PJ Fleck calls new abuse allegations from former Minnesota players 'baseless'

In the wake of allegations of a toxic environment created under his leadership at Minnesota, coach PJ Fleck has issued a brief statement through a video recorded with NBC Sports Chicago.

Fleck called the allegations baseless and noted they aren’t new.

“First of all they’re just baseless allegations,” PJ Fleck said. “We had the full support of our athletic director and our university leadership. These allegations have been looked at, been looked into multiple times since 2017. So our focus is on our football team for 2023.”

PJ Fleck is also set to speak today at Big Ten Media Days, where he’ll undoubtedly be asked to shed further light on the allegations that surfaced in a report by AJ Perez of Front Office Sports.

Perez detailed some of the issues, which are troubling in the wake of a hazing scandal that broke at Northwestern earlier this month, resulting in the firing of head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

“Over the last month, Front Office Sports interviewed several former players and staff members about Fleck’s six seasons as the Gophers’ head coach,” FOS’ AJ Perez wrote. “They described an environment fraught with intimidation and toxicity and referenced the ‘Fleck Bank; — a system that allowed players with enough ‘coins’ to get away with positive drug tests, and other violations of team rules …

“Unprompted, the term “cult” was used by multiple former players and former staff members to describe Fleck’s “Row the Boat” culture spelled out in the so-called “Fleck Book” that players are given when they join the team. Fleck said he developed the “Row the Boat” philosophy — one he laid out in a 2021 book of the same name — that was an approach he also used at Western Michigan.”

PJ Fleck has been the head coach at Minnesota since 2017.

During his six seasons in charge, the Golden Gophers have gone 44-27 overall and 26-26 in conference play. Minnesota finished tied for first in the Big Ten West in 2019, when the team finished 7-2 in conference play and 11-2 overall.

Minnesota is currently coming off back-to-back nine win seasons under PJ Fleck.