Western Michigan Football: P.J. Fleck Agrees to Become Head Coach at Minnesota
By Matt Snyder
Western Michigan football coach P.J. Fleck has accepted an offer to become the head football coach at Minnesota.
Multiple news outlets are reporting this morning that Western Michigan football coach P.J. Fleck has received an offer from Minnesota and will accept the job to join the Golden Gophers.
Despite erroneous reports of a finalized deal coming out last night, WWMT in Kalamazoo was the first to report the news that an agreement between Fleck and Minnesota had been reached this morning.
"Newschannel 3 confirmed Friday morning that Western Michigan head football coach P.J. Fleck will take the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota."
Tony Paul of the Detroit News later confirmed that the deal is official and that the two sides will make a public announcement on Friday morning.
So I'm not first. Oh well. SOURCE: Minnesota will name P.J. Fleck its next coach during a 9:30 ET/8:30 CT announcement.
— Tony Paul | Detroit News (@TonyPaul1984) January 6, 2017
Fleck staying looked like a possibility a month ago when Tony Paul reported that Fleck and Western were in talks regarding a contract extension. Those good feelings continued when he declined to interview for vacancies at Purdue, Houston, and Cincinnati.
It always seemed like a matter of time before he left for a bigger program, but it did appear that he was holding out for the right job, not simply the next one. Apparently he feels that Minnesota is the right fit to continue his coaching career.
The Minnesota Star-Tribune reports that Les Miles, formerly of LSU, was the Gophers’ backup plan should the school have failed to come to an agreement with Fleck.
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The Western Michigan Broncos will now have to turn the page and conduct their own head coaching search to replace the most successful coach in program history.