Pat Reusse: Gophers coach P.J. Fleck is a master at lowering expectations

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BleedGopher

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per Pat:

As a player, you participate in the winter workout program, in spring football, in the summer workout program, and August practice, and then the new coach — completely for his aggrandizement and not yours — advertises this as Year Zero for his program.

Could anyone blame the upperclassmen, the players involved in the 9-4 record and bowl upset in 2016, from sitting around, having a beer and wondering why this self-promoter is implying they are Private Zeros, that Fleck has been put in position to start from the bottom?

Pete Thamel, now at Yahoo sports after a run at Sports Illustrated, became a fan of Fleck a few years back at Western Michigan. Recently, Thamel had a sitdown with Fleck and then turned it into a promotional essay for the coach.

It couldn’t have been more of a love fest if Phillip John had written it himself, which apparently he did, because the byline read: P.J. Fleck.

P.J. the author was very proud of P.J. the coach’s conduct in “a great teaching moment’’ early in his tenure with the Gophers.

Fleck saw a photo attachment on Twitter with one player holding an alcohol bottle, and several others with alcohol around them. And then he called a team meeting to ask:

“If I put a picture of my wife Heather and I posing with alcohol, what would happen to me if those got tweeted out?”

Apparently, to his face, the Gophers acted as if this was the always-coveted teaching moment. I’m guessing when they left the meeting, the juvenile nature of this comparison was worth a giant laugh.

Michigan State by 4. That’s not much, but then again it’s Year Zero, and Phillip John keeps telling us how great failure is for the future of his program.

HIS. Not the players’. They are just pawns in the Game of Being P.J.

http://m.startribune.com/gophers-co...wering-expectations/450454723/?section=sports

Go Gophers!!
 

Have a feeling the normal reaction to a Reusse article on this board might be quite different this time.
 

Just Pat projecting his views onto the players, nothing to see here.
 

Hmm, seems like Reusse isn't a fan of Fleck. Who knew?
 

Kill was pretty good at lowering expectations too. Claeys was one of the rare coaches that dared to publicly state high expectations.
 


Word said:
Kill was pretty good at lowering expectations too. Claeys was one of the rare coaches that dared to publicly state high expectations.
Click to expand...

Along with just about every other coach in the country.

I'm not sure what he's supposed to say. If he talks about lack of depth or inexperience, then he is lowering expectations. If he takes blame for the loss, people get mad at that as well.
 

Aaaannnnddddd.....Reusse is a master at baiting, or is it bating??? [emoji848]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

When I read a Reusse column, immediately and instinctively, the voice I hear in my head is that of the cranky old man from Pixar's UP.

Are you using the upperclassmen as strawmen for an overly negative column, Patick? Or should I say, pawns?
 

Ruesse brings up a good point that upperclassmen may not appreciate all this year zero and lack of this and that talk.


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Pat has low expectations for himself so he likes to make others have low expectations as well. He clearly fits the loser criteria typically when writing articles. Apparently Glen Taylor likes that attitude.
 

scools12 said:
Have a feeling the normal reaction to a Reusse article on this board might be quite different this time.
Click to expand...

Hilarious. How are some of the posters going to dodge this, since they have been posting the exact same thing? Essentially, they have to admit that Reusse is right. Ouch.
 

Spoofin said:
Ruesse brings up a good point that upperclassmen may not appreciate all this year zero and lack of this and that talk.


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I'm sure they don't. Especially someone like Poock.
 

Its difficult if not impossible to tiptoe around the lack of depth in certain position areas due to: Expulsion, transferring or quitting due to the coaching change, injuries, and lackluster recruiting for the past couple of years.

None of these are attributable to the current coaching staff.

I understand that upperclassmen might need something other than the truth to remain motivated... but truth be told, they are competitors and can handle the situation.

If the coach were not honest with acknowledging the lack of depth, Ruesse would simply find something else to rip on.
 



I'll wager a pretty penny that he wrote a very similar column about Kill early in his tenure.
 

Reusse stinks! All good college football coaches are self-promoters. How else do they get hired? I can't remember the last football coach of the gophers he actually liked. Give Fleck time and the gophers will be good.
 

Spoofin said:
Ruesse brings up a good point that upperclassmen may not appreciate all this year zero and lack of this and that talk.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

But he acts like its a fact, which is my issue with it. Especially since all the stuff we've heard from upperclassmen who are still on the team seems to speak otherwise.
 

Chucklehead said:
Reusse stinks! All good college football coaches are self-promoters. How else do they get hired? I can't remember the last football coach of the gophers he actually liked. Give Fleck time and the gophers will be good.
Click to expand...

Props on the moniker, very solid.
 

You see, everytime I see Reusse, it reminds me of The Princess Bride and rodents of unusual size.

I was and am a "Fleckster" as some of you put it, that said: The whole "year zero" thing needs to go away. It's just embarrassing--it's year one. Year zero is a mental construct or a mental defect or something, but it ain't reality. And it serves no useful purpose at this point. If verbally managing expectations didn't work, Maryland and Purdue got the message across.
 

Word said:
Kill was pretty good at lowering expectations too. Claeys was one of the rare coaches that dared to publicly state high expectations.
Click to expand...

Yes but it was much more understandable for Kill to lower expectations given he inherited a 3-9 disaster as opposed to a 9-4 team.
 

"Remember, we’re talking about quality of the slinging here, not the quantity, which eliminates Tim Brewster. Coach Brew’s pandering to the masses was overwhelming in volume but failed because of transparency. That’s what makes Coach Kill special. That’s what makes him “Country Jer." ... Keep slinging, Country Jer, because you’re the best at it we’ve ever had in these parts, Lou Holtz included." Patrick Reusse, February 27, 2014.
 

Be too positive and you're Brewster.

Identify any issues and you're lowering expectations.
 


GophersInIowa said:
Along with just about every other coach in the country.

I'm not sure what he's supposed to say. If he talks about lack of depth or inexperience, then he is lowering expectations. If he takes blame for the loss, people get mad at that as well.
Click to expand...

I guess the difference with Kill was we were terrible the year before so it was more credible. On the other hand you never want to talk about Pasadena and go 1-11 either in year one
 

Spoofin said:
Ruesse brings up a good point that upperclassmen may not appreciate all this year zero and lack of this and that talk.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Pretty much the norm to have a good percentage of the upper classmen not buy into a new coach.
 

die hard gopher said:
Yes but it was much more understandable for Kill to lower expectations given he inherited a 3-9 disaster as opposed to a 9-4 team.
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I disagree. No one has sky high expectations after a 3-9 year, so there's no need to constantly try to lower them. After 9-4 many have higher expectations than are probably warranted.
 

btowngopher said:
Pretty much the norm to have a good percentage of the upper classmen not buy into a new coach.
Click to expand...

No it is not the norm and it has been proven in other threads.
Year Zero implies that everything is starting over. When SMU got the death penalty sanctions by the NCAA, and they started their program over, that is a year zero. UAB bringing back football would be a year zero, because they had nothing to start with.
PJ coming here is not year zero. Over half the roster was already in place when he arrived. It is his first year, but many players are working on years 2, 3 4 and 5 in the program. Yes they are having to adjust to a new system on offense and defense,
but they have been playing football at the P5 level.
 

He makes some really valid points. Yet, if you come from the paradigm of defending all things PJ, you will of course dismiss the column because he does not praise all that PJ is doing.


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GFBfan said:
No it is not the norm and it has been proven in other threads.
Year Zero implies that everything is starting over. When SMU got the death penalty sanctions by the NCAA, and they started their program over, that is a year zero. UAB bringing back football would be a year zero, because they had nothing to start with.
PJ coming here is not year zero. Over half the roster was already in place when he arrived. It is his first year, but many players are working on years 2, 3 4 and 5 in the program. Yes they are having to adjust to a new system on offense and defense,
but they have been playing football at the P5 level.
Click to expand...

Yes but the secondary was depleted of a lot of experience. Leidner wasn't a great QB but he had a lot of experience. They have no QB with any experience at the beginning of this year. WR's is a pretty thing group after losing Drew. Fans are unrealistic if they expected a repeat of last year's record. This was the year that Kill's and Claeys's recruiting mistakes would stand out.
 

die hard gopher said:
Yes but it was much more understandable for Kill to lower expectations given he inherited a 3-9 disaster as opposed to a 9-4 team.
Click to expand...

Kill lowered expectations during his whole time here to a level I've never seen. We were going to be lucky just to find the stadium and lace up our shoes.

Fleck has tried to raise expectations over the medium-term and has talked about Rose Bowls and being relevant nationally. I don't know how that's lowering expectations.

For those who thought we were going to win 9+ games, and even those (like myself) who predicted 7-8 wins, here is what we anticipated happening this year:

1. Croft would emerge at QB. The thinking was that he would be a dual-threat QB and a better passer than Mitch. This obviously didn't happen and our QB play has regressed.
2. There would be a receiver to step up and replace Wolitarksy. Everyone thought this would be Still and he's been non-existent. Our only other upperclassmen receiver (I believe) is Carter. Johnson has been great, but we've had injuries to Douglass, Bell and now Howard. We're extremely thin at WR.
3. The o-line would be as good or better than last year. Our top returning player (Weyler) has been out with injuries, and we've been starting 2 first-time freshman starters and 3 JUCOs. Not a great recipe for success.
4. Durr would be back, Craighton would step up, Winfield and Duke would be improved, and the secondary would be close to where we were the past few years. What's happened is that Durr still isn't healthy, Craighton is out as well, and Winfield and Duke haven't been on the field.

I plead guilty to lowering expectations based on everything that's happened to the roster...
 


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