On Friday, the University of Minnesota once again showed it remains committed to head football coach P.J. Fleck by increasing the football program's salary pool for assistant coaches and adds an additional annual bonus for the Gophers head coach.
The contract amendment is a notable one for the Fleck and the Gophers as it comes in a time of great uncertainty in college football. Quite frankly, the future of college football is very murky. There's always going to be college football in some capacity, in some style, but what that product will look like in the near future is still a question that remains unanswered.
Of course, there's also the additional aspect that the Big Ten is about to add four new universities on July 1 in Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA. The addition of the four new universities and the elimination of divisions in college football makes P.J. Fleck's job a lot more difficult and the Gophers' chances of competing for a Big Ten championship, a lot more difficult as well.
On Friday, the University of Minnesota once again showed it remains committed to head football coach P.J. Fleck by increasing the football program's salary pool for assistant coaches and adds an additional annual bonus for the Gophers head coach.
The contract amendment is a notable one for the Fleck and the Gophers as it comes in a time of great uncertainty in college football. Quite frankly, the future of college football is very murky. There's always going to be college football in some capacity, in some style, but what that product will look like in the near future is still a question that remains unanswered.
Of course, there's also the additional aspect that the Big Ten is about to add four new universities on July 1 in Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA. The addition of the four new universities and the elimination of divisions in college football makes P.J. Fleck's job is a lot more difficult and the Gophers' chances of competing for a Big Ten championship, a lot more difficult as well.
Many universities and athletic departments would have decided to not increase the salary pool or add a bonus for a program in such a situation, especially when the program was coming off its worst full season in over five years. Instead, the Minnesota administration offered a vote of confidence for Fleck.
It's also very fair to note that UCLA had legitimate interest in Fleck to be the program's next head coach following Chip Kelly's decision to leave the program to be Ohio State's offensive coordinator this past month, the Bruins' interest in Fleck, without a doubt helped his cause in this decision as well.
That being said, there's no doubt Fleck has earned each contract amendment, raise, and extension that he has received during his tenure with the Gophers.
Entering 2024, Fleck is fifth in program history in wins with 50, holding a 50-34 record through seven seasons. He has the third best winning percentage in program history at .595 and the best for any head coach of the program over the last 74 years.
Under his guidance, the Golden Gophers put together three straight full seasons in 2019, 2021, and 2022 of nine or more wins including an 11-2 record in 2019.
Yes, the 2023 season was not a pretty one for the Gophers but very few programs in college football can consistently put together runs without a true "down season". Only time will tell going forward if this past season was truly a blip or not on the resume of Fleck but his career track record says that it likely is just a blip and not the beginning of any cracks in the program's foundation.
On top of the program's success on the field, Fleck and his coaching staff despite a down season also put together one of the better recruiting classes in recent memory for the program which included landing a pair of high four-star prospects in safety Koi Perich and offensive lineman Nathan Roy.
The coaching staff also put together a very strong transfer portal window in which the program brought in several players who will have a chance to make instant impacts in 2024 including quarterback Max Brosmer and cornerback Ethan Robinson.
All in all, despite the down season, there's still plenty of reasons to believe the Gophers will bounce back in 2024 and beyond, and the Minnesota administration also clearly believes that as well.
Minnesota also remains committed to help fielding a winning team
Not only does Minnesota remain committed to head coach P.J. Fleck with the latest amendment but it's also a sign that the university remains committed to fielding a competitive football program in what is going to be a time of great uncertainty in college football.
While the Big Ten will surely be safe in the grand scheme of things in regards to the future of college football, the major changes in the conference have not stopped the university from believing that they could compete in the conference and at a national level.
The increased assistant salary pool is a major victory for P.J. Fleck and the football program.
Not only does Minnesota remain committed to head coach P.J. Fleck with the latest amendment but it's also a sign that the university remains committed to fielding a competitive football program in what is going to be a time of great uncertainty in college football.
While the Big Ten will surely be safe in the grand scheme of things in regards to the future of college football, the major changes in the conference have not stopped the university from believing that they could compete in the conference and at a national level.
The increased assistant salary pool is a notable victory for P.J. Fleck and the football program, though he surely could use more resources in the future in that regard as well.
With the amendment, Fleck's assistant salary pool will increase by $500,000.
Entering last season, according to USA TODAY's College Football Assistant Coach Salaries tracker, the Minnesota football program had one of the lowest assistant coaching salary pools in the Big Ten.
Out of the Big Ten's 14 programs in 2023, 12's assistant coaching salary numbers were available to the public with Northwestern and Penn State being the only two conference members whose numbers remained private.
Of the 12 known assistant salary pools within the conference, the Golden Gophers' had the lowest $4,633,000 according to the tracker. If you were to add $500,000 to that number, it would increase to approximately $5,133,000 - give or take a couple thousand. That would put the Golden Gophers assistant salary in the range of the likes of Purdue, Maryland, and Rutgers.
It's by no means an amount of money that is going to change the fortunes of the program going forward, but remaining competitive in assistant coaching salaries will have to be a priority for the program going forward.
Overall, if the university and athletic department hope to remain competitive on the gridiron long term, consistent improvement of resources will be critical for the program. Friday's announcement from the university continues to be a step in the right direction but those steps must continue to be taken on a regular basis as well, if the Gophers hope to truly remain competitive in this new and uncertain era of college football.
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