So I was going through my Sunday morning routine of listening to Split Zone Duo and they were talking about Minnesota losing to Illinois. Then they brought up PJ Fleck getting an extension this lat week and how that sort of flew under the radar.
Fleck signed a 7 year extension that will keep him on Minneapolis through the 2028 season. He will be paid about $5 million annually beginning in 2022.
fleck took the job in 2017 with a 5 years, $18 million dollar deal. First two years were “meh” and then he busted it open in 2019 with an 11-2 and co-Big Ten West division champs. They did not play for the Big Ten title however bc Wisconsin beat them head to head for the right to lose to Ohio State. Before the 2019 season was over, Fleck agreed to a 7 year extension raising his salary to $4.65 million annually. Since that extension, Fleck has gone 3-4 in 2020 (covid) and now sits 6-3 with some very meh losses and two likely losses left on the schedule in Iowa and Wisconsin.
my point of this long post is why less than 2 years after extending him did Minnesota feel the need to extend him again? I like fleck and think he’s a solid coach, but there’s more evidence that he’s a 7-5/8-4 type coach than a 11-2/12-1 type coach. When you agree to these king extension every two years, all it does is make it more difficult to get out of it when it inevitably goes poorly.
The Jimbo Fisher extensions come to mind. Where the hell was he gonna go? He’s already the highest paid coach in America. Who was gonna pay him more.
When vandy extended Derek mason. Where was he gonna go? Vandy gave Mason an extension in 2017 (in May 2017 that is). Yeah, vandy went to a bowl game in 2016, but it was clear this program wasn’t going anywhere but down under Mason. Then vandy gave mason another extension in 2019 (from an outgoing AD I might add) that effectively made mason unfireable afte the UNLV disaster. Again, why? Mason went to a bowl in 2018, but most would call that an underachieving team given what we had. Again, it was clear mason was not the guy.
I’ve rambled enough. But there are countless examples of college administrators handing out extensions when extensions aren’t warranted or necessary. Sometimes the best deal you make is the one you walk away from.
Fleck signed a 7 year extension that will keep him on Minneapolis through the 2028 season. He will be paid about $5 million annually beginning in 2022.
fleck took the job in 2017 with a 5 years, $18 million dollar deal. First two years were “meh” and then he busted it open in 2019 with an 11-2 and co-Big Ten West division champs. They did not play for the Big Ten title however bc Wisconsin beat them head to head for the right to lose to Ohio State. Before the 2019 season was over, Fleck agreed to a 7 year extension raising his salary to $4.65 million annually. Since that extension, Fleck has gone 3-4 in 2020 (covid) and now sits 6-3 with some very meh losses and two likely losses left on the schedule in Iowa and Wisconsin.
my point of this long post is why less than 2 years after extending him did Minnesota feel the need to extend him again? I like fleck and think he’s a solid coach, but there’s more evidence that he’s a 7-5/8-4 type coach than a 11-2/12-1 type coach. When you agree to these king extension every two years, all it does is make it more difficult to get out of it when it inevitably goes poorly.
The Jimbo Fisher extensions come to mind. Where the hell was he gonna go? He’s already the highest paid coach in America. Who was gonna pay him more.
When vandy extended Derek mason. Where was he gonna go? Vandy gave Mason an extension in 2017 (in May 2017 that is). Yeah, vandy went to a bowl game in 2016, but it was clear this program wasn’t going anywhere but down under Mason. Then vandy gave mason another extension in 2019 (from an outgoing AD I might add) that effectively made mason unfireable afte the UNLV disaster. Again, why? Mason went to a bowl in 2018, but most would call that an underachieving team given what we had. Again, it was clear mason was not the guy.
I’ve rambled enough. But there are countless examples of college administrators handing out extensions when extensions aren’t warranted or necessary. Sometimes the best deal you make is the one you walk away from.
