Outgoing University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler defended the decision to give football coach P.J. Fleck another contract extension this week by pointing at the national college landscape.
"This is becoming a pretty common way of doing business, at least in the Power Five conferences," Kaler said Thursday during a Board of Regents committee meeting.
On Friday, the regents formally approved Fleck's one-year, $3.8 million extension, which lengthens his contract through the 2023 season.
His original five-year, $18 million deal has been extended twice, the first time in November 2017. After the Gophers went 5-7 last year, Fleck this fall led the team to its first win over Wisconsin since 2003, capping a 6-6 regular season and earning a berth in the Quick Lane Bowl. He will make $3.6 million next season, which reflects an annual increase of $50,000, part of the original contract.
This extension gives him five full years of job security, again.
"The alternative is to either do nothing, which in this sports age actually sends a negative message — or to start over with a radically different contract," Kaler said.
Kaler noted that this contract will make Fleck the 11th highest-paid football coach out of 14 in the Big Ten.
"So, below average," Kaler added. "And if he produces the kind of competitive results we expect to see, I would imagine my successor and this board would have to revisit that in a way that resets his base [salary]."
