Category: P.J. FLECK

 

Why can’t the football Golden Gophers duplicate the success of Indiana the last two seasons?

University of Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle hears that question from Gopher fans. Minnesota hasn’t won a national championship since 1960. The last Big Ten title was a co-championship in 1967. The Gophers have never been to the College Football Playoff.

Indiana had close to the worst reputation in major college before coach Curt Cignetti arrived following the 2023 season. After head turning success at James Madison and other lower-level programs, Cignetti told the world upon arrival in Bloomington: ”It’s pretty simple. I win. Google me.”

And then he did.

The 2024 Hoosiers shockingly went 11-2 overall, 8-1 in Big Ten games.  The “Miracle Man” delivered even more in 2025, coaching the Hoosiers to a perfect 16-0 record that included Big Ten and national championships.

“I give them a lot of credit,” Coyle told Sports Headliners. “It’s the most unique thing that I’ve seen in college athletics.”

Cignetti has a gift for watching tape and evaluating players, and he’s a tireless worker who sets the highest standards for execution and performance.  He brought a boat load of older players to Bloomington via the transfer portal, mostly three-star recruits in high school, and went out and beat the blue bloods of college football with their four- and five-star rosters.

Now the transformation is complete.  Elite players want to wear the IU uniform. Name, Image and Likeness money is pouring in to pay players.  The stadium is sold out.  “Coach Cig” has a new contract that averages $13.2 million per year through 2033.  And, oh yes, Indiana is among the favorites to win the next College Football Playoff and the national championship.

Coyle is proud of his program under head coach P.J. Fleck who starts his 10th season at Minnesota in late August with a home game against Eastern Illinois. “I could not be more pleased with the progress we’re making with our football program, and we continue to expect to build it and compete at a high level,” Coyle said earlier this month.

What about the Indiana comparison?  “It can be done here (Indiana like success),” Coyle said.

Fleck’s best season was in 2019 when the Gophers finished 11-2, including an Outback Bowl win over SEC bully Auburn.  That team was ranked by the Associated Press at No. 10 in the country. It was the program’s highest ranking since 1962.

COVID hit the college football world in 2020, and programs lost momentum like Minnesota and Michigan who finished with 3-4 and 2-4 records respectively.  Since then, Fleck has won eight games or more four times including bowl victories.

Throw out the records of Big Ten schools from the West Coast who didn’t join the conference until 2024, and Minnesota has the fifth best overall winning percentage (61.54) in the league dating back to the 2021 season.

Fleck is 24-21 in conference games during that period of 2021-2025. League games are challenging as shown by the mediocre results of Minnesota coaches over the years including national title coach Murray Warmath who in 18 seasons was 65-57-4, per AI.

Only four teams qualified for the playoffs in 2019.  Now 12 can and the 2019 Gophers almost assuredly would have received an invite if that number of slots were available back then.

Why can’t the Gophers get back to the 2019 level? “I promise you it’s something he (Fleck) and I talk about every day,” Coyle said.  “And we want to do everything we can, given the opportunity, to have those special seasons because it’s a different world.”

Coyle said that 2019 team won some close games that were part of the success.  Tight outcomes on the scoreboard can be caused by the bounce of the ball, the absence of injured players, or an official’s judgment. Those are factors that can make a difference between an 8-4 regular season and 10-2.

The “different world” Coyle mentioned is how unexpected and high-level success can translate into selling out Huntington Bank Stadium.  How season ticket sales can increase the following year.  How ancillary income like merchandise sales and concessions can improve.  How donations to the University, including for athletics, can explode.  And how NIL giving can help prompt even more success on the field.

Prognostications about the 2026 Gopher season is more of the recent past: A similar success standard of around 7-5 or 8-4 overall and .500 play in the Big Ten.  Another bowl game but not a CFP invite.

Coyle, of course, favors talk of expanding the number of teams in the playoffs to 24.  That could mean an 8-4 or 9-3 Minnesota would be playoff bound.  And Coyle loves the idea of Novembers that have the Gophers in the hunt for a postseason invite.  “Once you get to the CFP, anything can happen,” he said.

Fleck has said participating in the CFP is now the program’s goal. Coyle believes the Gophers can break through and part of what gives him optimism is how others regard Minnesota football as a “tough out.”

“What I mean by a tough out is that people don’t want to play us.  I can tell you when I talk to football coaches in the Big Ten and I talk to ADs in the Big Ten, people do not want to play Minnesota.  I think we’re very close. We are a tough out for people.

“People don’t win games.  People lose games, I really believe that.  P.J. talks about that, I talk about that. And again, I think we’re incredibly close to having success that our fans want.

“But again, it’s kind of amazing to me because when I got here 10 years ago, people said if you just win in football, we’re all in.  We’re winning (with) the fifth best winning record in the Big Ten. … We’re having success. We need to continue to build that success.”

Fleck’s Minnesota record of 66-44 (including seven bowl wins) puts him fourth in program history in overall victories. He’s also fourth at Minnesota in Big Ten wins (39) and fifth in games coached (110). His overall win percentage of .600 is third best among Minnesota coaches with more than 40 games.

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The 2027 University of Minnesota football recruiting class has 16 verbal commitments so far and is No. 14 in the 247Sports national rankings but Ryan Burns wants to see a lot more.

The Minnesota-based recruiting authority whose reporting and analysis is read on GopherIllustrated  told Sports Headliners the class could finish with a “23ish” national ranking.  He expects the Gophers to add 7 to 8 more players and hopes that will include valued offensive and defensive linemen.

The class currently has two offensive and two defensive linemen. Offensive line coach Brian Callahan and defensive line coach C.J. Robbins are challenged to bring in what Burns calls “tier 1 guys.”

The offense finished 17^th last season in the 18-team Big Ten, averaging less than 300 yards per game.  The line struggled including with the running game. Burns believes “if you just can’t run the ball five-five in the box in the Big Ten…you’re just never going to be able to do much.”

Burns said the Gophers didn’t recruit effectively with offensive linemen from 2022-2024.  He wants to see what Callahan can do heading into the summer “to hit on some more…guys to finish off this offensive line class.”

Right now, Minnesota has verbal commitments from three-star offensive linemen Will Clausen from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Joseph Hamer of Lakeville South.   Burns said the Gophers would “love to add” three-star Milwaukee offensive tackle Jamail Sewell to their list.

It’s a truism forever in football that the best teams are outstanding on the line of scrimmage.  The Gophers finished 11^th last season in defense, including giving up 331.6 yards per game rushing which ranked in the middle of the conference.

Minnesota has a verbal commit from four-star Wayzata High School defensive lineman Eli Diane and three-star d-lineman Gage Geyer from Edina. Burns said Diane hasn’t played since he was a sophomore and he is coming off back surgery.  So, until Diane gets back on the field his ability to play and perform at a high level are unknowns.

Burns likes Geyer and his athleticism.  Listed at 6-5, 270-pounds, Geyer is also an outstanding hockey player.

Reiterating on the importance of linemen, Burns said that every year he wants to see the Gophers hit on “100 percent” of their targets on both sides of the ball.

The Gophers have two other four-star recruits.  Brooks Bakko the tight end from Kindred, North Dakota and safety Tate Wallace from Iowa City.

Burns is more than excited about Bakko playing for the Gophers. He believes Bakko could join the tight end alumni from Minnesota who have gone on to play in the NFL including Maxx Williams. “The kid from Kindred (population about 1,000), North Dakota, I think has a chance to be really, really special here,”  Burns said.

The Gophers beat out Nebraska, Notre Dame and Wisconsin for Wallace who Iowa reportedly didn’t get in on early.  Burns compared him to a “souped up Matt Kingsbury,” a physical linebacker and likely starter for the Gophers this fall.

Wallace was recruited by former Gopher linebacker Mariano Sori-Marin who played for Minnesota from 2018-2022.   Entering his second season as Gopher linebackers coach, the personable Sori-Marin has impressed with his recruiting. “I think he does a really good job of connecting with the kids,” Burns said.

The Gophers’ most recent commit is safety Taylor Daniels from West Orange, New Jersey.  Minnesota beat out Michigan State defensive coordinator Joe Rossi (former Gopher coordinator) for the three-star recruit, just as they did with three-star linebacker Kason Clayborne from Sioux City, Iowa.

Burns likes the Daniels get. “I mean to me, if he were a couple inches taller.  He’s 5-10 right now, but say he was 6 foot. He could be going to, I mean, pick your helmet school and they would be throwing a lot of money at him.”

Who could rise up this fall in the rankings among the Minnesota recruits? “ I think the wildcard of this class is going to be the quarterback from California, Furian Inferrera,” Burns said.

A three-star recruit, he’s ranked lowest on Minnesota’s list in evaluation points by 247 but right now that makes sense. He missed his junior season in 2025 because of a knee issue so there isn’t a lot of data on him, but Burns said the talent is apparent.

The quirk about the 2027 class (players can sign agreements in December) is having four players from the same Minnesota high school.  If the fall roster shows that, it appears historic.

It’s not easy to document but a researcher might have to examine rosters prior to the World Wars to find such an instance.  A time when many of the players came from Minneapolis and St. Paul high schools.

“It is a very rare thing,” Burns concurred. “I can’t find a single instance in at least modern times that four kids from the same Minnesota high school are going to be playing for the Golden Gophers.”

All the Moorhead High School recruits are three-stars: quarterback Jett Feeney, wide receiver David Mack, running back Taye Reich and cornerback Zak Walker.

The Spuds will be a “circle it game” for opponents next season because of their Gopher connections and with the team being a favorite to win the 6A state championship.  Feeney told Burns the Spuds are ready for the spotlight, remarking that “pressure is earned.”

Moorhead lost to Edina in the state title game last fall.  On October 23 this year the Hornets travel to Moorhead in a game that could take on legendary status.  Ticket prices might reflect that, too.

Gopher coach P.J. Fleck and his staff have the annual Summer Splash recruiting camps coming up in Minneapolis the weekends of May 29 and June 12.  Those periods typically result in more verbal commits for the Gophers.

Burns said among the players to follow is four-star cornerback Daniel Yebit. Burns said the Yukon, Oklahoma player is someone Minnesota co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach Nick Monroe “has been on for a very long time.”

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