PJ Fleck Responds After Ex-Gophers Coach Rips Him

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Gophers head football coach P.J. Fleck has responded after former coach Jerry Kill ripped him on national radio earlier this week. Fleck spoke with play-by-play announcer Mike Grimm during the halftime of Thursday's Gophers basketball game against Michigan.

"I got a lot of respect for Jerry Kill. I always will," Fleck said on FM 100.3 KFAN. "I’ve learned so much from him."

"I'm really sorry that he feels that way," he added. "I'm not sure where that came from."

"But I do know this. We’re focused on our team. I wish him all the best as he gets in the next journey of his life being an athletic director, and I hope he’s OK."

About Kill's harsh view of him, Fleck said "That saddens me, it saddened Heather, it saddened our entire family."

Fleck coached under Kill for two years at Northern Illinois. Kill went on to coach the Gophers from 2011 to 2015.

In an interview on Sirius XM College Sports Tuesday, Kill blasted Fleck's approach at Minnesota and said that his ego gets carried away.

"When he went into Minnesota and treated the people the way he treated my guys," Kill said.

"And telling them he had to go in and completely change the culture, and it was a bad culture and bad people. You know, he made it sound like we didn’t know what we were doing. And I took it personal."

"You just don’t treat people that have been with you and helped your career, and you don’t even talk to them once you get the job," he added.

Kill said his last conversation with Fleck "will be the last time" he ever talks to him.

"Do I still root for the Gophers? I do. Do I enjoy him running up and down the sidelines? No. Do I think that he’s about the players? No. He’s about himself."

Listen to Kill's comments on Fleck here.