The Gophers football team finished up a regular Tuesday practice a few weeks ago. Head coach P.J. Fleck then fulfilled his daily media obligations and disappeared.

Fleck didn’t wander far, surfacing across the Athletes Village courtyard in the men’s basketball practice facility. He quietly sat down and watched his friend, neighbor, confidant and, most importantly, a fellow head coach in Niko Medved conduct roughly 20 minutes of a preseason practice.

Gophers men’s basketball coach Niko Medved draws up a play for his team during a timeout late Tuesday in Eugene, Ore. Minnesota beat the Ducks, 61-44, at Matthew Knight Arena. (Ceci De Young/Gophers Athletics)“That was all I needed,” Fleck told the Pioneer Press last week.

Medved took a double take to make sure it was Fleck sitting in one of the courtside chairs and soon walked over to say hello.

Fleck’s team wasn’t far removed at the time from a humbling 38-13 loss to Mississippi State on Sept. 12, and Medved asked if Fleck just needed a break.

Medved recalled Fleck saying, “Yeah, maybe.”

“I think I said to him, you don’t need me to tell you this, but you are going to look back at this game against Mississippi State, and it’s going to be the best thing that has ever happened to your team,” Medved told the Pioneer Press while at Big Ten Media Days last week.

Fleck’s team then posted two Big Ten wins over Washington and Michigan before coming back down to earth in a deflating 41-13 loss to Purdue. The Gophers have a bye week to heal and prepare for an Oct. 24 home game against No. 17 Iowa.

And if he needs a minute, Fleck can again turn to Medved.

Medved is a football fan, and Fleck a basketball fan, which helped the pair form a bond over in the past 18 months. Fleck talked to Medved days before he took the U job in March 2025. After his introductory press conference, Medved went over to the football facility to watch Fleck lead a spring practice.

Medved and Fleck are neighbors in a western suburb, just like Fleck and former coach Richard Pitino were until Pitino left the U for New Mexico in 2021. Fleck and Ben Johnson were collegial over Johnson’s four seasons as head coach, but they never seemed particularly close like Fleck was with Pitino and is becoming with Medved.

Fleck felt the September visit to the men’s basketball facility was cathartic. He saw Medved’s second team prepare for the season, which includes its first exhibition game against Omaha at 7 p.m. Thursday at Williams Arena.

“Watching him coach makes me feel very good about where our basketball program is at,” Fleck said. “It’s great to have a Minnesotan who loves Minnesota so much coaching our basketball team, the energy and the excitement that was poured into that practice.”

Their unique relationship includes an element others can’t quite match, but their hectic schedules and incongruous breaks make it tough for them to see each other as much as they want.

“There is nothing like being a head coach,” Medved said. “There are certain things that maybe you can talk about and discuss and share an emotion that you know he would appreciate in a way that others maybe never would. I don’t think there is any question about that.”

Both Gophers head coaches have to deal with having fewer financial resources at Minnesota than many of their peers in the Big Ten.

“I think the connection between programs is important,” Fleck said. “I think these days with the race of NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) and where the money goes, it’s completely selfless on both sides. I want the basketball team to succeed a ton, and I know he wants the football team to succeed a ton. I think supporting each other is the best way to do that.”