Brace yourselves: The "Row the Boat" and "Land of 10,000 Lakes" mashup jokes are coming.
While a Minnesota TV station reported Thursday night the Minnesota Gophers were in talks with former Louisiana State head coach Les Miles, the Gophers went a different route, albeit one just as insane.
Minnesota hired Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck to replace Tracy Claeys, whom the school fired Monday. At 36 years old, Fleck is the youngest head coach in the Power 5, replacing Iowa State's 37-year-old Matt Campbell.
Welcome to Minnesota, @Coach_Fleck.
— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) January 6, 2017
READ: https://t.co/VLEbMQTRZ9 pic.twitter.com/iTjOt6nB4X
Here are the reported numbers:
Source confirms that it's a five-year, $18.5 million deal for Fleck -- $3.5 million average per season.
— JoeChristensen (@JoeCStrib) January 6, 2017
Fleck is 30-22 as a head coach, though that record is diluted by the rebuilding of Western Michigan, which went 1-11 his first year in 2013 and 13-1 in 2016.
That's quite the build, and the Gophers will be hoping for similar magic in the Big Ten West.
Fleck's first game as Gophers head coach comes Thurs., Aug. 31, against Buffalo. Unless Minnesota and Ohio State make the Big Ten championship game, the former Jim Tressel graduate assistant's first game against Ohio State will happen in Columbus on Sat., Oct. 13, 2018.
