P.J. Fleck, entering his eighth season as Gophers football coach, voiced appreciation for Minnesota’s continuity at a time with so much changing in college sports.

By Randy Johnson

The Minnesota Star Tribune

July 25, 2024 at 8:23PM

Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck speaks at Big Ten media days in Indianapolis on Thursday. (Darron Cummings)

INDIANAPOLIS – The Big Ten divvied up its 18 teams over three days for its football media days this week at Lucas Oil Stadium. Thursday was the finale of the event, with the Gophers joining Indiana, Maryland, Michigan and conference newcomers Oregon and Washington for their turn in the spotlight.

When Gophers coach P.J. Fleck took the stage for his news conference Thursday morning, there was not a Big Ten coach in attendance with more seniority, as he enters his eighth season in Dinkytown. In fact, Fleck trails only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (starting his 26th season) and Penn State’s James Franklin (beginning his 11th) in tenure among Big Ten coaches.

“I’m excited to be back here, and I never take that for granted as a head football coach and how fluid our profession is,” Fleck said.

The Big Ten gathering is the unofficial kickoff to the new season, and it comes less than a week before the Gophers begin training camp on Monday. Fleck’s message: he’s thankful for another opportunity.

An example of that coaching fluidity saw Fleck’s 2023 team go 5-7 in the regular season and win the Quick Lane Bowl only after it advanced on the strength of its Academic Progress Rate. An ineffective passing game and a defense devastated by injuries were a couple of reasons for the drop-off from back-to-back nine-win campaigns and an 11-2 top-10 finish in 2019, but Fleck also said his coaching wasn’t good enough last year.

Still, Fleck received heavy interest from UCLA for the head-coaching job that eventually went to former Bruins standout running back DeShaun Foster. In March, Fleck and Minnesota signed an amended contract heavy on retention bonuses for the coach. Should he stay with the Gophers through the 2029 season, when the contract ends, he would receive an additional $5.7 million. Fleck makes $6 million per year under the deal.

“In 2024, it’s OK to love where you’re at,” Fleck said, adding he and his family are moving into a new home that should be completed in a couple of weeks. “It’s OK to love Minnesota. It’s OK to love the position that you’re in.”

Fleck knows the flip side is the harsh reality that comes with the profession.

“I will not win enough games at some point,” he said. “Every head coach won’t win enough games at some point.”

That point wasn’t 2023, when a sub-.500 showing left many fans grumbling and unimpressed by a win over Bowling Green in the Quick Lane Bowl. In Fleck’s favor is that he and his boss, athletic director Mark Coyle, are now the longest-tenured football coach/AD combo in the Big Ten.

“He allows me to be me,” Fleck said. “… I know where I’m at and who I work for. There’s a ton of worth in that.”

Fleck’s other message in his news conference focused on this year’s team, which has impressed him with its passion for the game amid all the changes brought about by the transfer portal and name, image and likeness opportunities.

“The 2024 football team, the reason I love them so much is they love ball,” he said. “This team loves football. With all the transactional pieces, do you still love football? This team truly does.”

How that passion translates on the scoreboard and in the standings will play out beginning with the Aug. 29 season opener against North Carolina.

“The narrative around our place right now is, ‘What are you gonna do after the disappointing year?’” Fleck said. “We just won a bowl game. There are people here just trying to get to a bowl game [for the first time] in decades, and we won our fifth in a row.

“It’s disappointing, but that’s what we said at the beginning,” Fleck added. “When [winning a bowl] becomes disappointing, we’re doing our job even better, because there’s going to be ebbs and flows.”