Flecks shoes were too flashy

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goldy93 said:
Anyone else upset with how flashy Fleck's shoes were? He needs to stop being all about himself and be more low key. That is the only way to coach. Him and his 2-bit phrases, one-liners and fancy acronyms are not proper. Rabble, rabble, rabble, rabble....

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Sorry, but in this case he's not all about himself. Fleck has said that he will raffle his game shoes off and the proceeds go to the U of M Children's Hospital, just like all of his "Row the Boat" proceeds.
 

Fleck's Fleck. He knows what he's doing. Followed him around this weekend with recruits. I thought his speech on why the school you want to go to is in a tv market with herbicide ads was inspired. Watching all those big guys hit the lutefisk feed was awesome, and sending them home packing ring bologna and lefse while wearing Gopher shoes--Elite!
 

TruDomGopher said:
Fleck's Fleck. He knows what he's doing. Followed him around this weekend with recruits. I thought his speech on why the school you want to go to is in a tv market with herbicide ads was inspired. Watching all those big guys hit the lutefisk feed was awesome, and sending them home packing ring bologna and lefse while wearing Gopher shoes--Elite!
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And he killed with the Ole and Lena jokes. The recruits were eating it up.
 

Fleck's a quick study. Ciarrocca's still having trouble with the whole pop/soda thing though.
 



I guarantee you that some on here honestly believe that wearing those shoes will impact recruiting.
"That is what the kids like....."


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Tully55 said:
I always thought that the people who critcized or made fun of Claeys weight were full of sh!!, immature, and mean spirited at their core. He was the HC and his appearance had no impact on his coaching ability.
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As I agree with you that his appearance has no impact of his coaching ability I would argue that his appearance did have a major impact on his recruiting ability. I always thought Claeys was a great football mind! However, I don't believe he is suited for recruiting, which in college football happens to be a major aspect of being a head coach!
 





Is this really worth complaining about? If he wins he can stand on the sideline naked for all I care. I like his enthusiasm and I think it draws young people in to what you are trying to teach (I am an AP biology teacher and I am sure I can come across like Fleck)...it's called passion.
 

GoldyGopher31 said:
As I agree with you that his appearance has no impact of his coaching ability I would argue that his appearance did have a major impact on his recruiting ability. I always thought Claeys was a great football mind! However, I don't believe he is suited for recruiting, which in college football happens to be a major aspect of being a head coach!
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Then by logic it was a mistake to make him the HC in the first place.
 

Spoofin said:
I guarantee you that some on here honestly believe that wearing those shoes will impact recruiting.
"That is what the kids like....."


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Well - you're correct that the shoes themselves won't help in recruiting at all. But, if the fact that he has a fancy new pair of shoes every week gets some sort of national attention (which it may because media types are suckers for that sort of thing) it may alert some kids to the existence of our school. In the continuum of harm versus benefit, the shoes will totally veer more towards benefit. The shoes won't change our program, but they are only a potential benefit. I liked Claeys because, although boring, struck me as an intellectual - but he had zero sense of flair which is probably the most important thing in regards to connecting with the younger generation. As long as Fleck isn't a total bust of a coach, he is the absolute perfect type of personality to recruit the next generation of athletes...shoes included.
 



The old codgers that make up the majority of our fan base have become embarrassing....now pissing and moaning about the coaches shoes...
Some of these people won't be happy until we go back to the old leather helmet days
 

Schnauzer said:
Wearing flashy shoes like that spits on the graves of all the brown-shoe-wearing coaches that worked so hard to bring us a better game, but lost their lives crossing the street because they were too plain to be seen by the Edsel drivers.
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Ha :clap:
 



The shoes went with the uniforms on Goldy's day - and got all the media attention intended in the first place.
 

Tully55 said:
Then by logic it was a mistake to make him the HC in the first place.
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It was a mistake to make Claeys Head Coach in the first place. In retrospect, it took a really unusual sequence of events for Claeys to get the job.

1. Kill was supposed to be head coach. If it weren't for his initial health problems, Claeys never would have coached an interim game as head coach.
2. Kill has issues, so Claeys (by Kill's choice it seems) becomes interim head coach until Kill comes back.
3. Kill returns coaching. We have a AD change due to unusual circumstances giving us an interim AD.
4. Kill retires. Normally if this would happen, the AD would have some foresight for a transition plan, but this happens right in the middle of the year. During any other mid-season coaching change, the person taking over is usually a former head coach if available, or someone the Athletic Dept would deem someone that is "their" choice. Instead, the resort back to the "interim plan" that was used before.
5. Claeys wraps up season with AD still open so a stop-gap plan is chosen.
6. Claeys, at his own fault, doesn't line up an agent to ensure a 3-4 year deal. This is probably the most uncommon scenario out of these unusual sequences of events that lead to Claeys getting this stop-gap job.
7. Interim AD and Claeys agree on a low-end deal with easy buyout.
8. Minnesota finally hires an AD with balls. Not just a do-good-er, go with the flow, don't shake the apple cart, type AD. (Maturi would have kept Claeys) but new AD is found who wants his own guy (for better or for worse). That led to Claeys not coming back.

So it took 7 or 8 incredibly unusual events in sequence with unusual choices, just for Claeys to get to be a head coach as long as he was. Each step more unusual than the one before it.

If the question is who is the better recruiter, Fleck or Claeys, I think you have to answer that for yourself, but to me it's not close that Fleck has more upside as a recruiter.
 

Face The Facts said:
It was a mistake to make Claeys Head Coach in the first place. In retrospect, it took a really unusual sequence of events for Claeys to get the job.

1. Kill was supposed to be head coach. If it weren't for his initial health problems, Claeys never would have coached an interim game as head coach.
2. Kill has issues, so Claeys (by Kill's choice it seems) becomes interim head coach until Kill comes back.
3. Kill returns coaching. We have a AD change due to unusual circumstances giving us an interim AD.
4. Kill retires. Normally if this would happen, the AD would have some foresight for a transition plan, but this happens right in the middle of the year. During any other mid-season coaching change, the person taking over is usually a former head coach if available, or someone the Athletic Dept would deem someone that is "their" choice. Instead, the resort back to the "interim plan" that was used before.
5. Claeys wraps up season with AD still open so a stop-gap plan is chosen.
6. Claeys, at his own fault, doesn't line up an agent to ensure a 3-4 year deal. This is probably the most uncommon scenario out of these unusual sequences of events that lead to Claeys getting this stop-gap job.
7. Interim AD and Claeys agree on a low-end deal with easy buyout.
8. Minnesota finally hires an AD with balls. Not just a do-good-er, go with the flow, don't shake the apple cart, type AD. (Maturi would have kept Claeys) but new AD is found who wants his own guy (for better or for worse). That led to Claeys not coming back.

So it took 7 or 8 incredibly unusual events in sequence with unusual choices, just for Claeys to get to be a head coach as long as he was. Each step more unusual than the one before it.

If the question is who is the better recruiter, Fleck or Claeys, I think you have to answer that for yourself, but to me it's not close that Fleck has more upside as a recruiter.
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Well put. A coach can be fired at any time, for any reason. Claeys seemed like a nice guy, but with a already-met ceiling and absolutely no future upside. "Pretty good" is no longer acceptable to me, nor the AD.
 

goldy93 said:
Anyone else upset with how flashy Fleck's shoes were? He needs to stop being all about himself and be more low key. That is the only way to coach. Him and his 2-bit phrases, one-liners and fancy acronyms are not proper. Rabble, rabble, rabble, rabble....

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this thread is a joke, right?

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Love those shoes, love those shoes, gotta love those shoes! Somebody ought to write a jingle.
 

My daughter is at the U, and she knows a few of the players. Her unscientific straw poll of them: they like Fleck, but he definitely makes things about himself. That said, my daughter's impression of the players in general is that they're really into themselves. So maybe the coach and the players deserve each other, and is there a successful coach anywhere that doesn't have an ego?

About the shoes and the helmets and the this and the that: My other daughter was a gymnast on a high school team that won 8 titles in 10 years. One of their co-coaches has a talent for spending parents' money, especially on bling and apparel. For example - except for the competition leotards - she buys all new stuff for State. She has always felt that female athletes are more confident and perform better when they outdo the other teams with swag, and I think she's right. The only thing I'd argue is that it's not only female athletes. I think the guys like their swag, too.
 

goldy93 said:
Anyone else upset with how flashy Fleck's shoes were? He needs to stop being all about himself and be more low key. That is the only way to coach. Him and his 2-bit phrases, one-liners and fancy acronyms are not proper. Rabble, rabble, rabble, rabble....

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neither is your grammar
 


highwayman said:
Well put. A coach can be fired at any time, for any reason. Claeys seemed like a nice guy, but with a <b>already-met ceiling and absolutely no future upside. </b> "Pretty good" is no longer acceptable to me, nor the AD.
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IALTO


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Face The Facts said:
It was a mistake to make Claeys Head Coach in the first place. In retrospect, it took a really unusual sequence of events for Claeys to get the job.

1. Kill was supposed to be head coach. If it weren't for his initial health problems, Claeys never would have coached an interim game as head coach.
2. Kill has issues, so Claeys (by Kill's choice it seems) becomes interim head coach until Kill comes back.
3. Kill returns coaching. We have a AD change due to unusual circumstances giving us an interim AD.
4. Kill retires. Normally if this would happen, the AD would have some foresight for a transition plan, but this happens right in the middle of the year. During any other mid-season coaching change, the person taking over is usually a former head coach if available, or someone the Athletic Dept would deem someone that is "their" choice. Instead, the resort back to the "interim plan" that was used before.
5. Claeys wraps up season with AD still open so a stop-gap plan is chosen.
6. Claeys, at his own fault, doesn't line up an agent to ensure a 3-4 year deal. This is probably the most uncommon scenario out of these unusual sequences of events that lead to Claeys getting this stop-gap job.
7. Interim AD and Claeys agree on a low-end deal with easy buyout.
8. Minnesota finally hires an AD with balls. Not just a do-good-er, go with the flow, don't shake the apple cart, type AD. (Maturi would have kept Claeys) but new AD is found who wants his own guy (for better or for worse). That led to Claeys not coming back.

So it took 7 or 8 incredibly unusual events in sequence with unusual choices, just for Claeys to get to be a head coach as long as he was. Each step more unusual than the one before it.

If the question is who is the better recruiter, Fleck or Claeys, I think you have to answer that for yourself, but to me it's not close that Fleck has more upside as a recruiter.
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I think you have to add number 9, the scandal. Even if you think Coyle was going to fire Claeys after a 9 win season regardless (I'm inferring), the scandal certainly made that much easier. I personally don't believe Coyle would have pulled the trigger without it, but I know many disagree with me. I guess we'll never know.

It does raise the question - had Goetz not hired Claeys who would the U have as head coach right now? I have a feeling the U would have worn out their Rolodex trying to get an interested coach with an interim AD in place. Of course, you never know, they may have ended up with a then much less desirable P J Fleck? I wish there's some way you could peek into an alternative universe and see what would have happened...

In the end, by basically pushing the decision out a year the U gets their number 1 choice of head coach. Regardless of how Fleck does here, there were two very high profile coaches that were being talked about, the U talked to both and both wanted the job. That sort of thing hasn't happened since Holtz, and I don't believe it would have happened in 2015/2016. And I'm still excited about that.

Regardless, I don't think it was a mistake to hire Claeys. He was as known commodity, was known to be a good DC, had respect from the rest of the team and most of the coaches (if not all). When the alternative is a coaching search being led by an interim AD I don't think there was any other option.
 

Bad Gopher;1437572Her unscientific straw poll of them: they like Fleck said:
Not doubting Fleck makes things about himself. Interesting if the poll was players held over from the previous regime or players Fleck has brought in since he has been here. There might be a different view depending on which staff recruited the players.
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His shoes?... The Fleck haters are really digging for reasons to criticize him. Kind of sad, at this point.

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His actual shoes aren't available as I tried to order them. Can get close but $160+ shipping I think.

Considering ordering though
 

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