Is P.J. Fleck the most disrespected coach in America?

What is it that makes these guys overrated?

For starters, Leipold just went 6-7 at Kansas. I understand that is great when considering the program’s typical standard, but I’m not putting him in front of Fleck for it. A losing season that could’ve been worse is still a losing season—and it was achieved in a weaker conference, no less.

Speaking of Big 12 coaches, Mike Gundy’s recent performances at Oklahoma State has also made him inferior to P.J. Fleck until further notice. Since 2017, Minnesota football has more wins than Oklahoma State (not including the COVID season, as the Cowboys played four more games). In that same span, the Golden Gophers have had three seasons with nine wins or more—the Cowboys have only had one.

Secondly, I could humor OK State’s 7-6 record in 2022 as being a fluke, but Gundy giving us that right after a 12-2 run shows an inconsistency that Fleck doesn’t seem to possess (and again, all of OKST’s shortcomings are happening while playing in what is usually a weaker league).

When it comes to guys like Chip Kelly and Jimbo Fisher, the best they’ve gotten their current teams to is nine wins, the same count Minnesota football has hit the last two seasons. Kelly just managed to do so for the first time despite being at UCLA (which belongs to the noticeably weaker Pac-12) since 2018, while Jimbo is coming off of an abysmal 5-7 year.

Now yes, I know Jimbo is in the SEC and that’s brutal, but I expect more from him when he’s got a national championship under his belt combined with some of America’s best talent. I’m not expecting him to win another title, but finishing with the same record as Vanderbilt is just flat-out unacceptable.

As for someone like Bret Bielema at Illinois, I can respect the fact that he’s had Fleck’s number in both their 2021 and 2022 meetings and him giving the Illini their best season since 2007 in just his second year with them is very impressive. If he can keep the wins (especially the ones against the Gophers) coming, I’ll perhaps be more open to putting him over Fleck in the future, but he’s got to give me more than just one decent stretch.

That just leaves Wisconsin’s Fickell and Nebraska’s Rhule. I’ve already given both of these gentlemen some TLC, as the last thing I’d want to do is ignore what they accomplished in their previous endeavors.

But, putting praise aside, it would be wrong to assume that we are promised to see their top-tier coaching abilities in their first seasons, as neither Wisconsin nor Nebraska are easy places to win at. With that said, they are not as safe of bets to put on a 2023 list as Fleck is, as we know what he can do with Minnesota football.

If we were to make a list that included Fleck being above just those coaches (and NC State’s Dave Doeren, who was the only one beneath him on the CBS Sports rankings), he’d be 17th. And please remember that such a placement comes from comparisons to only some of the names that stood out. The ranking of 17th goes without even touching on some of the other HCs we could have insisted on making Fleck’s case against (e.g. Tulane’s Willie Fritz, Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith, etc.).

As I said before, P.J. Fleck is not some one-in-a-million coach that deserves to sit amongst the Sabans and Smarts of the world, but his knocking on the door of top-15 status is far more fitting than him being either barely ranked or not ranked at all. He’s at least proven that much.