To spring game or not to spring game?

Nebraska never has to ask that question, but Minnesota did and decided on a paywall this year.

Nebraska mascot Lil’ Red outside of Memorial Stadium before the 2023 spring game. | Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

P.J. Fleck was dressed for Easter 10 days early. That’s the only way I can describe it.

The Minnesota head coach held a press conference to kick off spring practice March 21—as one does—and wore a pale blue, textured sport coat with a white dress shirt that had buttons of all different colors—as he does. The buttons, little Easter eggs in field of March Minnesota snow, made me irrationally angry as I watched Fleck’s press conference days later. That’s my problem, not his.

But, in my defense, I’ve never had the issue others might with Fleck’s try-hard nature on the football field, and I certainly can’t dismiss the results he’s had at Western Michigan or Minnesota simply because he seems like the kid who always raised his hand first in elementary. My perfect Fleck is one who wins games however he pleases while also dressing like he knows menswear is an unfair advantage. Almost no man will look better than he would in a gray or blue suit with a simple shirt and smart tie, so the only reason to step outside that framework is to be noticed. Everything Fleck does—sprinting everywhere when he coaches a game, putting the visual representation (an oar) of his personal motto on level footing with the helmet logo of a storied program—is designed to be noticed.

I can live with most of that stuff and only really take issue with his closet, but Fleck and I aren’t so different in at least one regard.

Fleck is effectively paywalling Minnesota’s spring game.