Gophers head football coach P.J. Fleck has received a one-year contract extension through the 2023 season, with University of Minnesota Board of Regents approval Friday morning.

Fleck’s deal will then span five more seasons and will expire in January 2024.

“It is a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to lead this team and represent the University of Minnesota and our great state,” Fleck said in a statement. “Heather and I are so thankful to our staff, Mark Coyle, President (Eric) Kaler and the Board of Regents for seeing the vision we have for our football program. We are so excited and humbled with the contact extension!”

At Thursday’s finance and operations meeting, Kaler cited the Gophers’ recent win over Wisconsin for Paul Bunyan’s Axe when he introduced the contract extension. Kaler said it was in order given the “recent acquisition of the axe, as well as significant progress in this program.”

The U added a year to Fleck’s contract at the same point last December. Kaler said such one-year extensions are “becoming a pretty common way to do business” in the big-money football conferences.

To not extend Fleck would send “a negative message,” Kaler said.

At least two regents balked at the extension. Dean Johnson said four years of job security should be enough to aid in recruiting. “I’m just not sure we have to go the fifth year,” he said.

Fleck initially agreed to a five-year, $18 million contract in January 2017. His annual compensation started at $3.5 million, with $50,000 annual increases. Kaler said Fleck ranks 11th in compensation among the 14 Big Ten head football coaches.

The latest extension maintains the structure of his original contract. If the U were to fire Fleck, it would have to pay him a sum that decreases over time. It starts at $13 million next year and falls to $1.5 million by 2023.

Fleck, or his future employer, would have to pay the U $1 million for every year left on his contract if he were to leave early.

In his first season in 2017, Fleck posted a 5-7 record, which kept the U one win shy of bowl eligibility. In his second season, Fleck’s team improved to 6-6, and Minnesota will appear in the Quick Lane Bowl against Georgia Tech (7-5) at Ford Field in Detroit on Dec. 26.

“The growth of this program is evident,” Gophers Athletics Director Mark Coyle said in a statement. “Coach Fleck is building a team that excels on and off the field. He recruits at an extreme level and has brought in the highest ranked classes in school history. His players are continually involved in the community and his program has produced record numbers of Academic All-Americans and Academic All-Big Ten honorees. I look forward to more continued success as Coach Fleck builds his program.”

Minnesota, which has one of the youngest teams in the country, needed to win two of its final three games to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2016.

The Gophers’ 37-15 win over Wisconsin on Nov. 24 was Minnesota’s first victory over the Badgers since 2003, and the U’s first win in Madison since 1994.

“To have all that pressure (with the rivalry and bowl eligibility on the line), all that expectation and all of that against them and be able to play the way they did, I think … you saw how they played,” Fleck said after the Gophers received a bowl bid Dec. 2. “That is what they are capable of playing week in and week out.” Related Articles Rashod Bateman practicing with Gophers, but his eligibility remains uncertain

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With the early national signing period opening Wednesday, Fleck and his staff have been wrapping up their 2019 recruiting class, which is ranked 35th in the nation, according to 247sports.com’s composite rankings.

On the recruiting trail, Fleck said his message wasn’t specifically about winning the axe and going to a bowl, but about the overall direction of the program.

“It’s one thing talking about it; it’s another thing to do it,” Fleck said.