P.J. Fleck’s name could surface again in UCLA’s head coaching search

Fleck's name is already starting to float around with the Bruins' open head coach position.

Aug 28, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck looks on during the first half of the game against the Buffalo Bulls at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

We're only three weeks into the season, but the college football coaching carousel has already started. UCLA and Virginia Tech fired their head coaches on Sunday, and per usual, Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck is being floated as a potential candidate.

Two offseasons ago, when the Bruins hired DeShaun Foster, Fleck was mentioned as a potential candidate — and Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle later confirmed UCLA's interest "was real." The Foster experiment did not work, so will UCLA revisit its interest in Fleck?

"They're going to hire an opposite, and they're going to hire a proven coach. Obviously, they're going to have to financially do that," Pete Thamel said on the College GameDay Podcast this week. "The name that came up last time in the search, that went some distance, but they didn't have the finances to do it, was P.J. Fleck. [He] is an intriguing energy bolt, because he would go and make them relevant, right? He would, just by force of nature and the way he goes."

Thamel also mentioned Washington's Jedd Fisch (he was Minnesota's OC in 2009), UNLV's Dan Mullen and Baylor's Dave Aranda, but continued saying it's not a "definitive, thought-out list." He thinks Fleck is the type of "model" that UCLA could pursue as its next head coach.

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Fleck's name is seemingly floated every cycle, but the UCLA situation in 2024 seemed like the closest things have ever gotten to him leaving. Many reports labeled him a "top choice" for the Bruins, but they ultimately went in a different direction.

"Every year, people have contacted him," Coyle told KFXN-FM's Justin Gaard in March of 2024. "He's had great success here. When UCLA [opened], when that started to percolate and gain momentum... he and I talked on Friday night. We had really long conversations on Friday night. He and I had long conversations on Saturday morning. I had the chance to talk with President Ettinger, with board leadership and those type of things. We all recognized what P.J. means to this place."

The coaching carousel is unpredictable, and there are hundreds of factors that go into every coaching search, but it's hard to ignore that there was at least a little bit of mutual interest between Fleck and UCLA last time around.

Fleck and the Gophers have nine games left on their 2025 schedule and any conversations about UCLA's open head coach position will likely happen between the Bruins' higher ups and Fleck's longtime agent Bryan Harlan.

It's not a distraction yet, but it could become one if Fleck's name surfaces during the season.