Fox Sports on Fleck to Minn: "Minnesota just pulled off the heist of the century."

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Fox Sports on Fleck to Minn: "Minnesota just pulled off the heist of the century."

per Fox Sports:

Minnesota just pulled off the heist of the century.

Honestly, that’s the only reaction I had to the college football bomb that dropped on Friday morning. Just a few days after Minnesota elected to fire Tracy Claeys in the midst of a tumultuous final few weeks on the job, it went out and stunned the college football world by hiring Western Michigan’s P.J. Fleck.

And when Fleck is officially introduced as the Gophers’ next head coach, all I will be able to say is wow. In a coaching carousel where Texas, Oregon and Purdue all roped in hot, young coaches, Minnesota – relative to where it is in the college football hierarchy – just got the best one.

Most folks know Fleck’s background, but for the Minnesota fan that might not, here’s what you need to know.

Fleck is a self-made coaching star, a man who came to Kalamazoo with a short resume (he had never even been a coordinator at any level, let alone head coach) and completely flipped the program on its head. After going 1-11 in year one, Fleck led the Broncos to back-to-back eight-win seasons in 2014 and 2015, before this year’s breakthrough 13-1 campaign that included a trip to the Cotton Bowl. Ironically, Fleck’s last game at Western Michigan was against his new Big Ten West rival, Wisconsin. And for those scoring at home, yes, his Broncos actually played the Badgers tougher than than Minnesota did this season, only losing by eight (the Gophers lost by 14).

In time, Minnesota will win under Fleck.

So with all due respect to Claeys, this is the home-run, can’t-miss hire of the college football season. Trade in a coach who was “good enough” for a proven winner, dynamic recruiter and overall life of the party, and we’re talking major upgrade. Like going to bed with a 1996 Honda Accord in your driveway and waking up with a Corvette. Like getting divorced from a broken marriage and starting a relationship with Beyonce a week later.

Congratulations to the Golden Gophers, who not only got a better coach, but got more interesting in the process.

So, too, did the Big Ten and college football as a whole.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-fo...choice-right-reeling-minnesota-program-010617

Go Gophers!!
 

Minnesota is on the verge of being relevant again. The sleeping giant is waking?
 

I don't agree that Western Michigan played the Badgers tougher than the Gophers. We led at halftime, and controlled the entire first half.
It wasn't until Mitch started flinging the rock into dangerous situations, and through that telegraphed throw that was picked off by the Wisconsin safety that turned that football game. We were a QB away from finally beating he Badgers that second half.
Just because we lost by 14 and they lost by 8 doesn't mean Western Michigan played the Badgers better. It just means they lost by a closer final score. Wisconsin looked like they were in control of the game against WMU the whole time, not the same story the last game of the season and we were playing them in Camp Randall.
 

PJ didn't get a job anywhere else.

Not sure this is a "heist" or "steal".

I do like PJ, will support him, happy to have him here.

But I think the downtime after bowl season magnifies this a bit more than it is.

Still, yay!
 

Count me as one that loves the perception of this move. All the National outlets seem blown away that we pulled this off. Time will tell if Fleck can win here but this is a hire that is getting us a ton of positive attention.
 


Can't but hope Mr.Torres is right. Hated the way Kaler and Coyle handled this, but gotta hope that Fleck is the right guy.
 

Iceland12 said:
Can't but hope Mr.Torres is right. Hated the way Kaler and Coyle handled this, but gotta hope that Fleck is the right guy.
Click to expand...

I hear you Iceland. You never like to see good people getting fired, but I think we may have an upgrade at head coach.
 

Minnesota on the rise! Wisconsin and Iowa on the decline!
 

This guy is seriously in man love with PJ Fleck. Might be overstating his case just a little bit, but I like the sentiment.
 



gopherdudepart2 said:
I don't agree that Western Michigan played the Badgers tougher than the Gophers. We led at halftime, and controlled the entire first half.
It wasn't until Mitch started flinging the rock into dangerous situations, and through that telegraphed throw that was picked off by the Wisconsin safety that turned that football game. We were a QB away from finally beating he Badgers that second half.
Just because we lost by 14 and they lost by 8 doesn't mean Western Michigan played the Badgers better. It just means they lost by a closer final score. Wisconsin looked like they were in control of the game against WMU the whole time, not the same story the last game of the season and we were playing them in Camp Randall.
Click to expand...

Completely agree. They were on their heels the whole game against UW and never trailed by less than 7-8 points. They had to convert a 4th down down 14 in the first half to prevent it from blowing open.
 


Sparlimb said:
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Click to expand...

For probably the first time in my life, everything is there for Minnesota to succeed. Great stadium, brand new facilities, a coach who can talk the talk and proved he can also coach in the MAC. There are no more excuses for why Minnesota can't compete for a Big Ten West title yearly. Fleck just has to go out and prove it.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
For probably the first time in my life, everything is there for Minnesota to succeed. Great stadium, brand new facilities, a coach who can talk the talk and proved he can also coach in the MAC. There are no more excuses for why Minnesota can't compete for a Big Ten West title yearly. Fleck just has to go out and prove it.
Click to expand...

Honest question . . .

What is relevant again? Like what kind of seasons would be a success and how long do you expect it to take to get there?
 



MNVCGUY said:
Count me as one that loves the perception of this move. All the National outlets seem blown away that we pulled this off. Time will tell if Fleck can win here but this is a hire that is getting us a ton of positive attention.
Click to expand...

For me that is the biggest part of this hire. We will see if Fleck is successful here or not but the perception of Minnesota's football program just went up.
 


If Pellini won 9 games every year and still got fired...I'd say 9 wins is the minimum to be relevant? And Winning the West at least once in the next three years would seem like relevant thresholds to me. Winning the bowl games is sure a nice feeling, not sure it's as important as which bowl you play in?
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
For probably the first time in my life, everything is there for Minnesota to succeed. Great stadium, brand new facilities, a coach who can talk the talk and proved he can also coach in the MAC. There are no more excuses for why Minnesota can't compete for a Big Ten West title yearly. Fleck just has to go out and prove it.
Click to expand...

Hope the AD and prez keep away. I expect 8 wins next year for starters...
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Honest question . . .

What is relevant again? Like what kind of seasons would be a success and how long do you expect it to take to get there?
Click to expand...

For me, I would be super happy if we could:

Win the West
Finish in the top 20
Beat Wisconsin

Three year horizon... I think we can hold things together and win 6-8 games over the next two years. Year 3. Boom.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
I don't agree that Western Michigan played the Badgers tougher than the Gophers. We led at halftime, and controlled the entire first half.
It wasn't until Mitch started flinging the rock into dangerous situations, and through that telegraphed throw that was picked off by the Wisconsin safety that turned that football game. We were a QB away from finally beating he Badgers that second half.
Just because we lost by 14 and they lost by 8 doesn't mean Western Michigan played the Badgers better. It just means they lost by a closer final score. Wisconsin looked like they were in control of the game against WMU the whole time, not the same story the last game of the season and we were playing them in Camp Randall.
Click to expand...

I dont either. It loomed to me that wmich got dominated all game despite the score. The gophers held with them until the 4th quarter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

#coacheslivesmatter
 

Fleck will leave Minnesota in 3 years. The only question is whether it is to greener pastures or due to the death spiral brought about by Coyle and Kaler.
 

Maverick said:
Minnesota is on the verge of being relevant again. The sleeping giant is waking?
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Not to be a debbie downer, but I wouldn't call the U a sleeping giant. We should get relevant again though and it'll be awesome when it happens.
 

60's Guy said:
If Pellini won 9 games every year and still got fired...I'd say 9 wins is the minimum to be relevant? And Winning the West at least once in the next three years would seem like relevant thresholds to me. Winning the bowl games is sure a nice feeling, not sure it's as important as which bowl you play in?
Click to expand...

At least 8 wins in 2017 regular season and above .500 in B1G. Perception is he's a better coach and recruiter, and this is not a rebuild situation so I'd be disappointed with something less performance wise.

Welcome to the big time, PJ!
 

Go 1-11 and beat Wisconsin, gets him an extension. 100% of the time.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Honest question . . .

What is relevant again? Like what kind of seasons would be a success and how long do you expect it to take to get there?
Click to expand...

They need to get back to beating rivals and ranked teams more often. Their record against ranked teams is one of the worst in the Big Ten and they haven't beaten a rival in 2 years. We should expect better than that.

The elite coaches usually have that great season in their 3rd or 4th year. That's when I would expect Fleck to win the west and make a trip to Indy.

It's really hard to tell how good this team is going to be next year. We'll have a little better idea after signing day and the suspensions are figured out. Right now they have talent at RB, LB, and DL although depth on the DL appears to be thin. They have big question marks at QB, WR, DB, and the OL - although they do have young depth there. They could be playing a lot of freshman/sophomores at these positions. They only lose 12 Seniors, but most of those were starters and good players.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
They need to get back to beating rivals and ranked teams more often. Their record against ranked teams is one of the worst in the Big Ten and they haven't beaten a rival in 2 years. We should expect better than that.

The elite coaches usually have that great season in their 3rd or 4th year. That's when I would expect Fleck to win the west and make a trip to Indy.

It's really hard to tell how good this team is going to be next year. We'll have a little better idea after signing day and the suspensions are figured out. Right now they have talent at RB, LB, and DL although depth on the DL appears to be thin. They have big question marks at QB, WR, DB, and the OL - although they do have young depth there. They could be playing a lot of freshman/sophomores at these positions. They only lose 12 Seniors, but most of those were starters and good players.
Click to expand...

WR and OL weren't great, but we are returning quite a bit of depth depth there. We should be good.

So what do you expect in the next two years? I'd be happy with 7-9 wins in the next two seasons, but that was a big "meh" for a lot of people. I'm not ripping on that opinion, I just am curious what that crowd would deem successful in years 1-3.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
WR and OL weren't great, but we are returning quite a bit of depth depth there. We should be good.

So what do you expect in the next two years? I'd be happy with 7-9 wins in the next two seasons, but that was a big "meh" for a lot of people. I'm not ripping on that opinion, I just am curious what that crowd would deem successful in years 1-3.
Click to expand...

This is not a rebuild. The perception is he is a better coach and recruiter. He now has better resources, facilities, and players. Why should any fan not expect him to at least maintain in 2017 and win the West in 2018?
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
WR and OL weren't great, but we are returning quite a bit of depth depth there. We should be good.

So what do you expect in the next two years? I'd be happy with 7-9 wins in the next two seasons, but that was a big "meh" for a lot of people. I'm not ripping on that opinion, I just am curious what that crowd would deem successful in years 1-3.
Click to expand...

7-9 wins could be great. It's about context. Who did you beat and how? Who did you lose to and how? Record alone cannot be used to evaluate these seasons.

Love the hire. Go Gophs!
 

PMWinSTP said:
This is not a rebuild. The perception is he is a better coach and recruiter. He now has better resources, facilities, and players. Why should any fan not expect him to at least maintain in 2017 and win the West in 2018?
Click to expand...

I agree. This can't be a rebuild. If it's a rebuild, it's a failure.
 

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