P.J. Fleck on Western Michigan’s Bahamas Bowl win: “They kept their oars in the water”

Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck has become famed for his “Row The Boat” saying, which grew out of personal tragedy, and he kept to the theme in his post-game interview after the Broncos’ 45-31 Bahamas Bowl win over Middle Tennessee Thursday. To celebrate the first bowl win in school history, Fleck made five different rowing references post-game, including this one:

https://twitter.com/TrevorSikkema/status/680127850511470597

And he managed to work in a recruiting pitch, too:

P.J. Fleck is so with the times he made his entire recruiting pitch in one Vine. #RowTheBoat https://t.co/NRfFsAPVUi

— Coach (@JayDSarkar) December 24, 2015

Fleck doesn’t do this just in interviews, either. Check out how he led his team out of the locker room pregame versus Ohio State:

Western Michigan wins Popeyes Bahamas Bowl #ROWTHEBOAT https://t.co/Ksq2jt9BZs

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) December 24, 2015

A couple of years ago, Fleck spoke about how “Row The Boat” and its perseverance-focused approach came from the loss of his son:

“Row The Boat first came to the forefront when my wife and I lost our second child,” Fleck says in the video. “We had a second son after Carter, we had a second son name Colt. And Colton had a heart condition and we lost him shortly after birth. We knew toward the end of the pregnancy that we were going to lose him, it was just a matter of how long he’d be with us. We got to spend time with him, be with him, hold him. But to watch your son pass away in your wife’s arms is an amazing experience in terms of the amount of sorrow and the amount of frustration, questions.

“But it was something that I had in the back of my mind to say, ‘Hey, no matter what happens, no matter what we’re going to do here, we’re just going to keep rowing. Whatever turns out, however it turns out, we’re just going to keep rowing. Then when it does turn out, good or bad, we’re just going to keep rowing, keep rowing and keep rowing. So, it was able to, at least, help my method to get through some type of adversity.”

The “Row The Boat” approach is certainly paying benefits for Fleck and the Broncos, and it’s making for some great media clips as well.