Western Michigan Football Coach P.J. Fleck Maxwell Coach of the Year Semifinalist

After a one win season the Western Michigan Football program had to turn it around, or the new hot shot head coach P.J. Fleck could have found himself without a job. The season was something that players and coaches wanted to just forget and move on from. Forget they did and now the Broncos are 7-3 overall and 5-1 in the Mid-American Conference.

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Fleck was named a semifinalist to the Maxwell Football Club Coach of the Year Award. This list includes names such as Urban Meyer, Jimbo Fisher and Rich Rodriguez. Fleck is in the company of SEC, Big Ten and PAC-12 coaches. Fleck is also the only MAC coach on the list. Here is the full list of coaches nominated for the award.

P.J. Fleck was brought in last season after the Western Michigan Broncos fired Bill Cubit. Cubit was hired in 2004 by the Broncos, and finished his time at Western Michigan with a 51–47 record. However in his final season the team went 4-8 and in the 3 bowl game appearances the Broncos made under Cubit all resulted in a loss.

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When Fleck got to Western Michigan he brought a new style of football and was a breath of fresh air to the program. He brought the saying row the boat. Soon it became the motto of the team and had a mixed reaction from fans. Some laughed at it while the others got behind it. The first season under Fleck ended with the team only winning 1 game, a 31-30 victory over The UMass Minutemen. Then after an opening season loss against Purdue this season fans became sceptic of Fleck. However now 11 weeks into the season the Broncos have made a turn around and are contending for a MAC title.

Even if Fleck doesn’t win the award, it is still really cool for the Western Michigan football program to have a coach recognized for his turn around. This whole season many different Bronco players have also been recognized for their play this season and fans are happier than ever to watch their Western Michigan Broncos play every week.

The Broncos take on their up north rivals Central Michigan Chippewas this Saturday.