Sports

Former Minnesota Football Transfer Goes Full Scorched Earth On Head Coach P.J. Fleck And His Ego

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  • P.J. Fleck has been the head coach at Minnesota since 2017.
  • Over the course of his career, he has been widely considered one of the most excitable, genuine coaches in college football.
  • However, one of his former players is claiming that is not the case.

P.J. Fleck and the University of Minnesota football team have had an interesting go at the transfer portal. Much like other programs around the country, the Gophers have seen some big-time talent leave, but they have also pulled some big-time contributors out of the portal.

However, even when the portal brought talent to Minneapolis, it didn’t always work in the program’s favor. Take Val Martin, for example.

After spending three years at N.C. State, the 6-foot-2, 305-pound former three-star defensive tackle transferred to Minnesota prior to the 2021 season. His experience with the Gophers was not positive.

Val Martin went full scorched earth on Minnesota and head coach P.J. Fleck with a rollercoaster Twitter rant this week.

Martin got things started on Tuesday afternoon, saying that going to Minnesota was the worst thing he ever did and calling Fleck a “car salesman.”

https://twitter.com/Iam_VMLV/status/1541875203038478340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1541875203038478340%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.minnesotasportsfan.com%2Fformer-transfer-val-martin-goes-after-pj-fleck-minnesota-gophers-football-twitter%2F

From there, he did not hold back.

Specifically, Val Martin called out P.J. Fleck’s ego.

Val Martin even claimed that P.J. Fleck allowed his teammate to punch him in the face and threatened him if he was to retaliate.

He then went on to clarify what he says happened.

In response to accusations that he was kicked off of Minnesota for violating team policy, he said that it was because he did not go into the game with two minutes left.

He also claimed that he asked Fleck for one last game with the team because his family was in town, but was told to move on.

And Val Martin was not done there. He claimed that he is not alone in his dislike of Fleck and the program he is running at Minnesota.

When people pushed back and asked why nobody within the program has spoken up, Martin said that they are scared to do so.

And then he shared messages that he received from people who claim to be familiar with the program or have previously played, coached or worked under Fleck.

https://twitter.com/Iam_VMLV/status/1542154074518339584?s=20&t=8aZxiNTqvPjcxZIBwqRtOw

https://twitter.com/Iam_VMLV/status/1541956609282347008

He also hopes that other players will do the same.

It will be interesting to see if Fleck and Minnesota chooses to address Martin’s claims. As of now, both parties have stayed silent.