Minnesota’s Fleck calls accusations baseless

• Adam Rittenberg, ESPN

  • Senior Citizen WriterJul 27, 2023, 11:16 AM ET Close College football press reporter.
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2008.
  • Graduate of Northwestern University.INDIANAPOLIS– Minnesota

coach P.J. Fleck protected his program versus what he called “unwarranted claims “of mistreatment by previous players and others in a current report.Fleck informed ESPN that the claims in a Wednesday report from Front Office Sports have”been looked into numerous times given that 2017 “without any misbehavior found.Several former Minnesota players informed Front Workplace Sports that Fleck would neglect favorable drug tests and other group rules infractions for players who had actually accumulated enough goodwill through a points system called Fleck Bank. The previous players and others said excessive workouts were utilized as penalty and explained a cultlike culture that contained significant intimidation.Fleck stated Minnesota has actually established six channels where players can report mistreatment, consisting of straight to athletic director Mark Coyle, who informed Front Office Sports that he had actually never ever heard such claims from Gophers players. Fleck kept in mind that Minnesota’s athletic department followed the football program’s lead in not allowing exercise to be utilized as punishment for athletes.Editor’s Picks

1 Related”Our shows culture is proven to deal with and off the field, and it’s constantly performed in a top-notch manner,” Fleck told ESPN. “There are lots of testimonials from previous, current and future Gophers.”

Fleck said throughout his Big 10 media days news conference that the Fleck Bank was an example he mostly used throughout the 2017 and 2018 seasons about player financial investment in the program and how those who put more in will have much better experiences.

“There was no currency ever exchanged. There was no coins that ever existed,” Fleck stated. “It was an analogy just to explain investment for life, a life lesson of investment, merely that. No one ever left any kind of penalty for that.”

He added that punishments used in the program are cleaning up the weight space early in the morning or seeing videos on tardiness and writing letters to professors for those who are late to classes.Fleck informed ESPN

that the claims come from a previous Minnesota professor who he said” plainly has an individual vendetta against myself and our football program.”He included that he thinks the majority of players who speak with the former faculty member have actually been dismissed or removed from Minnesota’s program.”You are who you are, and you’re running an extremely, extremely open, transparent program, “Fleck said.”Our university understands that, our athletic department, our athletic director understand that, and they experience it every single day. “Fleck is entering his seventh year at Minnesota and has a record of 44-27 at the school with 4 bowl appearances and a top-10 surface in 2019.