is a step down.
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Good logic in the last paragraph.
 




TwistingMyMelon said:
They've fired two coaches since Bert left. In the past 8 years they've had 3 winning seasons (9-4, 7-6, 7-6). They've had two 2-win seasons in that time period and they're 2-5 this year. Why would Fleck go there?
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In the 8 years before PJ was hired by the U, we fired two coaches and had 3 winning seasons.

I'm not saying he will go there, but he could see it as a similar situation to MN but with more funding.
 




Bob_Loblaw said:
Do you think Illinois would have kept him on if he had an under .300 winning percentage in the Big 10 in his 5th year?
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No of course not. Maybe I didn’t make myself clear. Ask Brett how easy it is to win at Arkansas? It is not an easy place. 1964 was good and Lou Holtz had a year or two but that was it for the last 60 years.Bottom of SEC pretty consistently.
 
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PJ will go to Arkansas the same way that John Calipari went for men’s basketball. Jerry Jones and John Tyson will pay whatever is needed.
 


Fleck is a great coach and I don’t want him to leave. But there are plenty of people out there who think he is just a lot of hot air. I feel like a lot of fan bases won’t accept him. Fleck is smart enough to know that so I doubt he leaves for any where that isn’t a giant step up. Why leave Minnesota where he safe for only a perceived better program like Arkansas. Also, I doubt Heather would want to live in Arkansas. Unless she really likes Brandon, MO.
 


Jack jones said:
PJ will go to Arkansas the same way that John Calipari went for men’s basketball. Jerry Jones and John Tyson will pay whatever is needed.
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Yup, the questions are: are the Gophers willing to match $11 or $12 million ish per season?
AND If PJ really is their focus... If Arkansas "really" does go after PJ, I'd say their money will get him....along with the challenge of building a winner with the allure of NIL resources and a QB.
 


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