When you’re in the midst of what could potentially be a historic season, and your head coach largely responsible for said start is connected to a bigger Power Five opening, it would make sense to be proactive.
Citing a source with knowledge of the situation, Megan Ryan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is reporting that Minnesota is close to reaching an agreement on a contract extension with head football coach P.J. Fleck. Ryan wrote that "[t]he source would not disclose specifics of the negotiations, only that Fleck and the Gophers have been in discussions for a while and are quite far along in the process.”
Fleck, whose name has been mentioned in connection to the Florida State job, will make $3.6 million this year, which, according to USA Today‘s coaching salary database, puts him 11th in the 14-team Big Ten.
In November of 2017, not even all the way through his first season with the Golden Gophers, Fleck was given a contract extension; a year and a month later, it was lather, rinse and repeat on the contractual front as the coach had another year tacked on to his contract, which currently runs through the 2023 season and on into early 2024.
After 5-7 and 7-6 seasons to start his time at Minnesota, the 38-year-old Fleck (he’ll turn 39 later this month) has the Gophers sitting at a perfect 8-0 this season, with a home date against No. 5 Penn State looming this weekend that’s one of the biggest games in the program’s history. Minnesota, ranked 13th in the latest Associated Press poll, is 8-0 for the first time since 1941 and has a chance to go 9-0 for the first time since the unbeaten 1904 team.