P.J. Fleck has done more with less at Minnesota

The Gophers have outperformed recruiting expectations under Fleck.

Nov 23, 2019; Evanston, IL, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach PJ Fleck takes the filed with his team in a game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

P.J. Fleck is heading into his eighth season as head coach of the Gophers. According to the College Football Report, Minnesota is amongst the best programs in the country in terms of outperforming its recruiting class rankings in correlation to wins since 2013.

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The Gophers are grouped together with programs like Wisconsin, Iowa, Utah, NC State and Kansas State. Since arriving on campus, Minnesota has averaged a recruiting class ranked No. 45.9 in the nation while averaging 7.1 wins per season under Fleck.

Outside of the 11-win season in 2019, Fleck's Gophers have been consistently average to above average, reaching a bowl game in each of the last five full seasons and recruiting well in the transfer portal and high school ranks.

CBS Sports recently released a ranking of every Big Ten coach in the new 18-team Big Ten, with Fleck coming in at No. 11. Despite his proven consistency he finds himself behind conference newcomers like Jedd Fisch from Washington, Matt Rhule entering year two at Nebraska and Jonathan Smith, who is in his first year at Michigan State.

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Fisch and Smith have career losing records as head coaches. They turned in successful seasons at Arizona and Oregon State, respectively, which are two programs that don't have a long history of winning, but they have a far less proven track record than Fleck.

Fleck is coming off a down 6-7 season and a rumored move to UCLA, but he has won nearly 60% of his games in the Big Ten. Fisch and Smith haven't even coached a game in the conference and Rhule failed to make a bowl game last season with the Cornhuskers.

While the Gophers failed to capitalize on a weak Big Ten West division over the past five seasons, Fleck has proved that he can outperform expectations and he deserves respect as a top-10 coach in the conference, even with four new schools in the fold.