P.J. Fleck

P.J. Fleck was named head football coach at Minnesota on January 6, 2017. Fleck is the 30th head coach in the program’s history. He has a career record of 96-66 and is 66-44 at Minnesota.

In 2025, Fleck led Minnesota to an 8-5 overall record and a 5-4 mark in Big Ten play. The Gophers ended the regular season with a border battle win against Wisconsin to retain Paul Bunyan's Axe, and then defeated New Mexico in overtime in the Rate Bowl.

Minnesota finished the regular season 7-0 at Huntington Bank Stadium, which included a Top-25 win against No. 25 Nebraska. It was the team’s first undefeated season at home since going 6-0 in 1967, the fourth undefeated home season in the modern era (since 1946) and 26th undefeated season at home all-time. It was the first time Minnesota had gone 7-0 at home since 1931 (7-0), while the seven home wins tied for sixth-most in a single season.

Fleck is 7-0 in bowl games, and his seven bowl wins are the most in school history by a coach. His seven bowl wins represent 50% of Minnesota's overall 14 bowl wins as a program.

In nine years, Fleck has established himself as one of the most successful coaches ever to lead the Minnesota program. Fleck is the second-longest active tenured coach in the Big Ten.

He was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2019. Fleck has had 19 players selected in the NFL Draft while at Minnesota and Minnesota is one of only nine schools in the nation that can claim the distinction of having a first or second round draft pick in each of the last six years (2020-2025).

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.