We all love being ELITE but I think it is time to reevaluate the man who wears the headset at Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturdays. There is no question that at the time of Fleck’s hiring in 2017 he was the guy for the job, he was coming off a 13-1 record and a hard fought Cotton Bowl loss to Wisconsin at small MAC school Western Michigan. 

Fleck was praised for his ability to bring bigger recruits into a smaller school like Western Michigan and Minnesota hoped that he would be able to bring that recruiting magic to Minneapolis but sadly that has not been the case, since Fleck took over the job in 2017 he has never finished higher than 7th in the Big Ten in recruiting. Now being at Minnesota, big recruits are never the norm but the issue is that it keeps getting worse. In 2019 and 2020 the Gophers finished 9th and 10th in the Big Ten respectively. 

Not getting big recruits is not the end of the world, Wisconsin is actively at the bottom of the Big Ten in recruiting but near the top of the rankings every year. It comes down to your ability to develop and get players ready to play in the Big Ten and that is not Fleck’s strong suit. Fleck was hired to be the young charismatic coach who could walk into a recruits living room and leave with that kid saying “That’s the guy I want to play for.” Great recruiters need great recruits, guys like Lane Kiffin are great recruiters but when they can’t get the classes they expect they struggle (this was Kiffin’s issue at USC.) 

People tend to get blinded by that 11-2 season that Fleck and the Gophers had in 2019 but besides that season Fleck currently has a 16-18 record in three seasons. That 2019 season bought Fleck a lot of love and a lot of time but if we break down that season you can see how much of a fluke that season really was. Besides Penn State they did not beat one ranked opponent during the regular season. It took a touchdown with 5 minutes left to beat division one AA opponent South Dakota State and it took two overtimes to beat a Fresno State team that went 4-8 that year in the Mountain West. 

If we take a look at the impact players on that team as well, many of them were not Fleck’s guys, players like RB Rodney Smith, LBs Carter Coughlin and Kamal Martin, WR Tyler Johnson and Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. all were there before Fleck got there. 

Another thing people love or hate about Fleck is the personality he is a very lively guy who does relate well with younger kids but all the gimmicks like him before they run out of the tunnel, the 4th quarter sprint down the field and the PJ Fleck show on Fox 9 looks great when you’re winning but when you’re having losing seasons it starts to look like you care more about yourself than the well-being of the team. 

Former Gopher coach Jerry Kill who Fleck credits for advancing his career once said in 2019 on a Sirius XM interview  “I just think sometimes ego gets carried away and when he went into Minnesota and treated the people the way he treated my guys, and telling them he had to go in and completely change the culture, it was a bad culture and bad people. He made it sound like we didn’t know what we were doing and I took it personal,” And I think right there is the issue with Fleck. He is a good motivator. He does know how to relate with college kids but I think his ego can get in the way.

I don’t want to stand here on my soapbox asking for a man’s job without thinking of any solutions so here is one guy who I think could help turn Minnesota around if Fleck is fired or if he leaves to take a job at USC or Notre Dame.

Luke Fickell (Cincinnati)

Luke Fickell is a prime candidate for any power 5 job he stepped in very well as Ohio State’s interim after Jim Tressel resigned and since he’s been at Cincinnati he’s bolstered a 31-6 record his last three seasons. He consistently out recruits teams in the American and knows how to develop his guys. He is also a young guy who relates to his players very well.

Hugh Freeze (Liberty)

Hugh Freeze is a guy who has power 5 coaching experience who has somewhat reinvented himself at Liberty. Freeze has led Liberty to multiple power 5 upsets and has kept others very close. Freeze is an offensive minded coach who has experience recruiting in the SEC and knows how to bring in big time recruits