Minnesota HC PJ Fleck set to lose 5-figure salary bonus despite winning Quick Lane Bowl

Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck will reportedly not gain any bonus from his team playing in a bowl game this season. On Tuesday, the Golden Gophers faced the Bowling Green Falcons in the Quick Lane Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit.

Minnesota won the game 30-24, with running back Darius Taylor scoring the winning touchdown for the Golden Gophers.

But, while the Golden Gophers were triumphant in the bowl game, their coach, who won his 50th game with Minnesota, will apparently get no financial bonus for his team’s performance.

USA Today reporter Steve Berkowitz took to X to explain why this is the case.

"Per contract, Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck is not due a bowl-participation bonus because Golden Gophers were 5-7 in regular season," Berkowitz wrote.

Per Berkowitz, Fleck is not eligible for his contracted bowl game bonus of $32,500 because the Golden Gophers ended their regular season with a 5-7 record. This record is usually not enough to get a team into a bowl, as six wins are needed to be eligible to be selected to play in a bowl game.

Minnesota did not have six regular-season wins, so officially, and in Fleck's case contractually, the school did not make a bowl game.

So, why did Minnesota play in the Quick Lane Bowl when they were not officially eligible?

---

Luck and Academics: How Minnesota made a Bowl Game with a losing record

There are 82 spots for teams to fill every bowl season. That means 82 teams need six or more wins in their regular season to be eligible to earn one of these spots. However, this year, that was not the case.

Three spots were left to be filled after all the teams that had won six or more games were given a slot in a bowl showdown. The first two of these slots went to James Madison and Jacksonville State.

Both schools had more than six wins from their regular season. Still, they were officially illegible for a bowl game as they had recently switched to playing FCS-level football (the highest level of Division I Football in the NCAA).

This illegibility was waved this season to help fill the number. But this meant one spot remained for a five-win team to play in a bowl game. This spot went to Minnesota, but not for on-field reasons.

Of all of the five-win teams, Minnesota had the best Academic Progress Rate, meaning that the athletes on a scholarship at the University of Minnesota are making the most progress with their studies compared to the athletes on the other five-win teams.

Academics gave Minnesota a bowl game appearance but also cost P.J. Fleck a bonus he would have earned if his team had won one more matchup.