The University of Minnesota and head football coach P.J. Fleck have agreed to a contract amendment, pending Board of Regents approval.
The contract amendment calls for an increased salary pool for assistant coaches and staff and adds an annual bonus for Fleck.
The 2023 campaign was the seventh for Fleck at Minnesota, where he holds a record of 50-34. He is already fifth in program history for overall wins (50), Big Ten wins (29) and games coached (84).
Fleck’s .595-win percentage is third best among Minnesota coaches with at least 45 games under their helm behind only Henry L. Williams (.786, 1900-21) and Bernie Bierman (.716, 1932-41, ‘45-50). Through 10 seasons as a college head coach, Fleck is 80-56 (.588).
Fleck and Williams, who coached in the early 1900s against high school teams, are the only two Gopher coaches to record nine or more wins in a season three times, as Minnesota posted 11 wins in 2019 and nine in 2021 and 2022 under Fleck. The 11 wins in 2019 were the most for a Minnesota team since 1904 when that year’s team went 13-0 under Williams. Fleck is a perfect 5-0 in bowl games, giving him the most bowl wins in school history.
At Minnesota, Fleck has coached six All-Americans, nine Academic All-Americans, 89 All-Big Ten honorees (11 First-Team honorees) and 379 Academic All-Big Ten performers.
Fleck has turned Minnesota into an NFL pipeline, as the Gophers have had 14 players taken from the four-year span of 2020-23. That is the most selections in school history in a four-year span since the draft was reduced to seven rounds in 1994. It matches the four-year span from 1988-91 when Minnesota had 14 players taken in drafts that were then 12 rounds.
Fleck has served as a commencement speaker at University of Minnesota graduations and supports the M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital through philanthropic funds and the Row The Boat wall at the hospital. He is also a Wall Street Journal best-selling author of the inspirational Row the Boat book and co-instructed a course on leadership in the Carlson School of Management in 2023.
(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
