All Ashore: Fleck Leaves Western to Land of 10,000 Lakes

The Western Michigan Broncos will begin a national search after Head Coach P.J. Fleck is expected to be announced as the Head Coach at Minnesota.

According to the University of Minnesota, Fleck will be announced as the new leader of the Golden Gophers Friday afternoon. Terms have not been announced, but the contract will be a five-year deal. The Golden Gophers have already welcomed Fleck on Twitter.

Western Michigan Athletic Director Kathy Beauregard confirmed this morning that Fleck had accepted the job at Minnesota.

Fleck was 30-22 over four seasons at Western Michigan, his first head coaching gig after assistant roles at Northern Illinois (his alma mater), Ohio State and Rutgers. He was also a wide receivers coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a single day before being hired at Western. He was able to get the Broncos to bowl games in three straight seasons and a bowl game victory at the Bahamas Bowl in 2014, both program firsts. The Brown and Gold reached the Goodyear Cotton Bowl this year, falling 24-16 to Wisconsin to hand them their only loss of the year and finishing 13-1.

Fleck replace Tracy Claeys, who was fired Tuesday amid controversy over student conduct during the season and a tweet in support of his players. Claeys was an assistant with Jerry Kill, who resigned from Minnesota due to health reasons during the 2015 season. Kill, who was just hired as the offensive coordinator at Rutgers, didn't approve of Claeys firing, even stating that "he won't step back into the university". Kill was also at Northern Illinois as head coach, where Fleck was a second-year assistant there.