5 potential replacements for P.J. Fleck as Western Michigan head coach

With P.J. Fleck set to take a new job at Minnesota, here are five options to become the new head coach at Western Michigan.

As a 13-0 season that led to a Cotton Bowl berth went on, Western Michigan head coach P.J. Fleck became a top candidate to take a new job in a Power 5 conference. But he was able to be picky to some degree, and when the initial coaching carousel stopped spinning Fleck was left out.

But an opening an Minnesota came with the firing of Tracy Claeys this week, and Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Fleck will be announced as the new Gophers head coach on Friday afternoon.

So now Western Michigan, at this late stage, is left to search for a new football coach. But Fleck is leaving behind a good situation, and here are five candidates to be the next coach to “row the boat” in Kalamazoo.

5. Gus Bradley

Bradley was fired after almost four seasons as Jacksonville Jaguars head coach (14-48 record). He’s surfacing as a candidate to open defensive coordinator positions, based on his sold stint in that post with the Seattle Seahawks (2009-2012), with some reported tie to Anthony Lynn as a head coach-defensive coordinator package deal.

But if Bradley does not find a coordinator position he wants, sitting out a year and a college head coaching job would be his most obvious options. There obviously aren’t many of the latter available right now, and his Minnesota roots led to a casual mention of him as a candidate there. Western Michigan could be an option for Bradley, assuming there is any interest from either side.