Gophers give PJ Fleck a new 7-year contract
It was about 57 weeks ago that P.J. Fleck signed a seven-year contract extension that pushed his deal with the Minnesota Gophers to 2028. On Wednesday, the University of Minnesota announced a fresh, seven-year contract for Fleck.
The new deal keeps him under contract through 2029. According to reports, he's getting a $1 million annual raise, boosting his salary from $5 million to $6 million per season.
What's unknown and, per The Athletic, will remain unknown until his contract is fully approved by the Board of Regents on Thursday, is what the buyout clause is. His previous deal included a reported buyout of $10 million, though that number was scheduled to drop to $7 million on Jan. 1, 2023.
A $7 million buyout is chump change for big-time programs looking to hire a new coach. Whatever it is, the extension is a signal that Fleck isn't planning on leaving.
"This is all about cultural sustainability," said Fleck in a statement. "We have talked about that from day one, and this new contract is a commitment to continuing to change our best academically, athletically, socially and spiritually. It is also a commitment to our elite staff and our tremendous fans.
"During the last six years, we have been able to do some amazing things at Minnesota, some of which have not been accomplished in more than 115 years. It is a tremendous honor to lead this football program, and our goal is to compete for championships every year. We are so grateful to the Board of Regents, President Joan Gabel, Mark Coyle and our staff for allowing us to do so. Heather and I and our family love living here and we are excited to continue on this journey with the entire state of Minnesota."
The Gophers are set to face Syracuse in the Dec. 29 Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.