Couch: Beat the Gophers now, because P.J. Fleck will win at Minnesota

By the time Michigan State plays Minnesota again, on Halloween 2020, the Gophers will be a bear.

To think otherwise is to doubt P.J. Fleck’s ability to recruit. Which is foolish, based on all the evidence at hand.

What’s different now from last time he took over a college football program — now, he’s sure he’s right.

“I know it works, I know how it works, I know when it turns,” Fleck said this week, as his 3-2 Minnesota team prepared to host 4-1 Michigan State in a prime-time matchup Saturday. “I know what it looks like when it’s working. I know what it looks like when it’s not working. I know what it looks like when guys are bought in. I know what it looks like when guys aren’t bought in. Because you’ve been through that before. Going through it a second time, you know it works, so you’re more confident to stick to the plan.”

In case you missed it, Fleck’s four seasons at Western Michigan went like this: 1-11, 8-5, 8-5, 13-1. 

“After a 1-11 season, you’re sitting there going, ‘Holy cow, I didn’t know it’d be this difficult,’” Fleck said. “But you stick to the plan, and you don’t sacrifice what you really want down the road for what you want right now.”

The swing from his first to final season at WMU is exaggerated a bit because he didn’t take over a program that needed to go 1-11 that first year. 

At Minnesota, he’s likely headed for a 5-7 record in Year 1, given the Gophers’ weaknesses and the schedule ahead. That’ll be plenty to show the contrast in the years to come. But it’s not by design. Not this time. That’s one of the ways Fleck is different at age 36 than he was at 32.

“You still owe it to the seniors and the people here to give them every ability to win,” he said. “I think I’ve done that more here at Minnesota than I ever did at Western Michigan my first year. These guys truly deserve to win.”

Fleck will win at Minnesota quickly. It’s the perfect place for him — rapidly improving facilities, good market, a place you can win, but not a place that has won enough to expect what can’t be done. And a division, the Big Ten West, that goes through Wisconsin but is otherwise for the taking.

Fleck is not universally loved in the coaching profession. He didn’t pay his dues like most coaches do. He’s never been a coordinator. His style is constant energy and slogans, Fleck-isms, if you will. But he’s becoming more and more respected. Like a player who can point to the scoreboard, 13-1 at Western Michigan is proof he has the goods.

Fleck, I think, understands what he does well and what he doesn’t. For what he doesn’t know, he’s hired a strong and experienced staff. Recruiting and motivating, though, that’s his world.

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“He’s a persistent guy and consistent as well,” said MSU senior kicker Brett Scanlon, a WMU transfer, who was part of Fleck’s first recruiting class there in 2013. “He’s always going to have that enthusiasm day after day. He had the same enthusiasm on game day as he did on Monday morning practice.”

Fleck’s entire day is spent either recruiting or thinking about recruiting or doing something that benefits the development of the program.

“Because everything you do is recruiting,” Fleck said. “Everything you do, everything you say, everything you put out there. Every thought has an ability to build a relationship, the right relationships. And it’s also the branding and marketing of your program. What is your program like? How is it different than other programs? Why should I come there? What are you going to do different for me than these other people? Why should I come to you over them? Everything I do has relationship building and our brand and our culture at the forefront of what I decide.

“Even when you’re watching game film, you’re watching practice, you’re constantly evaluating players. You’re evaluating players to realize, can they continue to get better and grow? Or do we have to replace them in recruiting? It’s constant, it’s constant, it’s constant about developing your program.”

At Western Michigan, he signed the Mid-American Conference’s top recruiting class three straight years. The 2014 group, which committed to him coming off that 1-11 season, is why this year’s Broncos have won four straight games, their only two losses competitive bouts against USC and Michigan State.

“He did exactly what he said he was going to do,” said MSU junior safety Khari Willis, whom Fleck tried to recruit out of Jackson Lumen Christi.

That’s why it’ll be a tad easier at Minnesota. He’s not just selling a dream. He’s selling a dream that he once before made real.

“I think it helps knowing that you did it at a place like Western Michigan, that had never done that, that way,” Fleck said. “I think it helps that it was a national story. And I am unique. Our staff is very unique. And our culture is very unique. And we know it’s not for everybody.”

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.