Hustle Belt Top 10: Landing Spots for PJ Fleck in 2017

It’s the season of arbitrary college football lists, so we at the Belt decided to make our own for the potential landing spots for PJ Fleck next season. So here’s our very biased and very final selections.

10. Ole Miss

Hugh Freeze is likely to be fired in 2017 for the many, many infractions at Ole Miss stemming from Laremy Tunsil’s draft night, and Fleck would be a great hire for the Rebels if they want to keep being the second-best team in the West. Can’t wait to see them beat Alabama one week and lose to Mississippi State the next.

9. Nebraska

It’s Mike Riley’s second year at Nebraska, so he’ll be gone by the time 2017 rolls around. Fleck would feel right at home with the unrealistic expectations of the fans and the fluky conference wins that the program’s had recently. If he can get kids to go to Kalamazoo, he can definitely can bring them to Lincoln to get a degree in corn engineering.

8. Kansas

It’s been a while since PJ’s seen some good college basketball, so this would be an intriguing option for him. But he would have to break every NCAA recruiting rule to make the Jayhawks good, so it would definitely be a job that would challenge Fleck.

7. Auburn

There’s some similarities between WMU and Auburn, in that they’ll never escape Big Brother’s shadow and they’d win a crapload of titles if they didn’t play in the West. The best part about Fleck to AU is that he’d roll Toomer’s Corner himself and find any reason to do it. “We got a three-star offensive guard to commit? TIME TO TAKE A TRIP, GUYS.”

6. Indiana

The Hoosiers are probably going to move on from Kevin Wilson, who doesn’t practice defense, to PJ Fleck, who practices sending messages taped to footballs to his players. Hopefully they get the message that they’re 0-3 against Ball State the last three times they’ve played and choose nobler pursuits than football.

5. West Virginia

With Dana Holgorsen seemingly out the door, Fleck in Morgantown has the potential for so many great moments, like the GQ Bowl against Kliff Kingsbury and Texas Tech or the revival of the Backyard Brawl (probably the most underrated rivalry in college football). Hopefully the Mountaineers realize that burning furniture on boats is kind of problematic. TAKE ME HOOOOOME, ROW THE BOOOOOOAT, TO THE PLACE I BELOOOONG...

4. Georgia Tech

Paul Johnson’s on the hot seat for an injury-riddled 2015, and having Fleck in the ACC with Jimbo Fisher and Dabo Swinney would be a lot of fun. And then there’s the actual football played in the ACC, which is not so fun. #RowTheRamblinWreck

3. LSU

After firing Les Miles for some dumb reason, the Tigers need to replace him with another good recruiting coach who’s a bit off his rocker and loses to his main rival. Honestly, the best part about PJ going to Baton Rouge is the thought of him trying to ride Mike the Tiger onto the field. “He’s a death machine, coach!” “We need more of those on the roster.”

2. Tennessee

Following year after year of disappointment, the Volunteers might decide to finally hire a coach that can recruit at a high level in Fleck in 2017. Given time, he might actually turn that program around and win the SEC East to earn the right to lose to Alabama in the SEC title game.

1. Southern Cal

Todd Helton’s seat is scalding right now after the Trojans’ showing against Alabama, and this opening would give Fleck a chance to take it to his former employer in 2017 when USC hosts Western Michigan. Plus, Los Angeles is far enough away from the MAC West so that he might be able to win some conference games.