P.J. Fleck drawing interest from NFL teams
As NFL teams with head coaching openings look to the college game, Minnesota's P.J. Fleck is reportedly drawing interest.
As NFL teams that will have a head coaching job open consider a wide swath of candidates, a turn to the college game is natural as college offensive concepts have infiltrated the pros. Beyond the prospect Jim Harbaugh will return to the NFL, Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell lead the list of college head coaches who could make the jump. Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald is also a candidate to make the jump, after years of NFL interest.
But according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, at least one NFL team wants to interview another head coach in the Big Ten—Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck.
Fleck just went 3-4 in his truncated fourth season as Golden Gophers’ head coach, as COVID-19 greatly impacted the roster and schedule. The circumstance made it hard to build on a 11-2 2019 season capped by a win over Auburn in the Outback Bowl. Fleck is 26-19 at Minnesota (15-19 in the Big Ten), and 56-41 over eight combined seasons as a head coach.
Over four seasons at Western Michigan Fleck took the Broncos from 1-11 in 2013 to 8-5 the following two seasons, and finally to 13-1 with a trip to the Cotton Bowl in 2016. As Power 5 schools were sure to come calling but he seemed likely to stay in Kalamazoo for one more year, Minnesota swooped in and hired Fleck in early January of 2017.
Pelissero referenced that Fleck played in the NFL. While that’s technically true, it’s also a stretch. After going undrafted as a wide receiver out of Northern Illinois in 2004, he spent most of that season on the San Francisco 49ers practice squad before being activated for the season finale and returning a punt for 10 yards. A preseason shoulder injury landed him on IR for all of 2005, and after giving it one last try with the Chicago Bears in the summer of 2006 he moved into coaching.
Besides his experience as an assistant at Northern Illinois and Rutgers, Fleck wound up following Greg Schiano to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012 and spent that one season as wide receivers coach. He has developed NFL-caliber wide receiver prospects at Western Michigan (Corey Davis) and Minnesota (Tyler Johnson, Rashod Bateman).
It’s easy to assume Fleck will eventually leave the Gophers for greener pastures. But reported interest doesn’t mean he’ll be “Rowing The Boat” to the NFL, now or ever. It’s hard to see grown men buying into his catch-praises and motivational methods at the next level, and it’s not even clear that Fleck will reciprocate the interest NFL teams have to talk to him. But it can’t hurt to try, and at least one team apparently wants to have an interview if he’s willing.