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Like most Gophers fans, I am still reeling from the unexpected blown 21-point 4th QTR lead Saturday night vs. Northwestern. My Twitter feed is currently filled with a collection of takes on whether or not P.J. Fleck should be fired (Swift/Kelce and innocent Kevin James). I first would like to preface anything I am going to say with the fact that P.J. Fleck is one of the greatest coaches in Gophers football history and he’s earned the right to lead the program for the foreseeable future.
With that being said, he has now shown twice (Bowling Green and Northwestern) that he can realistically be out-coached by anyone on any given day. Interim head coach David Braun had coached three games of FBS football at any position before Saturday night, therefore there is no reason why Fleck should be getting out-adjusted by someone with his experience. When the Gophers lost to Bowling Green, head coach Scot Loeffler had a 4-16 career record. Those losses should not happen with a head coach who has 11 years of head coaching experience, most of which he’s had winning seasons. A performance like Saturday is inexcusable.
Saturday’s loss was the level of defeat that every fan, P.J. sympathizer or not should take a step back and look at the bigger picture. I could tell you a bunch of numbers why Fleck is one of the best head coaches in program history, but most Gophers fans don’t need to hear that. That fact paired with the Big Ten adding UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington next year should be the main reason why Fleck’s seat is safe. With so much change in the sports of college football taking place, programs like Minnesota need stability and Fleck has proven to provide that.
We are amidst year seven of the P.J. Fleck and some of the same issues still persist from year one, so the question arises, ‘Is P.J. Fleck a good head coach?’
The quick answer is yes. P.J. Fleck is a good head coach. I believe that college football head coaches should be judged in three categories.
- GM/Roster Management
I believe that Fleck continues to be ELITE in this category. Between Corey Davis at Western Michigan, Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman with the Gophers, or Mohamed Ibrahim and now Darius Taylor. This list could go on and on, but more recently his staff’s ability to find players like Jack Gibbens, Kyler Baugh, Jack Henderson and Tre’Von Jones from the FCS levels within the transfer portal has shown me that he has put his program in a position to be very good at scouting and talent developing. In today’s day and age, this is more important than ever. This is the main reason why I am still bullish on the Gophers’ future with Fleck at the helm.
- In-game Coaching/Coordinator Choices
By this point, it is pretty clear that in-game coaching is not P.J. Fleck’s strength. But you can be a successful college football coach and not be a great in-game coach. At the highest level coaches like Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney or Kirby Smart have relied on the coordinators to make serious in-game decisions and it has paid off for them. Hiring Joe Rossi as his defensive coordinator was one of Fleck’s best moves as Gophers’ head coach, but he has continued to struggle with consistency at the offensive coordinator position. Overall hiring the right coordinators can be a MAJOR factor in your success as a college head coach, especially when you struggle with some in-game decisions like Fleck has.
- Leadership/Off-Field Guidance
This is Fleck’s bread and butter. We all know that P.J. Fleck is a supreme motivator who has done a great job marketing his program and raising young adults into men. It hasn’t been the cleanest journey, but I am pretty confident that we will not be hearing about a damaging scandal from Fleck like a few other of his Big Ten counterparts in the foreseeable future. While it’s pretty clear that the program is not for every type of player, P.J. Fleck has the Gophers relevant on a National Level and there are high school players out there that want to play for a coach like Fleck, which has not always been the case for Gophers’ head coaches in recent memory.
P.J. Fleck has the Gophers football program in the most stable position it’s been in quite a while. Losses to programs like Northwestern come as a great shock. For those two reasons and the fact that there is no clear home-run replacement tells me that P.J. Fleck has continued to earn the right to be the Gophers head coach for many more years. He just needs to be better, it’s really not much more than that.