The Next Great Head Coach No One Is Talking About
Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports
Tom Herman's star is shining as bright as any coach at a non-power 5 school in a long time. Maybe since Urban Meyer, who he learned under at Ohio State. But you already know everything about Herman. You've been hearing about him around the clock for weeks.
The coach you may not have heard of is putting together a resume as impressive as Herman, yet he isn't getting nearly the same publicity.
P.J. Fleck is a young rising star at Western Michigan. He took over the job in 2013 after starting his career at Ohio State as a GA, and then as a WR coach in Northern Illinois, Rutgers, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Fleck has Western Michigan at 7-0 after a win over Akron this weekend. But how he turned around the Broncos is why this guy deserves a big time job in 2017.
Fleck took over a 4-8 team. His first season he went 1-11. Injuries, youth, and inexperience were the ingredients for a dumpster fire in his 1st season, which was the worst in program history.
But in 2014, they got healthier. They were still young, but grew up a little. And they were now a little more experienced. They were also a little more talented. Fleck's knack for recruiting began to show immediately and the Broncos turned that 1-11 season in 2013 into an 8-4 season in 2014 and a bowl birth.
In 2015, Fleck managed to put together the top rated recruiting class in the conference for the 3rd straight season. Even though the program started slow on his watch he was still able to bring in impact players for the future. Which is a testament again to the incredible recruiter Fleck is. Western Michigan went 7-5 and 7 of their 12 opponents reached a bowl game that season. The Broncos also won a bowl game for the first time in program history in 2015.
Now, in 2016, Fleck once again has the best rated recruiting class in MAC conference. Which is his 4th consecutive year rounding up the top rated class in the conference. The result is a 7-0 start and wins over 2 Big Ten teams (Northwestern, Illinois), which is the 1st time Western Michigan has beaten 2 Big Ten teams in a season in program history. After starting 6-0, Western Michigan was also ranked in the top 25 for the first time in program history (#24). And now they sit at #20 after their 7-0 start.
Ask any college football junkie and they'll tell you recruiting is the pulse of your program. When a guy like Fleck successfully lands the top class in his conference for 4 straight years, even though he started 1-11, and has elevated a program to the next step in every season afterwards, it tells you not only is he an outstanding recruiter, he's also a remarkable evaluator of talent. And it's only a matter of time before the little known coach makes a big time impact in a big time conference.
