STrib: P.J. Fleck choosing culture over results in 'Year Zero' for Gophers

BleedGopher

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per Randy:

Saturday's game offers the Gophers a fork in the road: They can earn a signature victory in Fleck's first year or see their conference skid stretch to three games. If the latter happens, it's another sign that the installation of Fleck's program — from offensive and defensive identity, and especially his culture — will require time and patience. That's common in a coach's first year at a school.

"I call it Year Zero, and that doesn't mean you can't win in Year Zero," Fleck said. "It's just Year Zero, and you're ready for all the things that come with it. We haven't won a [Big Ten] championship in 50 years. This isn't an extension of anything else. This is brand-new, everything is different. … I got hired for a cultural build, so there's a process of that happening."

If anyone knows about a first year under Fleck, it's Zach Terrell. He was Fleck's quarterback at Western Michigan the past four seasons, and he saw the lows of Fleck's 1-11 debut to the highs of the Cotton Bowl. He also experienced the transition from an old-school coach in Bill Cubit to the new-age Fleck, who was 32 when he took the reins in Kalamazoo.

"The best thing to describe that first season is that it was a process. Rome wasn't built in a day or overnight," Terrell said.

"It's the same kind of things at Minnesota that they're going through," he added. "There will be growing pains, there will be resistance, but over time people begin to realize that the culture that he's bringing in is more than just a game. When you get buy-in from the whole team, community and everybody alike, that's when you start to see the program excel."

http://www.startribune.com/p-j-flec...r-results-in-year-zero-for-gophers/450788673/

Go Gophers!!
 

I was surprised about this bit:
At Western Michigan, the positive results didn't come in 2013, when the Broncos closed the season with three losses following their lone victory. The breakthrough, Terrell said, was in 2014, when the Broncos trailed Ball State on the road by 17 points at halftime before rallying to win 42-38.

"Coach Fleck came in at halftime and said, 'When are you guys going to be tired of being average?' and then walked out," Terrell said. "He normally has a lot more to say than that."
Wouldn't have thought Fleck would pull a move like that.
 

Greder with a similar article: Gophers coach P.J. Fleck puts culture over victories


Some Gophers fans and critics have expected more success from Fleck near the halfway point of his first season. They’ve told him so via conversations at the grocery store and correspondence though email, text messages and even packages delivered to his home in Edina.
“One day, they’ll be positive gifts. Right now, they’re not-so-positive gifts,” Fleck said Tuesday after his team gave up a late lead in a 31-17 loss to Purdue. “But that’s OK. Remember, I’m the positive person, so not much is ever going to get me down. What I love about it, though, is we have a passionate fan base that wants to win. I get it. But that’s why I am here.”

In the first season of a five-year contract that runs through 2021, Fleck is focused on wins in 2017 while also working on his long-term goals of taking the Gophers to championship heights. To do so, he has proven he will do things his way. “Nothing comes before the culture,” he has said.

At least four players — Demry Croft, Rashad Still, Duke McGhee and Tai’yon Devers — have been suspended for undisclosed reasons this season. On why the players have been away, Fleck has repeated some version of how he won’t sacrifice players taking the field when they don’t do the “right thing” in order to win games this season.

When Fleck took Western Michigan from 1-11 in 2013 to 13-1 last year, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio was about 80 miles away in East Lansing. While the Spartans beat the Broncos in 2013 and 2015, Dantonio had an nearby view of Fleck’s progression.

“He is going to build his program, and I think that’s something that they did at Western very well,” Dantonio said. “He is going to believe in his players. He is going to get them playing hard. He is going to do what they do. He’s not going to change and keep changing. He’s going to have his system and believe in that system and work that system to perfection. I think he has been very successful doing that, and I think he will do that at Minnesota.”

http://www.twincities.com/2017/10/13/gophers-coach-p-j-fleck-puts-culture-over-victories/

Go Gophers!!
 

Why can't you build a program and win the games you should win, at the same time?
 




Why can't you build a program and win the games you should win, at the same time?

Because one thing has been clear. PJ is only interested in players he's personally selected. The continuous jabs, snide remarks and disparagement of the current roster is really interesting. it may all be true (I don't believe it is, but yeah, we have guys playing that were a fit for the previous system and shouldn't be on the team under the new system, I get that), but throwing the team under the bus on a daily basis to "help recruiting" or whatever reason PJ has for it is telling about the "Culture" that is being instilled.

You can evaluate and make adjustments - which everyone expects, or should, with a new coach and system - without publicly disparaging the team and players.
 





Whatever it takes for that "culture" to be on the field, too. Smart and disciplined individual play can raise our level.
 


Win games. That does wonders for the culture.

Right now there are several families still dealing with the fall out from last year's beloved 9 game winning culture. How many families is too many? How many problems are acceptable as long as the W column is weighted over the L column?

Win, yes, all for it--done right. I have no problem going from a train culture to a rowing culture no matter what the short term cost.
 






Right now there are several families still dealing with the fall out from last year's beloved 9 game winning culture. How many families is too many? How many problems are acceptable as long as the W column is weighted over the L column?

Win, yes, all for it--done right. I have no problem going from a train culture to a rowing culture no matter what the short term cost.

Give me a break.
 

Right now there are several families still dealing with the fall out from last year's beloved 9 game winning culture. How many families is too many? How many problems are acceptable as long as the W column is weighted over the L column?

Win, yes, all for it--done right. I have no problem going from a train culture to a rowing culture no matter what the short term cost.

npa5yMn.gif
 

I still don't understand why everybody is so wrapped up on this culture issue.

Newsflash: Every new coach in the country changes a team's culture. This isn't some individual P.J. Fleck issue. Yet folks on this site take issue with Fleck changing the culture as if it's a personal affront to their delicate sensibilities. If you're offended by his talking about changing culture, you truly don't understand how coaching changes work.

When Kill got here, he changed the culture, even if he didn't talk about it as much. So did Mason. So did Brewster. It happens every year in every sport.

If folks are frustrated that this culture change is resulting in fewer wins in Fleck's first year, then fine. But to listen to folks on here, you would think P.J.'s changing of the previous culture is a personal insult.
 

Thanks for making my point.

Let's all remember the 9 wins and expect more while developing selective amnesia regarding the team that was having disciplinary problems on and off the field, that got all sorts of media attention (really bad media attention), and threatened corporate funding to the U.

Winning is--or should be--much more than the point total at the end of a game, or W/L's at the end of the year.
 

Right now there are several families still dealing with the fall out from last year's beloved 9 game winning culture. How many families is too many? How many problems are acceptable as long as the W column is weighted over the L column?

Win, yes, all for it--done right. I have no problem going from a train culture to a rowing culture no matter what the short term cost.

You're right most of the players associated weren't even in the apartment. I'd be pissed too if I was Winfield, Green, Williams etc. You can go **** yourself
 

You're right most of the players associated weren't even in the apartment. I'd be pissed too if I was Winfield, Green, Williams etc. You can go **** yourself

I am truly sorry if I offended you. That was certainly not my intent.
 

I still don't understand why everybody is so wrapped up on this culture issue.

Newsflash: Every new coach in the country changes a team's culture. This isn't some individual P.J. Fleck issue. Yet folks on this site take issue with Fleck changing the culture as if it's a personal affront to their delicate sensibilities. If you're offended by his talking about changing culture, you truly don't understand how coaching changes work.

When Kill got here, he changed the culture, even if he didn't talk about it as much. So did Mason. So did Brewster. It happens every year in every sport.

If folks are frustrated that this culture change is resulting in fewer wins in Fleck's first year, then fine. But to listen to folks on here, you would think P.J.'s changing of the previous culture is a personal insult.

This. The difference is Fleck uses the word "culture" instead of "program" or "system". Every coach does it. He maybe talks about it more than others and uses different words to describe it but it's still pretty much the same.
 

This. The difference is Fleck uses the word "culture" instead of "program" or "system". Every coach does it. He maybe talks about it more than others and uses different words to describe it but it's still pretty much the same.
Exactly.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk
 

Exactly.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk

Sorry if this has been posted somewhere/sometime but found this interesting:

First year records of current BT coaches with 2 plus years at the helm. Throwing out OSU and Michigan - just because.


Kirk Ferenz/ IA: 0-8 BT, 1-10 overall
Mark Dantonio/MSU: 3-5 BT, 7-6 overall
Pat Fitzgerald/NW: 2-6 BT, 4-8 overall
Paul Christ/WI: 6-2 BT, 10-3 overall
James Franklin/PSU: 2-6 BT, 7-6 overall
Lovie Smith/ILL: 2-7 BT, 3-9 overall
Mike Reilly/NEB: 3-5 BT, 6-7 overall
DJ Durkin/MD: 3-6 BT, 6-7 overall
Chris Ash/RUT: 0-9 BT, 2-10 overall

2.33 average BT wins
5.11 average overall wins

Relax folks
 

Sorry if this has been posted somewhere/sometime but found this interesting:

First year records of current BT coaches with 2 plus years at the helm. Throwing out OSU and Michigan - just because.


Kirk Ferenz/ IA: 0-8 BT, 1-10 overall
Mark Dantonio/MSU: 3-5 BT, 7-6 overall
Pat Fitzgerald/NW: 2-6 BT, 4-8 overall
Paul Christ/WI: 6-2 BT, 10-3 overall
James Franklin/PSU: 2-6 BT, 7-6 overall
Lovie Smith/ILL: 2-7 BT, 3-9 overall
Mike Reilly/NEB: 3-5 BT, 6-7 overall
DJ Durkin/MD: 3-6 BT, 6-7 overall
Chris Ash/RUT: 0-9 BT, 2-10 overall

2.33 average BT wins
5.11 average overall wins

Relax folks

There was a whole thread showing that close to half of new HCs either do as well or improve on their predecessor's win total in their first year.
 

Sorry if this has been posted somewhere/sometime but found this interesting:

First year records of current BT coaches with 2 plus years at the helm. Throwing out OSU and Michigan - just because.


Kirk Ferenz/ IA: 0-8 BT, 1-10 overall
Mark Dantonio/MSU: 3-5 BT, 7-6 overall
Pat Fitzgerald/NW: 2-6 BT, 4-8 overall
Paul Christ/WI: 6-2 BT, 10-3 overall
James Franklin/PSU: 2-6 BT, 7-6 overall
Lovie Smith/ILL: 2-7 BT, 3-9 overall
Mike Reilly/NEB: 3-5 BT, 6-7 overall
DJ Durkin/MD: 3-6 BT, 6-7 overall
Chris Ash/RUT: 0-9 BT, 2-10 overall

2.33 average BT wins
5.11 average overall wins

Relax folks
Your outline has got nothing to do with our situation. It would have been relevant when we hired Jerry Kill. The Gophers were 9 and 4 and the coach got fired. Most teams fire coaches who win 2,3,4,5 games. Then your argument makes sense.
 

This. The difference is Fleck uses the word "culture" instead of "program" or "system". Every coach does it. He maybe talks about it more than others and uses different words to describe it but it's still pretty much the same.

No maybe about it. He talks about it more.
Changing the _________ use whatever word you want, implies that what was happening before was bad. That was not the case here. Yes there was an incident, but outside of those select few who are no longer here, the players on the team that PJ inherited were doing the right things off the field and were performing at an above average level on it. He didn't need to tear it all down and start over, it only needed some minor adjustments to improve on what was already established. That is my issue with it all. I feel he can get us to the next level within the conference (I also felt that Kill/Claeys were going to do that as well) I just don't feel like we have to go back to rock bottom and then start to build it back up all over again.
 

Sorry if this has been posted somewhere/sometime but found this interesting:

2.33 average BT wins
5.11 average overall wins

Relax folks

At this point I'd take 2 wins!!!

We've got dumpster fires in Illinois and Nebraska, and I'm still not sure we can win 2!!!!!!
 

No maybe about it. He talks about it more.
Changing the _________ use whatever word you want, implies that what was happening before was bad. That was not the case here. Yes there was an incident, but outside of those select few who are no longer here, the players on the team that PJ inherited were doing the right things off the field and were performing at an above average level on it. He didn't need to tear it all down and start over, it only needed some minor adjustments to improve on what was already established. That is my issue with it all. I feel he can get us to the next level within the conference (I also felt that Kill/Claeys were going to do that as well) I just don't feel like we have to go back to rock bottom and then start to build it back up all over again.
Change in life is almost always for the better. Change is how we measure growth. Change is like the rings in our tree.

When we are the ones who decide to make a change, we feel good, we feel empowered. When change happens to us, we feel angry, afraid, and sad.

Fleck is a change that happened to Gopher nation. It's up to you to choose your attitude about it. You've chosen poorly.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk
 

Change in life is almost always for the better. Change is how we measure growth. Change is like the rings in our tree.

When we are the ones who decide to make a change, we feel good, we feel empowered. When change happens to us, we feel angry, afraid, and sad.

Fleck is a change that happened to Gopher nation. It's up to you to choose your attitude about it. You've chosen poorly.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

My attitude towards Gopher Football hasn't changed one bit. I support and want to see great success out of our team. Always have always will. Don't think that is a poor decision.
I don't have to like everything and there were things Kill/Claeys did that I didn't like as well. Same could be said going back to Brewster, Mason, Wacker, Gutey, Holtz, Salem, and Stoll.

So which change are we suppose to like?
When we changed from Kill to Claeys, why was that not a good change?
Now we have changed from Claeys to Fleck and this one is a good change, why is it a better one than the previous?

Change is not always better. Coke to New Coke, Obama to Trump:p, Memorial Stadium to Metrodome.
Sometimes it is good. Metrodome to TCF, Obama to Trump :p(depends on your political view), Pong to Nintendo

Change for Change's sake doesn't always equal progress.
 




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