PJ Fleck mentioned among 'Names for Nebraska' after Scott Frost firing
When Nebraska fired head coach Scott Frost over the weekend, everyone should've seen it coming: P.J. Fleck has been name dropped as a possible replacement.
Forget the seven-year, $35 million extension Fleck signed last year to keep him under contract with the Gophers through 2028. Every time there is a coaching vacancy at a major FBS program, Fleck's name seems to come up as a possible replacement.
This time, it's ESPN's Pete Thamel including Fleck on a list of 15 coaches he says are "Names for Nebraska." Kansas State head coach and former NDSU head coach Chris Klieman is also on the list.
Names for Nebraska: Matt Campbell, Mark Stoops, Dave Aranda, Bill O’Brien, Lance Leipold, Jim Leonard, PJ Fleck, Chris Klieman, Dave Doeren, Sam Pittman, Alex Grinch, Matt Entz, Bret Bielema, Jamey Chadwell and Troy Calhoun.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 11, 2022
Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune asked Fleck about the tweet on Monday and Fleck denounced it, saying, "No, our focus is 1-0 against Colorado."
Fleck's contract stipulates that he owes the University of Minnesota $10 million if he leaves for another job before Jan. 1, with that buyout dropping to $7 million if he left in 2023 and $5 million 2024. That's chump change for a big-time university looking to land a young, winning coach like Fleck.
All one has to do is go back to May 2022 to find this article from The Athletic that says Fleck could be a hot commodity if he has another successful season at Minnesota: "And if the 2022 carousel is anything like the 2021 circus, Fleck’s phone will likely be ringing a lot should the Gophers post another strong season."
"I got a lot of respect for Nebraska's program, a lot of respect for Scott [Frost]," Fleck said during his Monday press conference. "It's a part of our profession. It's unfortunate, but it's part of our profession. There's a saying that you get fired when you win, you get fired when you lose."
Fleck is 37-23 at Minnesota, including 2-0 this season. The Gophers face Colorado at Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday before opening the Big Ten schedule Sept. 24 at No. 11 Michigan State. A win on the road against the Spartans would send Minnesota up the rankings and likely into the national spotlight.
Related: 5 things we learned in the Gophers' win over Western Illinois
Related: Saturday was a great day to be a Gopher football fan
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.