Chip Scoggins: Fleck's poaching of W. Michigan recruits part of the deal

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BleedGopher

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per Chip:

Minnesotans still were trying to process P.J. Fleck’s blowtorch introduction when the Gophers new football coach revealed a different side of himself. His shark recruiter side.

Hours after stepping off a private plane for his first day on the job, Fleck began salvaging a recruiting class by poaching recruits that had verbally committed to his previous employer, Western Michigan.

He flipped one, then two, then three, then four. By the end, nine members of Western Michigan’s recruiting class changed allegiances and decided to flock with Fleck.

In one fell swoop, Fleck drained his former team of some of its best incoming talent. Some observers decried that kind of pilfering as bad optics.

News flash: Of course it looks ruthless. Since when did recruiting become our moral compass?

http://www.startribune.com/p-j-flec...-recruits-comes-with-the-territory/410789705/

Go Gophers!!
 

Kids are recruited by ... and to some extent to coaches.

In most cases they're not recruited by schools.

*shrug*
 

No ****, Sherlock.

When Coyle fired Claeys and cited recruiting as one of the reasons, it was pretty evident that they weren't going to hire a guy like Miles.
 

Has anyone read what Kalamazoo fans think of Fleck taking kids? I doubt we would be thrilled to see 10 recruits change allegiance over a 36 hour timespan and head out with a former coach.
 

MennoSota said:
Has anyone read what Kalamazoo fans think of Fleck taking kids? I doubt we would be thrilled to see 10 recruits change allegiance over a 36 hour timespan and head out with a former coach.
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Very, Very questionable!!
 


MennoSota said:
Has anyone read what Kalamazoo fans think of Fleck taking kids? I doubt we would be thrilled to see 10 recruits change allegiance over a 36 hour timespan and head out with a former coach.
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I wouldn't be thrilled for sure but ... we all know kids commit to coaches and less so schools (if at all).

I've seen some WMU fans a bit upset on other forums, but plenty who know the score too.
 

booger said:
Very, Very questionable!!
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Would it be fair to expect those kids to stay committed to WMU when they don't even know the new coach? That would be questionable.

Sent from my Commodore 64 using Tapatalk.
 

Word said:
Would it be fair to expect those kids to stay committed to WMU when they don't even know the new coach? That would be questionable.

Sent from my Commodore 64 using Tapatalk.
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Naw they need to stay committed to the school so that they can entertain us fans....

/sarcasm
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
No ****, Sherlock.

When Coyle fired Claeys and cited recruiting as one of the reasons, it was pretty evident that they weren't going to hire a guy like Miles.
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Like Leidner said, "who would want to play for the Gophers now?"
 



MAC commits that have a chance to play in a power 5 conference.
 

MennoSota said:
Has anyone read what Kalamazoo fans think of Fleck taking kids? I doubt we would be thrilled to see 10 recruits change allegiance over a 36 hour timespan and head out with a former coach.
Click to expand...

If Fleck leaves us for a more high-profile program, and the kids in the pipeline are up to the standards for that program, we will have experienced quite a ride along the way. I'd be unhappy, but I would understand.

As for the situation at hand, I'm just happy for the 10 kids that are now getting an opportunity to play P5 football and receive a much better educational opportunity in a more culturally significant city. I just can't see myself shedding many tears for fans of WMU football - but I doubt you are either. This is just about being mad and finding issues to stoke that fire.
 


I’m not saying Fleck was right or wrong. But nobody should be knocked over by a feather that something like this happened anywhere.

Recruiting is a dog-eat-dog pursuit, even among friends. No matter how much Fleck professes his undying affection for a school that gave him his first head coach job, he also vowed to deliver elite results here.

Poaching happens all the time under normal circumstances. The hunt for talent becomes especially awkward during coaching changes.

Rest assured that within minutes of Tracy Claeys being fired, other schools were contacting Gophers recruits encouraging them to decommit. That’s life in the recruiting swamp.

Recruits often are told they should choose a school, not a coach, because a coach can always leave. That’s wonderful advice in theory but not practical. Fleck’s commits from Western Michigan followed him without even seeing Minnesota’s campus. His message apparently struck a chord with them.

At its core, recruiting is cutthroat competitive and occasionally messy. Fleck wouldn’t have needed to reach backward — at least to this extent — if the recruiting class he inherited was in better shape.

Recruiting under Claeys this season was floundering. Several recruiting websites ranked the Gophers at the bottom of the Big Ten and behind Western Michigan in national rankings.

A handful of Claeys’ commits either de-committed after his firing or reached a conclusion with Fleck that they should look for another school.
 

booger said:
MAC commits that have a chance to play in a power 5 conference.
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True for the flips, but Fleck has already (in a very short time) gotten Douglas (flip from Oregon), Ibrahim (Iowa and Kentucky offers), and Van Dyne (Iowa, Kansas, and Wyoming offers).

I was a fan of Claeys and didn't think he should have been fired, but there's no denying that Fleck can recruit.
 



Word said:
True for the flips, but Fleck has already (in a very short time) gotten Douglas (flip from Oregon), Ibrahim (Iowa and Kentucky offers), and Van Dyne (Iowa, Kansas, and Wyoming offers).

I was a fan of Claeys and didn't think he should have been fired, but there's no denying that Fleck can recruit.
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Let's see how that works over the course of a full year or two.

Everyone "can recruit" it's just how much.

I'd like to see an uptick in quality too. I'm happy to take what he can get now, but would like to see a bit more of an uptick in player to player quality over the long term.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Let's see how that works over the course of a full year or two.

Everyone "can recruit" it's just how much.

I'd like to see an uptick in quality too. I'm happy to take what he can get now, but would like to see a bit more of an uptick in player to player quality over the long term.
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If he is still landing WMU type recruits in a year or two that will definitely be a disappointment. I doubt that will happen though.

Sent from my Commodore 64 using Tapatalk.
 

All I have to say is "Tony Rice flips to Notre Dame".
 

GopherHomer said:
If Fleck leaves us for a more high-profile program, and the kids in the pipeline are up to the standards for that program, we will have experienced quite a ride along the way. I'd be unhappy, but I would understand.

As for the situation at hand, I'm just happy for the 10 kids that are now getting an opportunity to play P5 football and receive a much better educational opportunity in a more culturally significant city. I just can't see myself shedding many tears for fans of WMU football - but I doubt you are either. This is just about being mad and finding issues to stoke that fire.
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Clearly you have never been to the fine city of Kalamazoo. [emoji41]
 


This is news? I'm glad those kids are coming.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


It would be awesome to have so much success that worrying about the old coaches recruits occupies our time instead of trying to find lightning in a bottle for another new gophers coach. Other than holtz, no one has wanted our coaches that bad-hence- not much concern for him taking our recruits.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

"There's nothing personal. It is only business". Well, that depends on which end you are on.

I feel bad for WMU. I was upset when Lou Holtz took his top recruits and coaches to ND.

On the subject of Claeys, it is his whole body of work, and the lack of support that led to his undoing.

He was a great coach, but his public persona, leadership style as a head coach, lack of salesmanship, recruiting prowess, and fund raising all put him in peril in spite of a winning record. I really feel bad for him for being caught in a perfect storm that gave Kaler & Coyle the opportunity and cover to oust him.

My impression is that he was treated like an interim coach. He made the mistake of not hiring an agent.
 

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