Keeping PJ Fleck at Minnesota

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Dan Barreiro was trying to stir the pot as usual on KFAN today, but he raised an interesting question.

With the success that PJ Fleck has shown, at what point do you try to lock him down for a long term deal?

Do you let the season play out and risk some of the big teams potentially making a run for him at the end of the season? If the team keeps winning, this is likely. You can tell he is getting to be a hot commodity and is starting to draw national attention as a pretty good young coach with remarkable results. You can see other teams fans with problems are starting to mention throwing whatever money it takes to get him, and USC was mentioned as a good fit for him. Do you sign him to a 10 year deal to close him up or would that be panicing?

I say you lock him up and keep him as long as possible and the price tag right now would be a whole lot cheaper than if he runs the team to 10-2 and the Gophers are playing on New Year's Day somewhere. I know most Gopher fans like me just want to sit back and enjoy the fun season we are having but it is just about guaranteed by the end of the season we will need to deal with this, especially if they continue to win.

Long term Gopher fans remember the day Lou Holtz left for Notre Dame. This was a crushing experience to us as we were finally enjoying some success and were extremely hopeful for a bright future. We all know how that one played out - Lou went on and won a national championship with the Fighting Irish and we hired Gutey (instead of Bobby Ross who would ALSO go on to win a national championship!) and head to mediocrity then futility under the next hire Wacker. If we have to watch this play out again, it will be an epic disaster.

PJ Fleck is probably the first coach we have had since Lou Holtz (and that was 35 years ago!) that I felt gave us a chance for a bright future. The Mason and Kill years really weren't too bad and they were both good coaches, but I never thought either would be able to go in and land a 5 star recruit over an Alabama or Clemson. I think Fleck could, especially if he continues to elevate this team.

This team has FINALLY found a guy we can rally around and call our own. Some might say we probably don't have enough of a sample size to warrant a huge raise on a long term deal but I think you need to do whatever it takes to keep him happy and keep him at Minnesota. Or he will be gone, maybe even at the end of the year and we are starting all over again. Just get it done.
 

Didn’t we just have this exact same thread?


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I don't know -- I didn't see it and I apologize to you and all the other good Gopher fans if someone else wrote about it, too.
 


Bailing on his players so soon would go against everything he stands for.
 
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Bailing on his players so soon would go against everything he stands for.

I'm not saying he was right or wrong for doing and I'm also not saying he will do it again but many players at WMU were pretty pissed when he left and felt him bailing on them against what he preached.
 



I'm not saying he was right or wrong for doing and I'm also not saying he will do it again but many players at WMU were pretty pissed when he left and felt him bailing on them against what he preached.

If he did it at WMU, he certainly could do it here, too. I guess I don't begrudge a person for excelling at their field and moving on to a more lucrative and prestigious position, but it's tough when it's your football coach. I know some people would like to wait and see if he accomplishes something big before giving him the big bucks but one of the points I was getting at is we may not have that luxury. We may be forced into offering him a big raise much the same that Purdue did when they thought Brohm might be headed to Louisville. Only in Fleck's case - we may not be talking Louisville, we would be talking a USC, Florida, or Texas school with big pockets. I think if we wait too long it could be too late.
 




I would be happy with locking him down to a longer term deal and bumping up that buyout

If Minnesota truly wants to be like Iowa or Wisconsin when it comes to sustained success in college football they need to be willing to pay for sustainability at the top of the program.
 





I would be happy with locking him down to a longer term deal and bumping up that buyout

If Minnesota truly wants to be like Iowa or Wisconsin when it comes to sustained success in college football they need to be willing to pay for sustainability at the top of the program.

Agreed! I definitely think they need to get this done sooner rather than later and I like your idea of bumping up that buyout, too. Ideally, it would be nice to negotiate this at the end of the contract but that's not the way it works these days.
 

It’s a lot of work to pull up roots and go start fresh somewhere else. Plus, he owns two expensive homes, which I assume are fully furnished with expensive things. I’d definitely try to lock him up right now, but I don’t think he’ll be in a hurry to leave town. Plus, he clearly thinks he can win here. I think he can too.


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Isn't Sid already making sure that PJ and Heather are getting a nice steak every Sunday?
 

Fleck took Western Michigan as far as he possibly could.
He may leave when he has done the same at Minnesota.
 

What are the U of M's choices?

Unless I'm missing something, the choices are as follows...

CHOICE ONE: Negotiate a long-term deal, and ensure that he stays here.

CHOICE TWO: Ummmm.. I don't really know; what is Choice Two? Wait and see how it plays out? That approach sounds kind of passive. Then again, Minnesota is the Land of Passive Aggression, so...

Personally, I've always thought that the U should be looking for their version of Barry Alvarez: someone who'll bring the football program to new heights, and then, upon retiring from coaching, become AD and continue the long-term success.

I don't know if Fleck is that guy or not.
 
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Fleck took Western Michigan as far as he possibly could.
He may leave when he has done the same at Minnesota.

Me thinks that the potential upside at a P5 school is a bit higher that that of a MAC school.
 

It's still early, but I feel like others that he is the coach we've been waiting for since Lou Holtz. I agree to lock him down. But I've been wrong more times than I can count.
Another aspect about leaving is leave for where? There a lot of schools that he wouldn't fit. FSU, USC, and other high level programs. They don't want someone to come in and completely rebuild from the ground up. They already have top notch recruiting classes and facilities, just need some scheme changes and new blood. And a lot of their recruits have been treated like gods since middle school and maybe they don't want to treated like normal young man that needs to learn life.
Minnesota was a glorified high school team with the free weights in someone's garage. Then Kill/Fleck worked hard to improve the facilities and get this new athlete's village. The next step is Fleck is taking the Gophers from an afterthought to one of the main topics of conversation in local sports and gaining in national interest.
This is something he can put his stamp on and claim his own just like Barry (although Kill did a lot too).
 
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Who cares? Spoofin for #1 reason to go buy a Gopher Illustrated Account.

Everyone should be lucky enough to be #1 at something. Thanks Como.


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What exactly has Fleck done as far as the actual play on the field goes that he deserves an extension?

Things seem to be trending in the right direction but locking him up with a huge contract extension seems a bit premature.



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What exactly has Fleck done as far as the actual play on the field goes that he deserves an extension?

Things seem to be trending in the right direction but locking him up with a huge contract extension seems a bit premature.



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You serious Clark?
 

My completely uninformed take is that the beauty of his schlock is that the helmet schools wouldn’t want it. Maybe this is naïveté but I don’t see him leaving us unless he gets fired.
 

How much of a risk is there of him leaving for somewhere else? More importantly, would a long-term contract really help keep him? If he leaves I'm guessing it will be because he feels he doesn't have room to bring the program up any more. At Western Michigan that bar was lower. At Minnesota, it seems like there's not much that I could see capping his success. If he ends up leaving I think it will be for recruiting reasons or because he doesn't feel he's getting enough support. I don't see how more money or a longer contract would help with either of those.
 

You serious Clark?

Yes - last I checked the Gophers haven’t won the B1G West, the B1G Championship game or played in the Rose Bowl with Fleck as the head coach.


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Extending Fleck has to be Coyle's number 1 job right now through Thanksgiving.
He's extended him the last two years, so this is nothing unusual.
Only difference will be the price.

If Fleck finishes 6-6, it will be an extension at $3 mill a year
If he finishes 7-5, $3.5 mill
8 wins= $3.75 mill
9 wins = $4.0 mill
10 wins = 4.25 mill
11 wins = 4.5 mill
Anything greater than that $5-8 mill a year.
 

Yes - last I checked the Gophers haven’t won the B1G West, the B1G Championship game or played in the Rose Bowl with Fleck as the head coach.


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You have to pay for the Championship before you get the Championship.
 




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