BleedGopher
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per Randy:
If he builds it, will he stay?
With that house taking shape, the question that often comes up is: Will Fleck stick around to see it finished?
At age 40 and already with a Cotton Bowl appearance with Western Michigan and two bowl victories with the Gophers on his résumé, Fleck has drawn attention of other programs. In 2019, Florida State reportedly expressed interest in him. Last winter, Fleck's name was linked to the Tennessee job, though he wasn't interested.
It's understandable that other programs would inquire. The Gophers haven't won a Big Ten championship since 1967, and their 11-2 mark two years ago certainly turned heads in the college football world.
That doesn't mean Fleck will keep saying no when the phone rings, but his focus is on the Gophers.
"People are going to speculate and talk all you want,'' he said during Big Ten media days in July. "What I love is they're talking about the University of Minnesota. My name is attached to the University of Minnesota.''
To Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle, who hired Fleck in January 2017, the rumors are a compliment.
"I don't take it as a concern," Coyle said, "I take it as an opportunity. And what I mean by that is when you have coaches that have success as he has had … you know people are going to go after him.
"And I think he and I have a wonderful relationship; we talk almost daily, and I can tell you when his name pops up for other jobs, he and I are talking on the phone. Sometimes we laugh about them, sometimes we're like, 'Can you believe they're saying this or saying that?'''
Fleck received a contract extension in November 2019, when the Gophers were 8-0 and just before they defeated Penn State. The seven-year, $33.25 million deal started last season and boosted Fleck's salary to $4.65 million this year.
Had Fleck left in 2020, his buyout to the university would have been $10 million. It drops to $4.5 million this year and $3 million the next two years.
Fleck's extension was the third in as many years at Minnesota, and Coyle wants to keep the coach here long term.
"I could not be happier and more excited with P.J., Heather [Fleck's wife], what they've brought to our program,'' Coyle said. "I go back to when we interviewed him in Chicago for this job, he laid out a very clear and specific plan, and he has hit every benchmark that he talked about.''
Fleck isn't one to gauge where Minnesota is in relation to becoming a "destination program,'' but he's proud of the accomplishments so far.
"Hopefully we've done everything we said we were going to do,'' he said. "… I hope it's very clear that everybody sees that 2019, winning the most games since 1904, winning seven Big Ten games for the first time ever, beating two top-10 teams, being ranked in the top 10 in the country.
"I'm not saying that happens every single year. People got a chance to see what happened here. The longer that culture is sustained, the more chances you give yourself to be in that type of season.''
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
If he builds it, will he stay?
With that house taking shape, the question that often comes up is: Will Fleck stick around to see it finished?
At age 40 and already with a Cotton Bowl appearance with Western Michigan and two bowl victories with the Gophers on his résumé, Fleck has drawn attention of other programs. In 2019, Florida State reportedly expressed interest in him. Last winter, Fleck's name was linked to the Tennessee job, though he wasn't interested.
It's understandable that other programs would inquire. The Gophers haven't won a Big Ten championship since 1967, and their 11-2 mark two years ago certainly turned heads in the college football world.
That doesn't mean Fleck will keep saying no when the phone rings, but his focus is on the Gophers.
"People are going to speculate and talk all you want,'' he said during Big Ten media days in July. "What I love is they're talking about the University of Minnesota. My name is attached to the University of Minnesota.''
To Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle, who hired Fleck in January 2017, the rumors are a compliment.
"I don't take it as a concern," Coyle said, "I take it as an opportunity. And what I mean by that is when you have coaches that have success as he has had … you know people are going to go after him.
"And I think he and I have a wonderful relationship; we talk almost daily, and I can tell you when his name pops up for other jobs, he and I are talking on the phone. Sometimes we laugh about them, sometimes we're like, 'Can you believe they're saying this or saying that?'''
Fleck received a contract extension in November 2019, when the Gophers were 8-0 and just before they defeated Penn State. The seven-year, $33.25 million deal started last season and boosted Fleck's salary to $4.65 million this year.
Had Fleck left in 2020, his buyout to the university would have been $10 million. It drops to $4.5 million this year and $3 million the next two years.
Fleck's extension was the third in as many years at Minnesota, and Coyle wants to keep the coach here long term.
"I could not be happier and more excited with P.J., Heather [Fleck's wife], what they've brought to our program,'' Coyle said. "I go back to when we interviewed him in Chicago for this job, he laid out a very clear and specific plan, and he has hit every benchmark that he talked about.''
Fleck isn't one to gauge where Minnesota is in relation to becoming a "destination program,'' but he's proud of the accomplishments so far.
"Hopefully we've done everything we said we were going to do,'' he said. "… I hope it's very clear that everybody sees that 2019, winning the most games since 1904, winning seven Big Ten games for the first time ever, beating two top-10 teams, being ranked in the top 10 in the country.
"I'm not saying that happens every single year. People got a chance to see what happened here. The longer that culture is sustained, the more chances you give yourself to be in that type of season.''
P.J. Fleck is looking for Gophers to build on their success in Year 5
With the Gophers coming off a 3-4 finish, they hope 2021 is more like 2019, when they went 11-2.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
