Newly hired Univ. of Minnesota football coach P.J. Fleck is "working on getting the rights" to the phrase "Row The Boat" from Western Michigan and "bringing it with him to his new job," according to Sam Khan Jr. of ESPN.com. Fleck said, "There's just some things to go through, and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to bring it with me." The phrase is "currently trademarked" by WMU's BOT. However, Fleck said that he was "hoping to be able to obtain it for use at Minnesota since the meaning is so personal to him." Fleck: "When we first put it out there, you had to be able to have a trademark and licensing, I think it was with the university, or you can't sell it as a university logo through the NCAA rules. So they basically own those rights to it, and that was something that I gave them the ability to do, because I never saw a dollar from it, never saw a cent from it, but we were able to create some type of culture. ... I'm not sure what they're going to do with it, but I really hope because of what it means, that I have the ability to at least purchase it, take it with me" (ESPN.com, 1/12). WMU AD Kathy Beauregard said that she has not "heard from Fleck or his agent." She said, "Nobody's contacted me about it." Beauregard added that she is "open to a discussion" on how to deal with the situation "since it has to do with legal contracts" (MLIVE.com, 1/12).
