The Western Michigan Broncos have fielded a Division-I football team since 1962 and they’ve exclusively competed in the Mid-American Conference. The Broncos haven’t won the MAC since 1988 while they’ve also failed to reach the conference title game since 2000, but they are a program that is becoming a force to be reckoned within the conference. P.J. Fleck just completed his third year as the head football coach at Western Michigan and he brings with him infectious energy that could soon make him a big-time name on the college football scene.
Fleck played his college football for the Northern Illinois Huskies who are also in the Mid-American Conference. Fleck played wide receiver at Northern Illinois where he set single-season school records as a senior in receptions (77), receiving yards (1,028), and receiving touchdowns (6). After Fleck’s college eligibility ended, he went undrafted by the National Football League before signing with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers primarily used Fleck on special teams before injuries ended his NFL career in 2006. But as one door closed for Fleck, another opened as he wanted to pursue a career in coaching.
In 2006, Fleck was a graduate assistant for the Ohio State Buckeyes where at learned at the feet of head football coach Jim Tressel. After one year at Ohio State, Fleck would return to his alma mater in 2007 as the wide receivers coach. After three years at Northern Illinois, Fleck would join the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the same capacity before returning to the National Football League in 2012 as the wide receivers coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But Fleck would receive the opportunity of a lifetime in 2013 when he finally got to lead his own program when he was named as the head football coach at Western Michigan.
Things would start slow for Fleck as the Broncos went 1-11 in 2013 before they would turn things around as they went 8-5 in 2014 to become a contender in the Mid-American Conference.
P.J. Fleck
This season Western Michigan began the season with a record of 1-3, but two of those losses came against Big Ten Conference powers in the Michigan State Spartans and Ohio State. The Broncos would win their first five conference games as a trip to Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan and the Mid-American Conference Title Game appeared to be in the cards until they suffered consecutive losses to the Bowling Green State Falcons and Northern Illinois. Western Michigan would rebound to win their regular-season finale against the Toledo Rockets and in the process hurt their chances of making the conference title game. Then on Christmas Eve, the Broncos knocked off the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders 45-31 in the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl for their first bowl win in school history. The Broncos finished 2015 with a record of 8-5 which also marked the first time since 2006 that they had consecutive winning seasons.
Western Michigan finished this college football season with the top offense in the Mid-American Conference while they are currently 17th in the nation in total offense. The Broncos offense also produced three, first-team All-MAC performers in senior offensive tackle Willie Beavers, along with junior wide receivers Corey Davis and Daniel Braverman. The Broncos also had the MAC Freshman of the Year in running back Jamauri Bogan who gained 1,051 yards on the ground. The Broncos have a ton of talent returning on the offensive side of the football which will make them an early favorite to win the MAC in 2016 which would also make Fleck an attractive name for some potential openings at bigger schools.
At the age of 35, Fleck looks like he could be a football player for Western Michigan and the passion that he had as a player is still with him. When Fleck takes the field with his team, he wears a shirt and a tie like Tressel did at Ohio State, but he is also known to put on a pair of cleats while he is one the sidelines, and if he could, he would go out on the field in order to catch a slant pass. Fleck is a native of Sugar Grove, Illinois and he embodies that region of the United States as he is scrappy and he is not going to take anything for granted. And after facing Western Michigan under Fleck, teams know that win or lose, they’ve been in a battle.
Like I previously stated, Fleck’s energy and enthusiasm are infectious, and it won’t be that long before more people around the college football world know about it as it will become very difficult to just keep it bottled up at Western Michigan.
Source: Cfbstats.com, Sports-reference.com
Leave A Comment