NFL team wants to interview Fleck for head coaching job

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Doogie (yeah, I know) was on with Judd and said he thinks this is being driven by Bryan Harlan, Fleck's agent. Harlan has a lot of NFL connections - his dad used to run the Packers.

Doogie also said that he does not think Fleck would take a job that took him too far away from his kids, so if he was going to consider another job - either pro or college, it would likely have to be in the Midwest.

take that for whatever you think it's worth.
 


I really like P.J. Fleck as the coach of my favorite football team, the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

That being said, I think P.J. Fleck is a smart football guy, and probably could and would make the necessary adjustments in his approach to become an effective head coach in the NFL, if that's what he's interested in becoming. "Row The Boat" would take a backseat, if necessary.

A good football coach will always be in demand.

Gopher fans, we have ourselves a good football coach here at Minnesota. We had better get used to this "rumors" stuff.
 

gophernut1 said:
Fleck being looked at by NFL is a solid thing for MN program. Fleck can use this a thousand different ways in recruiting.

Fleck leaving would be a disaster for MN. We need at least 3 to 5 years of winning to build enough momentum to withstand a coaching change (brings un better recruits, which gives us a better fir a good coach.)
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I think we’d need 15 years of Fleck to withstand a coaching change. Nebraska fired Pelini who won 9 or 10 games every year and they sucked after he was gone. And Nebraska has way more tradition and resources to withstand a change then we do.
 



When I first saw this report this morning, I was pissed that Fleck's agent was doing this garbage after such a terrible year. Fleck just got a raise, you want to hold the University up (and worry Gopher fans)? How about filling that trophy case or putting a B1G West banner up somewhere?

The more I thought about it, I was no longer convinced this was coming from Fleck's agent. The idea that an NFL team would be interested in Fleck after the year he had and his reputation in coaching circles (more of a motivator/manager than X's and O's guy) is so unbelievable that it couldn't be used for leverage. That leads me to believe that its possible that one NFL franchise is actually this dumb (and I say that as someone who thinks highly of Fleck). I know you couldn't bring Ferentz in to an NFL locker room right now, but I'd put Fitzgerald/Chryst/Ferentz ahead of PJ just in B1G West coaches as potential NFL fits right now. There's even an argument for Brohm as offensive minds are currently coveted right now above Coach Fleck as well.

I hope PJ's here for a long time, but few things can cut down your momentum in a job more than your name constantly being out there for other jobs. If it happens after a good year, it just is used against you in recruiting. If it happens after a bad year, it's used against you in recruiting and your own fan base starts to get annoyed.
 

EG#9 said:
When I first saw this report this morning, I was pissed that Fleck's agent was doing this garbage after such a terrible year. Fleck just got a raise, you want to hold the University up (and worry Gopher fans)? How about filling that trophy case or putting a B1G West banner up somewhere?

The more I thought about it, I was no longer convinced this was coming from Fleck's agent. The idea that an NFL team would be interested in Fleck after the year he had and his reputation in coaching circles (more of a motivator/manager than X's and O's guy) is so unbelievable that it couldn't be used for leverage. That leads me to believe that its possible that one NFL franchise is actually this dumb (and I say that as someone who thinks highly of Fleck). I know you couldn't bring Ferentz in to an NFL locker room right now, but I'd put Fitzgerald/Chryst/Ferentz ahead of PJ just in B1G West coaches as potential NFL fits right now. There's even an argument for Brohm as offensive minds are currently coveted right now above Coach Fleck as well.

I hope PJ's here for a long time, but few things can cut down your momentum in a job more than your name constantly being out there for other jobs. If it happens after a good year, it just is used against you in recruiting. If it happens after a bad year, it's used against you in recruiting and your own fan base starts to get annoyed.
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I Hope PJ is the new Joe Paterno in terms of being here for awhile!
 

Flecknation said:
I Hope PJ is the new Joe Paterno in terms of being here for awhile!
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Would prefer to go with Alvarez or Fry as opposed to Paterno for obvious reasons. But the point is the same, think we all hope he is here for the long haul. Time will tell.
 

Being interviewed by one or two teams can be miles from being hired.
 



My personal opinion is that PJ Fleck has outstanding generic leadership qualities in regards to bringing out the best in those under him - both in terms of character and performance. I wouldn’t be surprised at any organisation of any type being interested in hiring him. Although they were not ‘his recruits’ I think NFL organisations will see the outstanding type of character and ethic that kids from Minnesota (such as Winfield and Coughlin) bring to a dressing room and that will naturally intrigue them towards their former mentor.

I genuinely also feel that PJs main motivation is ‘making a difference’ and I hope he stays with the Gophers for 20 years. However, if he gets to a point where he feels he can make more of a difference elsewhere I wouldn’t blame him for leaving.

I feel some of the sports journalists in Minnesota make it their business to undertake character assassinations and lose their professional balance as a result. Unfortunately, they have much more sway with fan bases than they should and undermine efforts to improve outcomes by driving a perpetual negative cycle of ‘the world is falling in’. I recognise this happens to an extent in every location but in Minnesota (outsider view) it appears to me to be rancid and at the level of deliberate sabotage. I’m certainly not referring to the likes of Sid who, from what I can gather, had legendary integrity but others appear to delight in taking personal swipes at any Gopher coach and have questionable boundaries in how far they will go.

If we do lose Fleck I think we will struggle to hire anyone better but I am sure any success he has elsewhere will still provide us with some tangible benefits in terms of reputation.
 
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I’d say this is noise. How much more does the NFL pay an incoming rookie coach than he already makes at Minnesota? He can likely lose and coach here for several more years. He knows it’s not like that in the NFL. More security, less pressure here.

Is anybody looking for a job during a pandemic if they already have a nice current situation?
 

EG#9 said:
I hope PJ's here for a long time, but few things can cut down your momentum in a job more than your name constantly being out there for other jobs. If it happens after a good year, it just is used against you in recruiting. If it happens after a bad year, it's used against you in recruiting and your own fan base starts to get annoyed.
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Glen Mason is the poster boy for that around here.
 

EG#9 said:
When I first saw this report this morning, I was pissed that Fleck's agent was doing this garbage after such a terrible year. Fleck just got a raise, you want to hold the University up (and worry Gopher fans)? How about filling that trophy case or putting a B1G West banner up somewhere?

The more I thought about it, I was no longer convinced this was coming from Fleck's agent. The idea that an NFL team would be interested in Fleck after the year he had and his reputation in coaching circles (more of a motivator/manager than X's and O's guy) is so unbelievable that it couldn't be used for leverage. That leads me to believe that its possible that one NFL franchise is actually this dumb (and I say that as someone who thinks highly of Fleck). I know you couldn't bring Ferentz in to an NFL locker room right now, but I'd put Fitzgerald/Chryst/Ferentz ahead of PJ just in B1G West coaches as potential NFL fits right now. There's even an argument for Brohm as offensive minds are currently coveted right now above Coach Fleck as well.

I hope PJ's here for a long time, but few things can cut down your momentum in a job more than your name constantly being out there for other jobs. If it happens after a good year, it just is used against you in recruiting. If it happens after a bad year, it's used against you in recruiting and your own fan base starts to get annoyed.
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I see where you're going, and let me do you one better in that direction: the one team just wants to interview him for the sake of putting it out that he's getting an interview. They have no plans to hire him.

The motivations for such a move could be to the benefit of both, on paper, and the public never needs to be the wiser.

Wild guess, of course.
 



Johnob2 said:
My personal opinion is that PJ Fleck has outstanding generic leadership qualities in regards to bringing out the best in those under him - both in terms of character and performance. I wouldn’t be surprised at any organisation of any type being interested in hiring him. Although they were not ‘his recruits’ I think NFL organisations will see the outstanding type of character and ethic that kids from Minnesota (such as Winfield and Coughlin) bring to a dressing room and that will naturally intrigue them towards their former mentor.

I genuinely also feel that PJs main motivation is ‘making a difference’ and I hope he stays with the Gophers for 20 years. However, if he gets to a point where he feels he can make more of a difference elsewhere I wouldn’t blame him for leaving.

I feel some of the sports journalists in Minnesota make it their business to undertake character assassinations and lose their professional balance as a result. Unfortunately, they have much more sway with fan bases than they should and undermine efforts to improve outcomes by driving a perpetual negative cycle of ‘the world is falling in’. I recognise this happens to an extent in every location but in Minnesota (outsider view) it appears to me to be rancid and at the level of deliberate sabotage. I’m certainly not referring to the likes of Sid who, from what I can gather, had legendary integrity but others appear to delight in taking personal swipes at any Gopher coach and have questionable boundaries in how far they will go.

If we do lose Fleck I think we will struggle to hire anyone better but I am sure any success he has elsewhere will still provide us with some tangible benefits in terms of reputation.
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My guess is: over the years they've seen Minnesota teams hire one grifter after another, and now look for that in any new hire to try to expose it as early as possible.

At the end of the day, they can only sell papers (or get clicks on their digital articles) if they say things that their readers buy. Doesn't have to be saying what they want to hear, but it has to be buyable. In other words, if a large chunk of the reader base wasn't buying it, they wouldn't be able to keep putting it out.
 


If a challenge is what you want, Detroit is where you want to be. Never been to the Super Bowl and last title was in 1957. They make the Gophers and the Vikings look like dynasties.
 

Jacksonville Jaguars, not the Lions, is my guess. Jacksonville has tons of cap room to spend, will be getting Trevor Lawrence and will be a new, young team. This is where the interview will be.

It is going to be hard for him to turn this down, if in fact, he is offered a job. I would guess that he doesn't get offered one yet, but that at some point, he will if he keeps moving in the right direction.

This program will sink into the ground if PJ does not stay. Pay the man what is needed, he has changed the entire culture at not just the football team, but the whole university as it applies to sports.
 

Go Gophs said:
Jacksonville Jaguars, not the Lions, is my guess. Jacksonville has tons of cap room to spend, will be getting Trevor Lawrence and will be a new, young team. This is where the interview will be.

It is going to be hard for him to turn this down, if in fact, he is offered a job. I would guess that he doesn't get offered one yet, but that at some point, he will if he keeps moving in the right direction.

This program will sink into the ground if PJ does not stay. Pay the man what is needed, he has changed the entire culture at not just the football team, but the whole university as it applies to sports.
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I disagree with all three guesses in this post, strongly with the last two, and vehemently with the last.
 

MplsGopher said:
I disagree with all three guesses in this post, strongly with the last two, and vehemently with the last.
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OK

You are entitled to your own opinion.

Hey, my hope is he stays around for a long time and builds this place into a power. I think it is unrealistic though to believe that any old coach can come in here and win big. Hasn't happened ever.
 

Go Gophs said:
OK

You are entitled to your own opinion.

Hey, my hope is he stays around for a long time and builds this place into a power. I think it is unrealistic though to believe that any old coach can come in here and win big. Hasn't happened ever.
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The program will not sink into the ground when (not if) he leaves. Silly

It will continue to maintain the on average upward trajectory it has been on since Kill was hired.
 

MplsGopher said:
My guess is: over the years they've seen Minnesota teams hire one grifter after another, and now look for that in any new hire to try to expose it as early as possible.

At the end of the day, they can only sell papers (or get clicks on their digital articles) if they say things that their readers buy. Doesn't have to be saying what they want to hear, but it has to be buyable. In other words, if a large chunk of the reader base wasn't buying it, they wouldn't be able to keep putting it out.
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Huh?
 


if/when Fleck leaves - assuming he continues to have a reasonable amount of success at MN - he will have made MN a more attractive spot for prospective candidates.

Coaches by nature are ambitious and have egos. Some other guy looks at MN, says "Fleck was able to win there, and I'm a better coach than Fleck, so I should be able to win big there."

I do not accept the notion that Fleck is the only coach who can win at MN. There are all kinds of coaches with all kinds of approaches. a different coach with a different approach might just come to MN and be very successful.

Coaches come and go. AD's come and go. players come and go. the program continues.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
if/when Fleck leaves - assuming he continues to have a reasonable amount of success at MN - he will have made MN a more attractive spot for prospective candidates.

Coaches by nature are ambitious and have egos. Some other guy looks at MN, says "Fleck was able to win there, and I'm a better coach than Fleck, so I should be able to win big there."

I do not accept the notion that Fleck is the only coach who can win at MN. There are all kinds of coaches with all kinds of approaches. a different coach with a different approach might just come to MN and be very successful.

Coaches come and go. AD's come and go. players come and go. the program continues.
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Well said. I think we are in a better position now for 7 or 8 years to get a potentially great coach.
 

I had a “Brew’s Crew” t-shirt once and I have a ton of maroon AND gold “Row The Boat” clothes now.....I just can’t win 🤦🏻‍♂️

Hope PJ don’t get enticed to go somewhere but I know in this world “money talks, BS walks”

We all want to level up and grow...PJ is young so I know he wants more and wants to do more.
 

EG#9 said:
When I first saw this report this morning, I was pissed that Fleck's agent was doing this garbage after such a terrible year. Fleck just got a raise, you want to hold the University up (and worry Gopher fans)? How about filling that trophy case or putting a B1G West banner up somewhere?

The more I thought about it, I was no longer convinced this was coming from Fleck's agent. The idea that an NFL team would be interested in Fleck after the year he had and his reputation in coaching circles (more of a motivator/manager than X's and O's guy) is so unbelievable that it couldn't be used for leverage. That leads me to believe that its possible that one NFL franchise is actually this dumb (and I say that as someone who thinks highly of Fleck). I know you couldn't bring Ferentz in to an NFL locker room right now, but I'd put Fitzgerald/Chryst/Ferentz ahead of PJ just in B1G West coaches as potential NFL fits right now. There's even an argument for Brohm as offensive minds are currently coveted right now above Coach Fleck as well.

I hope PJ's here for a long time, but few things can cut down your momentum in a job more than your name constantly being out there for other jobs. If it happens after a good year, it just is used against you in recruiting. If it happens after a bad year, it's used against you in recruiting and your own fan base starts to get annoyed.
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Sounds like you should be an NFL GM since you know better than the team purportedly interviewing Fleck that he's a worse candidate than possibly 4 coaches in his own division.
 


MplsGopher said:
The program will not sink into the ground when (not if) he leaves. Silly

It will continue to maintain the on average upward trajectory it has been on since Kill was hired.
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Same thing was said during the Mason years- that worked out well
 

Minnesota has been a dead end and head coaching career ender for every single head coach since Lou Holtz, but the Lions job is even more of a tombstone.
 


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