- Sixth year as head coach at Minnesota (10th year overall as head coach)
- Enters 2022 season with a 35-23 record at Minnesota and 65-45 overall
- 2019 Big Ten Coach of the Year, 2019 Dodd Trophy Finalist, 2019 Bear Bryant Award Finalist and 2019 AFCA National Coach of the Year Finalist
- 2x AFCA Region 3 Coach of the Year (2016, '19), George Munger Award Finalist (2016, '19), Eddie Robinson Award Finalist (2016, '19) and MAC Coach of the Year (2014, '16)
- Six bowl game appearances as head coach
- Coached 20 NFL Draft Picks, including 12 at Minnesota
- At Minnesota, has coached three All-Americans, eight Academic All-Americans, 58 All-Big Ten honorees (six First-Teamers) and 268 Academic All-Big Ten performers
P.J. Fleck was named head football coach at Minnesota on January 6, 2017. Fleck, 41, is the 30th head coach in the program’s history. He has a career record of 65-45 and is 35-23 at Minnesota.
In five years, Fleck has established himself as one of the most successful coaches ever to lead the Minnesota program. Fleck is already sixth in program history in overall wins (35) and Big Ten wins (21), and eighth in games coached (58). Fleck’s .603 win percentage is third best among the 11 Minnesota coaches with at least 45 games under their helm behind only Henry L. Williams (.786, 1900-21) and Bernie Bierman (.716, 1932-41, ‘45-50).
Fleck and Williams are the only two Gopher coaches to record nine or more wins in a season twice, as Minnesota posted 11 wins in 2019 and nine in 2021 under Fleck (Williams posted at least nine wins in six straight seasons from 1900-1905).
The 11 wins in 2019 were the most for a Minnesota team since 1904 when that year's team went 13-0 under Williams. Fleck is 3-0 in bowl games and those three wins are tied with Glen Mason (3-4 bowl record during his time coaching the Gophers from 1997-2006) for the most in school history.
Fleck guided the Gophers to a 6-3 Big Ten record in 2021 and a 7-2 mark in 2019, making him the first Minnesota coach since Murray Warmath (1960, 1961 and 1967; six wins each) to win at least six conference games more than once.
At Minnesota, Fleck has coached three All-Americans (Antoine Winfield Jr., Rashod Bateman and Mohamed Ibrahim), eight Academic All-Americans (Blaise Andries three times, Sam Renner twice, Jack Gibbens, Payton Jordahl and Gary Moore) and 268 Academic All-Big Ten performers. He was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2019, paced Minnesota to two top-10 wins (Penn State and Auburn) in the same season since 1956 and led Minnesota to its first New Year's Day bowl win (2020 Outback Bowl against Auburn) since 1962. He has also led Minnesota to a 3-0 record in bowl games and has had 12 players selected in the NFL Draft while at Minnesota.
In 2021, Fleck also became a Wall Street Journal best-selling author when his Row The Boat book, which was co-authored with Jon Gordon, peaked at No. 2 on the list in June.
On the field in 2021, Fleck led Minnesota to a 9-4 record and a second place finish in the Big Ten West division with a 6-3 mark. The Gophers beat Wisconsin for the first time at home since 2003 to reclaim Paul Bunyan's Axe and picked up a postseason win against West Virginia in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
Minnesota's dominant defense and offensive depth were the stories of the season, as the Gophers won their final three games of the year for the first time since 1973.
The Gophers ended the season with the nation's No. 3 total defense (278.8 yards per game) and the nation's No. 6 scoring defense (17.3 points per game). Minnesota also ended the year ranked fourth in first downs defense (202), eighth in rushing defense (97.5) and eighth in passing yards allowed (181.2). Minnesota held eight opponents to 14 points or less and recorded its first shutout (30-0 road win at Colorado) since 2006 (62-0 against Temple) and its first road shutout of a Power 5 o ...