PP: Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck on track for a new contract

BleedGopher

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per Greder:

But given the Gophers’ undefeated first half of this season (6-0 overall, 3-0 Big Ten), more pertinent contract question arise:

How many additional years could Fleck receive? And how much of a raise might be coming his way?

Combining those two factors, will Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle just tear up Fleck’s current contract and award him a brand-new deal?

Plus, how much does Coyle want to be proactive here to fend off potential suiters who see Fleck appears to have a second program in seven years going in a positive direction?

Fleck’s annual salary of $3.55 million in 2018 ranked 34th in the nation, according to USA Today figures from last season. That salary was just 11th in the Big Ten, ahead of Indiana, Maryland and Rutgers. Maryland and Rutgers have since fired those coaches for struggles on the field and off.

https://www.twincities.com/2019/10/16/gophers-football-coach-p-j-fleck-on-track-for-a-new-contract/

Go Gophers!!
 

Heaven knows, you just can't live on $3.55 million a year in the Twin Cities. Do they think this is Fargo?? If a man can't have at least three wake boats on Minnetonka, is he really a man?


Anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm fine with paying him more money, if that's what they think they need to do to keep him here.

The only places he's gonna be interested in going, are the places that are going to be able to pay double what we can offer .... but anyway.
 

per Greder:

But given the Gophers’ undefeated first half of this season (6-0 overall, 3-0 Big Ten), more pertinent contract question arise:

How many additional years could Fleck receive? And how much of a raise might be coming his way?

Combining those two factors, will Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle just tear up Fleck’s current contract and award him a brand-new deal?

Plus, how much does Coyle want to be proactive here to fend off potential suiters who see Fleck appears to have a second program in seven years going in a positive direction?

Fleck’s annual salary of $3.55 million in 2018 ranked 34th in the nation, according to USA Today figures from last season. That salary was just 11th in the Big Ten, ahead of Indiana, Maryland and Rutgers. Maryland and Rutgers have since fired those coaches for struggles on the field and off.

https://www.twincities.com/2019/10/16/gophers-football-coach-p-j-fleck-on-track-for-a-new-contract/

Go Gophers!!

The bolded part says it all, really.

So:

Does Minnesota want to compete in B1G football, or not?

If the answer is yes, then the U has to ante up. That's pretty clear, I should think.
 

Does anyone really think Fleck is gonna leave what he's built here at Minnesota, making $3.55M a year ... because Michigan St offered him $5M a year?


Don't be silly.


AGAIN, yeah fine, pay him more.
 

Does anyone really think Fleck is gonna leave what he's built here at Minnesota, making $3.55M a year ... because Michigan St offered him $5M a year?


Don't be silly.


AGAIN, yeah fine, pay him more.

Okay, let's see... the first statement, about Michigan State — did anybody posit that specific scenario? Or maybe you're using that as a generic example of the type of offer Fleck might get? Hard to tell.

As far as being "silly" is concerned, I agree that Lou Holtz left us Minnesotans forever fearful — to the point of occasional irrationality — that any coach might leave for greener pastures.

HOWEVER... in my life experience, the High Achiever, Type A individuals I've known and/or observed have some common tendencies. One of those traits is a natural aversion to finishing in 11th place in a race that includes only 14 competitors.
 


If he leaves it’s going to be for a Michigan level program and eight figures.

Is that a valid reason not to up him from 11th in the Big Ten to 7th, or something like that? No.
 

I’m fine with paying the man. Then again, my contribution to his paycheck is very limited. It’s easy to pay someone with another person’s money.
 

Chryst makes 4.15M, Ferentz 4.5M.

If Fleck wins the West, that kind of money is just fine.
 

Chryst makes 4.15M, Ferentz 4.5M.

If Fleck wins the West, that kind of money is just fine.

Yeah, the gap from where he is now to one of the highest paid coaches in the west is relatively small. The goal should be to close that gap and make his buyout unattractive to a team thinking of poaching him.
 



HOWEVER... in my life experience, the High Achiever, Type A individuals I've known and/or observed have some common tendencies. One of those traits is a natural aversion to finishing in 11th place in a race that includes only 14 competitors.

That's a tremendous line, and 100% accurate.
 

I'd be ok bumping him and staff combined million a year. Let fleck determine how to distribute it

of course, it's not my money

but winning will bring $$$
 

Chryst makes 4.15M, Ferentz 4.5M.

If Fleck wins the West, that kind of money is just fine.

Yeah, and Chryst just got a $300K bump, so he was not much higher than Fleck coming into 2019. The big part of a redo has got to be the buyout terms for Fleck if he decides to leave.

When Ferentz's contract was redone in 2016, it was widely seen as a outlier on the high end.
 

I’m more concerned about losing what appear to be extremely valuable assistant coaches who are at pay scales for the most part well below 34th nationally for coordinators and position coaches. These are the guys who do all the teaching, identify all the hidden gem recruits and spend all of the individual man-man time with the players molding them into PJs ideal of being better future husbands/fathers etc. I would love to see PJ turn down some of a potential pay raise for the benefit of these coaches a la Tony Bennett.


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I’m more concerned about losing what appear to be extremely valuable assistant coaches who are at pay scales for the most part well below 34th nationally for coordinators and position coaches. These are the guys who do all the teaching, identify all the hidden gem recruits and spend all of the individual man-man time with the players molding them into PJs ideal of being better future husbands/fathers etc. I would love to see PJ turn down some of a potential pay raise for the benefit of these coaches a la Tony Bennett.


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Ciarrocca's salary tripled coming to MN. Coord./Assistent pay comparable to other B1G schools not named Mich, OSU or PSU.
 

An extension is coming sooner than you think. Watch this space.
 

Like CEOs in business, competition drives up the salary. The average family income in the U.S. is about $60k, but MN will have to pay the freight if it wants to keep PJ. I'm hoping he stays 10-15 years. Even at 50 or so, he'd still be young enough to go pro or take another job. Bierman coached 16 years here, Warmath 18, Mason 10.
 

Heaven knows, you just can't live on $3.55 million a year in the Twin Cities. Do they think this is Fargo?? If a man can't have at least three wake boats on Minnetonka, is he really a man?


Anyway, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm fine with paying him more money, if that's what they think they need to do to keep him here.

The only places he's gonna be interested in going, are the places that are going to be able to pay double what we can offer .... but anyway.

I don't think that Fleck will chase the money, but he could be more willing to listen to offers if he feels he isn't being paid fairly. 11th in the B1G is too low.
 

Ciarrocca's salary tripled coming to MN. Coord./Assistent pay comparable to other B1G schools not named Mich, OSU or PSU.

Someone can correct me, but is isn’t the assistant pay tied to the entire HC compensation package? I thought PJ gets a pool of money and gets to decide how it’s spent...
 

I hope we keep investing in asst coaches and recruiting tools like fast prop planes and prepaid fill ups on rentals.
 

Ciarrocca's salary tripled coming to MN. Coord./Assistent pay comparable to other B1G schools not named Mich, OSU or PSU.

Wrong. Kirk’s salary is certainly comparable to the other B10 schools but the rest of the staff isn’t even close to the median remuneration. Last years assistant coaching staff salaries as a whole ranked 10th of the 12 reporting schools (PSU and NW don’t observe FOIA requests). This years staff reimbursement is down ~275K, mainly due to Rossi being much less expensive than Smith. The staff as a whole would rank LAST using last years numbers, and would be 715K below the median for team salaries- an average of 71.5K per coach.


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Someone can correct me, but is isn’t the assistant pay tied to the entire HC compensation package? I thought PJ gets a pool of money and gets to decide how it’s spent...

I believe that’s correct- he negotiates the amount of the pool- I’m concerned the pool is too shallow.


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I don't think that Fleck will chase the money, but he could be more willing to listen to offers if he feels he isn't being paid fairly. 11th in the B1G is too low.

I dont think salary dictates his moves because he took a pay cut to come here.
 

Wrong. Kirk’s salary is certainly comparable to the other B10 schools but the rest of the staff isn’t even close to the median remuneration. Last years assistant coaching staff salaries as a whole ranked 10th of the 12 reporting schools (PSU and NW don’t observe FOIA requests). This years staff reimbursement is down ~275K, mainly due to Rossi being much less expensive than Smith. The staff as a whole would rank LAST using last years numbers, and would be 715K below the median for team salaries- an average of 71.5K per coach.


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Link?
 

It’s actually a very good database of over 1050 coaches salaries that you can interrogate by school, coach, etc. if you click on the Asst Pay Total column at the top it will group the coaches by school allowing you to pick out all the Big10 schools.

sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/football/assistant


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Revisiting Fleck’s quotes from Greder’s article:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tw...ifies-major-pay-cut-at-minnesota-comment/amp/

If “other people” include his staff, seems he’d be interested in be able to pay his staff more from the last line of his quote below:

Fleck, who grew up near Chicago, was coaching in the Mid-American Conference and said the biggest stage of the Big Ten was his career goal. “This one is my dream and where I want to be,” he said.

“When you are talking about that much, significant amount of money, what does it really matter at the end of the day?” Fleck asked. “We are very blessed and humbled to have that and very, very grateful. We know our responsibility with that. The more you make, the more you can serve and give and provide other people with things.”
 


If the Gophers finish out this season at or above current expectations (9-3 regular season or better), I expect Fleck to receive at least one serious offer from a school most neutral observers would consider a better job. At that point, I expect the Gophers to re-up with him and his staff at Brohm/Ferentz money and him to remain at the U for at least a few more seasons. He won't be here until he retires, but I think we've got a few more years (mostly good, but occasionally bad) of rowing the boat. Left here forever, I think he's the new Kirk Ferentz in terms of results. You can make the call if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
 

If the Gophers finish out this season at or above current expectations (9-3 regular season or better), I expect Fleck to receive at least one serious offer from a school most neutral observers would consider a better job. At that point, I expect the Gophers to re-up with him and his staff at Brohm/Ferentz money and him to remain at the U for at least a few more seasons. He won't be here until he retires, but I think we've got a few more years (mostly good, but occasionally bad) of rowing the boat. Left here forever, I think he's the new Kirk Ferentz in terms of results. You can make the call if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Wow. A lot to unpack here.

Let's start with the bolded part: which school(s) would you consider "better jobs"? Which of those do you think might pursue Fleck?
 

He won't leave unless it's a Michigan/Notre Dame/Ohio St level program, and those aren't going to come calling just because he had one great season.

But he will use offers from other schools as leverage in negotiating his extension and raise, and that's just fine. Everyone does that.
 

I think the early rumored programs are:

Florida St
Tennessee
USC
 




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