“It’s an honor to coach at Minnesota and be part of the Big Ten conference, ” Fleck said in a statement.
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Pardon us for wondering whether Coyle had this defining moment in him. Change, as he would be the one to say, is hard.
There was speculation that Minnesota’s treatment of Claeys could cost them a chance at Fleck. “I think the events over the past few weeks underscored the concerns and some of the things I’ve been seeing in that program”, he said.
Beauregard said Fleck passed up four or five other programs before settling on a five-year deal with Minnesota following the Broncos only loss of the season. Minnesota hopes Fleck can bring that kind of recruiting acumen, as well as his leadership and motivation skills to Minneapolis to help make a Gophers team into a larger threat within the Big Ten.
Not anymore. The Big Ten had one of its most exciting seasons in years, and while its 3-7 bowl record and the Buckeyes’ terrible semifinal performance may have shown that declaring it the best league in America was premature, we’re a long way from Bielema rushing off to Fayetteville.
The news just broke that Western Michigan Bronco’s Head Football coach PJ Fleck is headed to Minnesota.
Fleck is taking the helm of what’s already a strong football team.
Meanwhile the hottest young coach in America will be perched in the Twin Cities trying to figure out how to beat them.
When Fleck greeted Gophers players, he prepared them to sit in the first two rows in their classes and wear collared shirts on campus.
Fleck has experience at the college and National Football League level as a player and a coach. Jay Sawvel would be wonderful, but tidbits of information that have reached my ears have led me to believe that he and Fleck don’t necessarily get along (they worked together under Jerry Kill at NIU).
“I’m surprised and a little hurt…” I’ve been in the business too long and I know too many people.
Western Michigan has commitments from at least 25, with 20 or more of those considered three-star.
Fleck didn’t describe his work as a rebuild, but rather a culture change. Fleck says there is always a way to triumph adversity.
Miles said he wants to continue coaching.
Her goal now is to find a new leader to keep the Broncos on their winning path – and she has the support of the community. There’s just one issue: Kill also is steamed at how everything went down with Claeys, who was his longtime assistant and then successor after health problems forced Kill into temporary retirement in 2015 (he’s since taken the Rutgers offensive coordinator job).
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“It’s not going to be a hard decision for him to suspend a player who violates team rules”, he said. He found Fleck, whose boundless energy and penchant for catchphrases along with his ability to literally build WMU from the ground up landed him on the short list for several jobs and inspired lust from fans at countless programs who, to borrow a phrase from Fleck, were exhausted of being average. WMU has licensed the phrase.
