Fox Sports: P.J. Fleck focusing on Gophers’ football culture in first year

BleedGopher

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per Fox Sports:

Row the Boat.

H.Y.P.R.R.

Elite.

Nekton.

P.J. Fleck brought his own lexicon with him from Kalamazoo to Minneapolis.

He added another buzzword during a press conference Monday, defining “Purpose 3” after taking questions on the Gophers’ quarterback competition and the state of their receiving corps.

“Each quarter of the year we have a new ‘Purpose 3’ and those are the three things we focus on,” he said.

But while the University of Minnesota football coach has brought a new vocabulary to the program, Fleck says he isn’t looking to simply graft his own ethos onto the Gophers.

He wants his own culture to become a core part of Gophers football.

“Instead of saying, ‘yeah, coach Fleck brought this culture in here,’ no, no, it’s our culture now,” Fleck said during a press conference Monday. “By the end of the spring, we want it to become our culture, where everybody understands it, gets it.”

After just six months on the job, Fleck says he’s seeing the effects first hand.

“When you talk about cultural sustainability, that’s what we meant when we talked on Big Ten media day, and to be able to have some things happen in the last six months I think shows the growth and shows how our players are really letting the culture dissolve inside of them,” he said.

http://www.foxsports.com/north/story/minnesota-gophers-pj-fleck-football-culture-row-the-boat-080117

Go Gophers!!
 

per Fox Sports:

Row the Boat.

H.Y.P.R.R.

Elite.

Nekton.

P.J. Fleck brought his own lexicon with him from Kalamazoo to Minneapolis.

He added another buzzword during a press conference Monday, defining “Purpose 3” after taking questions on the Gophers’ quarterback competition and the state of their receiving corps.

“Each quarter of the year we have a new ‘Purpose 3’ and those are the three things we focus on,” he said.

But while the University of Minnesota football coach has brought a new vocabulary to the program, Fleck says he isn’t looking to simply graft his own ethos onto the Gophers.

He wants his own culture to become a core part of Gophers football.

“Instead of saying, ‘yeah, coach Fleck brought this culture in here,’ no, no, it’s our culture now,” Fleck said during a press conference Monday. “By the end of the spring, we want it to become our culture, where everybody understands it, gets it.”

After just six months on the job, Fleck says he’s seeing the effects first hand.

“When you talk about cultural sustainability, that’s what we meant when we talked on Big Ten media day, and to be able to have some things happen in the last six months I think shows the growth and shows how our players are really letting the culture dissolve inside of them,” he said.

http://www.foxsports.com/north/story/minnesota-gophers-pj-fleck-football-culture-row-the-boat-080117

Go Gophers!!

It's part of the new culture to spread around so much bullish!t that the teams we play can't run.

Maybe we can add a "Hello and welcome to Chili's" sticker on their while we're at it.




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It's part of the new culture to spread around so much bullish!t that the teams we play can't run.

Maybe we can add a "Hello and welcome to Chili's" sticker on their while we're at it.




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Has there ever been a fan based that has whined so much about a coach whose team hasn't even played a game yet?


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I'm glad he's establishing a way of doing things that will hopefully lead our program in the right direction. If his curriculum to do it involves anagrams, I am okay with it.
 

Has there ever been a fan based that has whined so much about a coach whose team hasn't even played a game yet?


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Only on GH. Other fan sites are pretty supportive of everything.
 


It's part of the new culture to spread around so much bullish!t that the teams we play can't run. Maybe we can add a "Hello and welcome to Chili's" sticker on their while we're at it.
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Gee weez, will you hold your horses? They have not played a game yet. :horse:
 

I'm glad he's establishing a way of doing things that will hopefully lead our program in the right direction. If his curriculum to do it involves anagrams, I am okay with it.

His curriculum involves acronyms not anagrams- get your facts right.


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Honestly, if Fleck can get his players to stop gang banging, and I mean that in both the sexual and gun toting ways, and can get them to focus on more than football, and become well rounded people, who try hard on the football field, but also get good grades, go to church or just try to be good people, and want to go out into the community and do outreach, and go out of their way to be very friendly people, then I honestly don't care if he doesn't win lots of titles. I mean, keep us competitive and in the hunt, and if he transforms the culture, so that we STOP HAVING FRICKING SCANDALS ALL OF THE TIME, then I'll be ok with his not winning Titles every season.

I'm just SO TIRED of scandals. If I wasn't a Gopher fan, I'd probably nickname us Scandal U. Whether we deserved the title or not, I'd do my best to make it stick, and unfortunately I'd have a lot of ammo. I'm a Gopher fan, so I know the real story and know that many of the scandals are more hype than reality. But its getting to the point that if we have any more of them, a person might have to ask WHY? And non-Gopher fans won't be so open and understanding and willing to figure out what really happened.



So maybe Fleck's BS annoys some people, maybe some people question how it is going to translate into wins? But I am one fan who doesn't give a hoot anymore. I love the guy. He loves his job, he wants to teach young men to become good men. Sure he wants to win, especially after last year's 13-0 regular season with WMU. Kidding me? The guy wants nothing more than to win and win and win and win some more. But he also wants his players to do well in their classes and in life.


And I'm pretty sure the chances of a scandal happening in the football program has been drastically reduced now under Fleck.



Think about his, Haskins brought us lots of wins, a Conf Title and a Final Four.

Right? Oh wait? Did he? Any evidence of it in the record books? How did the program do for the 16 or so years after Haskins left?


Just saying. We get the next Saban or Urban Meyer, maybe we can both win Titles and not get investigated, and I think Fleck could possibly develop into that good of a coach?! But if he doesn't, he's still got a good thing going with his multi-level or broadbased approach to recruiting and teaching and coaching.


Will people disagree with me? sure, absolutely, I am very sure of it. Do I care? Not really.

There is room under the Gopher Umbrella for fans of all different shapes and sizes and genders and religions and orientations and opinions. Never will you find us all agreeing on anything other than we all want the Gophers to win their next game, or at least I hope so. Never know with some of these so called fans?
 

Man- how many cups of coffee this morning buddy?

How many football scandals have we had over the Kill/Claeys tenure? You intimate it's a monthly occurrence!

Listen, I think PJ is a good man and that all his bluster and energy is real and sincere. However, having kids sit in the front row and go to church does not exclude them from being idiots at times. PJ had kids get booted from WMU for transgressions as well. I'm afraid you're setting yourself up for disappointment if you think PJ will lead us to behavioral Nirvana. Now go get some rest- you have to be exhausted after that rant. Save your energy for Buffalo!


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Every program has problem players. If you think MN is Scandal U I don't know what to tell you. You don't even need to look very far to find stories. College football players are high profile targets for the media - they love high ratings so the incidents are blown to the highest proportions.

If PJ sticks around long enough there will be some sort of issue. These are human beings, not robots. The military, the clergy, law enforcement, teaching - every profession that ought to be straight and narrow due to either behavioral conditioning and discipline (e.g., the military) and/or ethical and moral expectations is run through with borderline personalities that eventually commit crimes. The clergy, educators are rife of stories of people that cannot control their urges despite the highest moral and ethical rules and expectations. We had 5 guys that possibly committed a crime(never proven or even charged) out of the hundreds that have passed through the last 6 years and the program is labeled Scandal U. Absurd.

To think that PJ's RTB culture is going to completely override human nature is self-delusion. I thought Kill and Claeys did a pretty good job, all things considered. One major incident that we know of over 6 years.

I do like that PJ sets high expectations and has threatened to cut loose deviants. That may cut down on incidents on the margin.
 

Man- how many cups of coffee this morning buddy?

How many football scandals have we had over the Kill/Claeys tenure? You intimate it's a monthly occurrence!

Listen, I think PJ is a good man and that all his bluster and energy is real and sincere. However, having kids sit in the front row and go to church does not exclude them from being idiots at times. PJ had kids get booted from WMU for transgressions as well. I'm afraid you're setting yourself up for disappointment if you think PJ will lead us to behavioral Nirvana. Now go get some rest- you have to be exhausted after that rant. Save your energy for Buffalo!


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Yeah, it wasn't coffee, more like beer, lol. And sleep did do me some good.

And I didn't mean to make it seem like scandals are a monthly occurrence, but they don't have to be when they strip from us 2 of our best seasons in modern cbb history and then send some of the best coaches we've had in cbb, packing only for us to then bring in another coach that suffers a scandal. Musselman, Dutcher & Haskins were basically back to back to back.

So as a result, around 2000, the U ranked Top 10 or at least Top 20 in producing NBA players, but ranked really low in # of NCAA tourney appearances and wins. Scandals don't have to be monthly events, not even annual events, just one per decade is enough to potentially wipe out either one of our best seasons or one of our best decades.

And if you include the stuff that led to J Rob's leaving the Wrestling program, it averages out to about 1 big scandal per decade.


And I only said what Fleck is doing should "reduce" the chances of a scandal happening, not eliminate the chances. I know even good kids who sit in the front row and who go to church can do stupid things, especially when alcohol is involved.

Oh, and I mentioned my reason for editing my post, so hopefully people won't read the toned down version and think you came down too hard on me, lol.
 

Every program has problem players. If you think MN is Scandal U I don't know what to tell you.

If PJ sticks around long enough there will be some sort of issue.... We had 5 guys that possibly committed a crime(never proven or even charged) out of the hundreds that have passed through the last 6 years and the program is labeled Scandal U. Absurd.

To think that PJ's RTB culture is going to completely override human nature is absurd.

I do like that PJ sets high expectations and has threatened to cut loose deviants. That may cut down on incidents on the margin.

Hey, as I explained above, I do not think Fleck's culture is going to completely override human nature. Like you say in your last line, his high expectations and his willingness to cut loose deviants, you say "may", I'm saying "should" cut down on the incidents. And he is so public about his "culture", that I'm also hoping players who might be more susceptible to act out badly, might simply not want to go to a school where the players are expected to sit in the front row in class, AND actually go to class, and the talk about spirituality, whatever Fleck means by it might not matter, the simple fact he uses that word might scare off some of the more rebellious types. Notice I use words like should and some and reduce, and I am not using words like WILL, ALL and ELIMINATE.


Oh, and as for thinking UMn is Scandal U? I don't, if you actually read what I wrote you'd see I stated that IF I was NOT a Gopher fan, I MIGHT think of calling UMn, Scandal U. I also said other things in that same sentence or paragraph that should have indicated to you that I do not personally think UMn deserves that label.



The incident that lost us the NCAA tourney invite in 1977 was so incredibly minor that today it would go basically unpunished.

The incident that lost Dutcher his job and the team several players was basically figured out to be what? False accusations? I can't remember the details, just remember that the punishment ended up not befitting of the supposed crime, way more was made of it all than should have been.

Another incident I haven't even mentioned yet, but that old timer Ohio St fans STILL hate the U for, is the brawl, that the National Press had a field day with and the whole country portrayed the Gophers as a bunch of Thugs. Come to find out it was totally instigated by OSU's racist coach, and OSU players all fired up by their coach, and mostly a racist OSU player who admitted MANY years later that he did in fact spit in our players face and I think he might have called him the n word, too? as our player tried to help him up.


Now the latest football scandal, which many people think was mishandled and blown out of proportion, sounds vaguely familiar to the bb incident under Dutcher.



So outside of the Haskins stuff and the J Rob ordeal, all the other scandals are explainable or at least not as ugly of incidents as they were made out to be.



But, as much as the brawl was instigated moreso by OSU's coach and OSU players, it can be argued that the characters of some of the players Musselman brought in were maybe not the kind of guys someone like Fleck would go after.

It's just the argument that if you recruit players of marginal character, the risk or chance of something ugly happening increase, and if you recruit players of good character, the risk or chance of something ugly happening decrease. It's just that simple.
 



What characteristics of Kill/Claeys recruits were red flags for poor behavior? Did they have juvie records? Was it marginal grades? ACTs under 26? What tipped you off they were recruiting marginal guys? Did Kill view video of his player knocking out a female 1/2 his size and reinstate him to the team? That coach was just lauded on his retirement by the lions share of bootlicking journalists and fans, BTW.

Can you provide any evidence Fleck is recruiting higher character guys than the last staff? That's a preposterous statement. Kill in particular was in their faces about good behavior. The rest of the coaches were no doubt similar. Their jobs in part depend on preventing major scandals (or skillfully cover them up as in Stoop's case).
 

What characteristics of Kill/Claeys recruits were red flags for poor behavior? Did they have juvie records? Was it marginal grades? ACTs under 26? What tipped you off they were recruiting marginal guys? Did Kill view video of his player knocking out a female 1/2 his size and reinstate him to the team? That coach was just lauded on his retirement by the lions share of bootlicking journalists and fans, BTW.

Can you provide any evidence Fleck is recruiting higher character guys than the last staff? That's a preposterous statement. Kill in particular was in their faces about good behavior. The rest of the coaches were no doubt similar. Their jobs in part depend on preventing major scandals (or skillfully cover them up as in Stoop's case).


Dude, you are taking this way too personally. I have not bashed any specific coach or coaching staff. NOT ONE, especially not Jerry Kill. If you didn't notice my moniker? Killmenow? Or did you think that was somehow meant to be a negative or a dig on Kill? Kill is his name, it would be the same as Pitinomenow except that sounds weird, unlike Killmenow which I thought sounded cool. I did that to show support to my favorite Gopher fb coach in my lifetime. I was born in 67.

So take your "preposterous" and stick it up your posterous.

It wasn't a "statement" as in a statement of fact, so no evidence needs to be provided. It was AN OPINION. It's simply MY OPINION dude.

And I'm speaking in general, too, I wasn't being specific. Honestly, it was far more a statement of support for Fleck, not a bashing of anyone else.

BUT, if you want to talk about evidence. Here is some evidence. See, I'm a big Kill fan, but never felt that meant I had to support the hiring of TC as the next coach, and it was TC, as the Head Coach, that allowed a 17 year old, a minor, to be put into a position like the one he got in. Involved in a we'll just call it a multi-partner sex act, however you want to label it, doesn't matter, and I believe that there was alcohol involved? Was it only 21 and older players doing the drinking or were players that were minors drinking, and were they the hosts or chaperones of the recruit, and did he drink? He was 17 and did he have sex with this woman? Isn't that illegal? Point is, this illegal activity was either allowed to happen, involving A RECRUIT, A MINOR, whose parents trusted TC to take care of while he was here visiting, or it was allowed to happen in a way that allowed for speculation that a minor was involved. That is irresponsible and TC could have been fired just for that aspect of the incident. It happened under his watch. So unless there is evidence proving the 17 year old was not allowed to participate in an illegal sex act, and not allowed to drink, nor were any of his underage attendants or hosts, then even rumors of it happening, or people just not sure whether it did or not? TC is responsible for this happening, and this could hurt recruiting as parents may not want their minor children going to a school where the coach allows things like that to happen or for there to be any question as to whether it happened or not.


So I'm not dissing the recruiting practices of Jerry Kill, or TC. Just showing support for the recruiting practices of Fleck. I always thought Kill went after good kids and kids of high character, so that is not what I am implying, it just seems like Fleck has gone one step further by including the word spiritual in his list of 4 areas he wants to develop his players in. And by doing that, it might keep certain people from even wanting to come here, that is all I was saying.

People do not need to be spiritual in order to have high character, but most people do not willingly join a team with a coach who uses that word unless they are a person of high character who is comfortable with their coach trying to develop their spiritual life. Who knows, maybe I am wrong? Maybe a few people of low character may like the idea of the coach helping them straighten up their life? But that in itself is a sign of character, so...

But I can almost guarantee you that no 17 year old recruit is going to come to the U and be allowed by PJ Fleck to get involved in any way in a similar situation. Maybe that is only because it happened to the previous coach? Maybe it only happened under TC's watch because Kill ran such a clean program and recruited such high character players that TC got complacent? That could be.


But dude, its just my opinion and a show of support for the new coach and his way of doing things. No need to take it personally or as a personal jab at my favorite coach, Jerry Kill.
 

There will always be outliers in society on both ends of the spectrum from geniuses to deviants.

The football team is not immune to have players on the fringes no matter how tightly a coaching staff controls the team.
 

Every program has problem players. If you think MN is Scandal U I don't know what to tell you. You don't even need to look very far to find stories. College football players are high profile targets for the media - they love high ratings so the incidents are blown to the highest proportions.

If PJ sticks around long enough there will be some sort of issue. These are human beings, not robots. The military, the clergy, law enforcement, teaching - every profession that ought to be straight and narrow due to either behavioral conditioning and discipline (e.g., the military) and/or ethical and moral expectations is run through with borderline personalities that eventually commit crimes. The clergy, educators are rife of stories of people that cannot control their urges despite the highest moral and ethical rules and expectations. We had 5 guys that possibly committed a crime(never proven or even charged) out of the hundreds that have passed through the last 6 years and the program is labeled Scandal U. Absurd.

To think that PJ's RTB culture is going to completely override human nature is self-delusion. I thought Kill and Claeys did a pretty good job, all things considered. One major incident that we know of over 6 years.

I do like that PJ sets high expectations and has threatened to cut loose deviants. That may cut down on incidents on the margin.

From Fleck's presser the other day:

We've installed the Gopher For Life program and the Golden Opportunities program which again touches into that social life, changing the narrative of our football players. Growing in that social aspect as we continue to move forward.

Just because we do that (Gopher for Life program), that does not -- that does not promise perfection. Our kids will make mistakes. I will make mistakes. Our program will make mistakes. But more importantly is how you respond to those mistakes, and the teaching of the men of how to be able to be a man through that, and the education through that, right, and holding people responsible at an extremely high, high level of integrity.
 




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