Interview: New Gophers Coach P.J. Fleck Talks Transition
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Spring game? Yes. Win the coin toss? Defer to the second half. Open or closed practices? Open.
New Gopher football coach P.J. Fleck went down his checklist during his first-ever appearance on WCCO Radio's Sports Huddle. But first, he needs a coaching staff, and he plans to have that filled out this week.
Fleck wants to make his hires while attending the American Football Coaches Association conference in Nashville. The conference starts Monday, one week after Fleck's Western Michigan team lost to Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl. He agreed Friday to a five-year contract to coach the Gophers.
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"By Thursday or Friday, I'd love to have them hired, and then by Sunday night or Monday, I want them on campus," Fleck told WCCO's Dave Mona and Mike Max. "We should be rolling by (next) Monday."
Fleck said there is "a ton of interest" among assistant coaches about joining his first staff with the Gophers.
"There's a lot of people who want to leave their job, for this job," he said.
Fleck has already convinced several of his recruits at Western Michigan to come instead to Minnesota. It's not known how many of his former staff members will follow.
"I'm not going to hire people that I don't necessarily know, or don't know someone or trust someone that knows them," Fleck said. "This is a family."
He would not make a commitment about Dan O'Brien and Mike Sherels, who were the only assistants under Tracy Claeys not let go last week.
O'Brien has been a member of the Gopher coaching staff since 2008 and served as Claeys' top assistant, special teams coordinator and assistant defensive backs coach. He was Hamline's athletics director before coming to the Gophers.
Sherels is a former Gopher linebacker who joined the staff in 2013 and served as linebacker coach the past three years. His brother Marcus also played for the Gophers and is currently a special teams player and defensive back for the Vikings.
"I can't promise they'll be here, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that they have some type of role here with Gopher football," said Fleck, who has received encouragement from fans to keep O'Brien and Sherels. "I want to embrace that past, and create that future as well."
Fleck has been making the rounds on campus, attending men's and women's basketball games at Williams Arena, joking that he'd like to take an alley-oop pass from men's coach Richard Pitino for a slam-dunk.
"I don't know if I can actually touch the rim, though," he said.
He also sent get-well wishes to WCCO sports legend Sid Hartman, who met with the new coach on Friday, three weeks after the 96-year-old had surgery on a broken right hip.
"He told me he's going to be my biggest fan," said Fleck, which makes his hiring official.
"He's told that to the last 34 coaches," Mona said.
"The transition has officially been made. I thought it would take another day or two," said Max, who's been filling in on The Sports Huddle while Sid has been on the mend.
Sid is expected to return to the Sports Huddle next week.
