But they've drowned in the platitudes and promises of former coaches, so they're cautious. Lou Holtz wooed a desperate fan base before he bolted for Notre Dame in the 1980s after two seasons. Glen Mason reneged on a deal to accept Georgia's head-coaching job prior to his stint with Minnesota.
He later said, "Not a day goes by that I don't think about that Georgia job and the bad decision I made."
He was still Minnesota's head coach at the time.
But when Fleck talks about "comparisons," he's referencing one man.
A decade ago, Tim Brewster walked into a news conference in Minneapolis and talked about a bright future and renewed vision.
Brewster, then a tight ends coach with the Denver Broncos who had no prior head-coaching experience, spoke in the third person.
"The No. 1 thing everyone says about Tim Brewster is that he's a great salesman," said Brewster, now an assistant at Florida State. "Well, I tell you what: You're not going to be a great salesman if you don't have a great product."
He then said he would recruit the best kids in the state, players who would help the team reach the Rose Bowl.
"Our expectation is to win a Big Ten championship now," Brewster said then. "We're not interested in any rebuilding process."
He finished 1-11 his first year and lost every Big Ten game.
Minnesota fired Brewster in 2010, midway through the third year of his tenure.
"It's absolutely not fair to [Fleck], but I can see how he's compared to [Brewster]," said Babu, a longtime fan.
Fleck is not Brewster.
He's a proven leader who finished 1-11 in his first season with Western Michigan in 2013. Four years later, the Broncos went 13-1.
