Gophers coach P.J. Fleck's rule: 'You commit to me, you can't go see another place'

After having three players decommit from the U recently, coach P.J. Fleck explained his policy at a Coaching Caravan stop. He added: 'We have a problem in our society. We don't have a problem in our program.'

May 23, 2019 at 5:05AM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

I know I literally just wrote about the Gophers' recent decommitment string and P.J. Fleck's thoughts on it, but he said one other interesting thing on the topic, so just bear with me.

When speaking to the crowd Wednesday at the Coaches Caravan stop in Dellwood, Fleck gave a little insight into his recruiting.

"I have a rule: You commit to me, you can't go see another place," Fleck said. "Not because I'm insecure. But if you want to be committed, you're going to be committed. Too many people teach young people to be committed but also one foot in and one foot out. ... You've got to be all in."

Or as Fleck termed it: "We have a problem in our society. We don't have a problem in our program."

I thought that was kind of interesting. In a perfect world, that is how college decisions would work. But in recent times, it's much more of a Wild West situation. But Fleck said if commits come to him and say they're interested in visiting other schools, he tells them that's fine, but they have to decommit first. That doesn't necessarily mean they can't recommit again if the scholarship is still there in a few months or whatnot.

Basically, Fleck's recruiting style is the same as Project Runway: You're either in, or you're out. Pass it on.

Also, here's a video from the event. It's Fleck's response to women's basketball coach Lindsay Whalen dragging all the other coaches for being bald. It was A+ banter.

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