P.J. Fleck rowed his boat to Minnesota in the Big Ten after making history with Western Michigan.

If you were living under a College Football rock this past weekend, chances are you missed one of the biggest stories of the offseason. Of course, we’re talking about P.J. Fleck’s flip from Western Michigan to the University of Minnesota head coaching job.

During his introductory press conference on Friday, Fleck made it abundantly clear that this coaching staff and he, personally, were all about recruiting 100 percent of the time. It didn’t take long for that talk to turn in to action.

By the end of Friday night, a full six Western Michigan commits had already flipped from the Broncos to the Minnesota Gophers. By the end of the weekend, that number stood at eight players.

Yes, eight players from a class of 25 players are now gone from Western Michigan to Minnesota. In total, 11 players have decommitted from Western Michigan in the wake of Fleck’s departure according to 247Sports.

It would make sense for some players to want to follow Fleck for sure. He is a brand unto himself, and he sells potential recruits as much on his personal vision for life as he does on playing the game of football at a specific university.

Those recruits who have chosen Western Michigan, they’ve likely done it because Fleck was there. Sure, some could be WMU legacy players, some may have gone as the only FBS scholarship offer and others were in love with the academic program.

We’re guessing the vast majority were there because of Fleck, and the actions of the past 72 hours or so certainly haven’t steered us any other way.

How could someone not want to play for a vision like the one Fleck laid out during his introductory press conference?

“We want this to become a national brand, a national movement, where people from all over the country want to come to the University of Minnesota,” Fleck said. “Because it’s different, it has energy, it’s unique, it’s uncommon. And I’m OK with that because that’s me.”

By the end of it all, Western Michigan’s class was no longer ahead of the Gophers in the recruiting rankings. Instead, Minnesota had shot up over 20 spots in the 247Sports team rankings to 52nd in the country. Western Michigan had dropped to 87th in the country and down from second in the MAC to fourth.

Yet, this coaching change highlights one of the bigger issues in college football recruiting today and that is the ripple effect that a coaching change can have.

Usually said coaching change happens in early December these days, and the impact on the immediate recruiting class is limited. With nearly two months to put together a class, hold one together or rebuild one a transition isn’t as impactful.

However, Fleck’s departure up the coaching ladder in January highlights just how impactful a late coaching change can be on the immediate future of a program.

Western Michigan will be losing a lot on the field going in to 2017, had Fleck stayed or not. Getting the type of class Fleck was building was going to be key to restocking the program.

Now a new head coach will have little to no time to rebuild a class, especially with the level of talent that Fleck was apparently bringing in to Kalamazoo, Mich.

Of course, that is none of his concern these days. His job is to worry about Minnesota football and getting them to be a team that can actually beat the Wisconsin Badgers (something that hasn’t happened in well over a decade).

Some of that means getting guys that have already bought in to him and his philosophies mixed in to the program right away. It also means trusting his recruiting process.

But, this kind of insane flip of recruits should also highlight that a coaching change isn’t just about the man. There are far-reaching ripple effects for everyone involved in the program. From the athletic director to the support staff, from the senior-to-be to the incoming recruit. From the assistant coaches to their families, these moves make big waves in the lives of plenty of people.

For those eight players who followed Fleck, their ripple effect was to move upstream in the world of college football. Going from the MAC to the Big Ten in a matter of days? Who wouldn’t be excited by those opportunities.

It will be interesting to see how this all settles itself out, but given the sea changes happening for both Minnesota and Western Michigan, it may be a bit before we understand the full impact of what happened this weekend.

[Land of 10]

About Andrew Coppens

Andy is a contributor to The Comeback as well as Publisher of Big Ten site talking10. He also is a member of the FWAA and has been covering college sports since 2011. Andy is an avid soccer fan and runs the Celtic FC site The Celtic Bhoys. If he's not writing about sports, you can find him enjoying them in front of the TV with a good beer!