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Just to let people know - Fleck was not on at his regular time. Apparently, they ran a taped interview between Sid and Fleck later in the program. I was talking to my brother on the phone and I missed it. When they put the podcast on line, I will listen back and post some notes. That will be later today - not sure when.
Watch this space for updates.
and here is the interview with Sid and PJ Fleck:
Sid: talk about the recruits you brought in. One QB you brought in....what's his name...he's looked real good. what do you like about him?
PJ: Vic Viramontes. I don't know. I haven't watched him throw yet. We're not allowed to watch him throw. the players are doing a lot of things on their own. I do like how he's come in here and attacked the workouts. He's doing a great job in the weight room. In meetings with the coaches, he's very attentive. as is our whole QB room. Whatever QB plays for us this year isn't going to have any experience from the past to fall back on.
Sid: what about athletic ability of these 6, 7 guys you brought in in January?
PJ: It's been beneficial for them to come in now. they're getting how the program works. they're working hard. we'll find out more about those young guys once we get to Spring ball. but I'm proud of all those young guys by the way they've come in here and really adopted the culture, became the culture really quickly. a culture that they picked. and they've done nothing but impress us in the first months they've been here.
Sid: they're going to help you, then?
PJ: They're going to have to help us.
Sid: Let's talk about all those surgeries last year. you're way down now?
PJ: yeah, we're way down. we didn't have as many surgeries at all. I think we had 5 or 6 off-season surgeries. that really kind of took place immediately after the season. so all of those surgical guys, they'll be involved in Spring ball in some way.
Sid: Shannon Brooks is one guy you want back
PJ: he's back.
Sid: he's 100%. OK, what about Winfield and Douglas? Any chance of getting another year for them
PJ: Yup, looks like we'll get another year for them.
Sid: you've applied for it. you don't know yet?
PJ: No, but I think we will. We wouldn't have applied for that if we didn't think strongly we were going to get that.
Sid: OK, you signed all the players early. Does that put you in a good spot?
PJ: absolutely. I love signing all the players early. I think that gives us an opportunity to get ahead on the next year's class for the whole month of January. Use that like the old head coach's May recruiting. which has been beneficial for us, including going into 2019.
Sid: so you didn't sign anyone in the old recruiting thing?
PJ: no, we were full on December 20. We did announce a lot of our preferred walk-ons in the February signing period.
Sid: are some of those walk-ons going to help you?
PJ: they're going to have to. again, this is a year that - last year, I felt we didn't have much depth at all. and we had a lot of older guys move on. this year, I think 71% of our team is underclassmen, and we're going to have to have a lot of younger guys step up and help us. we finally have what we call depth. next year it's going to be competitive depth, because we'll have a lot more of it. but we're finally getting to a point where we'll at least have the numbers, and that's going to help us. we still need another one or two recruiting classes to come in here to fix some of the things that we have, but it's a great start.
Sid: they rate you as 9th in the B1G. I'm sure you don't agree with that recruiting rating?
PJ: I don't think I saw that one.
Sid: How about nationally?
PJ: nope.
Sid: so the early signing really helped you. talk about that a little bit.
PJ: yes, because it gives us the opportunity to get a jump start on 2019 in January.
Sid: so you're working hard on 2019?
PJ: we've already had 2 Junior Days. we're doing really well. a lot of kids visiting campus.
Sid: how are the players in the 2019 class. Are there a lot of good players?
PJ: yeah. you always have to recruit your home state really hard, which we are. our coaches have done a great job of identifying 2019's. we've already had a lot of our top recruits on campus multiple times. we look forward to a lot of the official visits starting in April.
Sid: switches in the coaching staff. does that help you or hurt you?
PJ: I think change is always needed. change is really healthy. I want my staff to continue to go on to have their dreams come true elsewhere. And then, as we hire, we want to have an upgrade at every position we possibly can, whether that's recruiting, that's on-field, that's development. As a coach, that's one of your challenges. you know coaches are going to leave, you know coaches are going to take other jobs. and I want to promote that for my staff. so whoever we bring in, we want to make sure we have that next coming of top coaches in the country coming through the University of MN.
Sid: how about this coach you brought in from Oklahoma. He's probably got a good background with Junior College players.
PJ: yeah, he does. In my philosophy, we've never been that heavy in junior college players, in terms of the numbers we bring in. I think it's healthy to bring in a few a year. but for us, that's not why I made that move there. in my mind, Clay Patterson brings an incredible offensive mind. he's from that Baylor tree. he's a young, dynamic coach - up and coming - very, very smart- a great recruiter, so he'll be able to handle Oklahoma and Texas in recruiting for us.
Sid: guy in St. Paul brought up a deal that the 2015 class had a ton of players leave here. that had to hurt you when you came in here.
PJ: whatever happened prior to us being here. we knew the situation we were walking into. we knew it would take time. we knew there would be a depth issue and a numbers issue. it might not have hurt people that particular year, but that's going to set you back a few years when things like that happen. when you have that much attrition in one particular year. then you make a coaching change, bring in a whole new culture, a new philosophy, a whole new way of doing things it's going to take time to get back - not just the numbers, but the change in culture.
Sid: the 2016 class probably lost a ton of kids, too.
PJ: not that many, a few. we had some multi-sport athletes who decided to play baseball instead of football. that's normal. the normal attrition, not due to problems or things that happened before I came here. the normal attrition that happens when you have a coaching change. I think people understand that. I'm not for everyone. not every coach that comes in here is going to be just like the last coach. if anything, a lot of times they're a complete opposite. so there's that transitional period that happens over a year or two that every coach and every university has to see that. that's what we're going through now.
Sid: The Eagles worked out here. They really enjoyed it.
PJ: they enjoyed it enough to win the Super Bowl. So we did our part.
Sid: you helped them win.
PJ: yeah, we helped them win. It was a lot of fun to have the Eagles here. They were a class act to work with. we were glad we could be part of the whole process of them winning the Super Bowl.
Sid: when do you start Spring Practice?
PJ: 1st week of March.
Watch this space for updates.
and here is the interview with Sid and PJ Fleck:
Sid: talk about the recruits you brought in. One QB you brought in....what's his name...he's looked real good. what do you like about him?
PJ: Vic Viramontes. I don't know. I haven't watched him throw yet. We're not allowed to watch him throw. the players are doing a lot of things on their own. I do like how he's come in here and attacked the workouts. He's doing a great job in the weight room. In meetings with the coaches, he's very attentive. as is our whole QB room. Whatever QB plays for us this year isn't going to have any experience from the past to fall back on.
Sid: what about athletic ability of these 6, 7 guys you brought in in January?
PJ: It's been beneficial for them to come in now. they're getting how the program works. they're working hard. we'll find out more about those young guys once we get to Spring ball. but I'm proud of all those young guys by the way they've come in here and really adopted the culture, became the culture really quickly. a culture that they picked. and they've done nothing but impress us in the first months they've been here.
Sid: they're going to help you, then?
PJ: They're going to have to help us.
Sid: Let's talk about all those surgeries last year. you're way down now?
PJ: yeah, we're way down. we didn't have as many surgeries at all. I think we had 5 or 6 off-season surgeries. that really kind of took place immediately after the season. so all of those surgical guys, they'll be involved in Spring ball in some way.
Sid: Shannon Brooks is one guy you want back
PJ: he's back.
Sid: he's 100%. OK, what about Winfield and Douglas? Any chance of getting another year for them
PJ: Yup, looks like we'll get another year for them.
Sid: you've applied for it. you don't know yet?
PJ: No, but I think we will. We wouldn't have applied for that if we didn't think strongly we were going to get that.
Sid: OK, you signed all the players early. Does that put you in a good spot?
PJ: absolutely. I love signing all the players early. I think that gives us an opportunity to get ahead on the next year's class for the whole month of January. Use that like the old head coach's May recruiting. which has been beneficial for us, including going into 2019.
Sid: so you didn't sign anyone in the old recruiting thing?
PJ: no, we were full on December 20. We did announce a lot of our preferred walk-ons in the February signing period.
Sid: are some of those walk-ons going to help you?
PJ: they're going to have to. again, this is a year that - last year, I felt we didn't have much depth at all. and we had a lot of older guys move on. this year, I think 71% of our team is underclassmen, and we're going to have to have a lot of younger guys step up and help us. we finally have what we call depth. next year it's going to be competitive depth, because we'll have a lot more of it. but we're finally getting to a point where we'll at least have the numbers, and that's going to help us. we still need another one or two recruiting classes to come in here to fix some of the things that we have, but it's a great start.
Sid: they rate you as 9th in the B1G. I'm sure you don't agree with that recruiting rating?
PJ: I don't think I saw that one.
Sid: How about nationally?
PJ: nope.
Sid: so the early signing really helped you. talk about that a little bit.
PJ: yes, because it gives us the opportunity to get a jump start on 2019 in January.
Sid: so you're working hard on 2019?
PJ: we've already had 2 Junior Days. we're doing really well. a lot of kids visiting campus.
Sid: how are the players in the 2019 class. Are there a lot of good players?
PJ: yeah. you always have to recruit your home state really hard, which we are. our coaches have done a great job of identifying 2019's. we've already had a lot of our top recruits on campus multiple times. we look forward to a lot of the official visits starting in April.
Sid: switches in the coaching staff. does that help you or hurt you?
PJ: I think change is always needed. change is really healthy. I want my staff to continue to go on to have their dreams come true elsewhere. And then, as we hire, we want to have an upgrade at every position we possibly can, whether that's recruiting, that's on-field, that's development. As a coach, that's one of your challenges. you know coaches are going to leave, you know coaches are going to take other jobs. and I want to promote that for my staff. so whoever we bring in, we want to make sure we have that next coming of top coaches in the country coming through the University of MN.
Sid: how about this coach you brought in from Oklahoma. He's probably got a good background with Junior College players.
PJ: yeah, he does. In my philosophy, we've never been that heavy in junior college players, in terms of the numbers we bring in. I think it's healthy to bring in a few a year. but for us, that's not why I made that move there. in my mind, Clay Patterson brings an incredible offensive mind. he's from that Baylor tree. he's a young, dynamic coach - up and coming - very, very smart- a great recruiter, so he'll be able to handle Oklahoma and Texas in recruiting for us.
Sid: guy in St. Paul brought up a deal that the 2015 class had a ton of players leave here. that had to hurt you when you came in here.
PJ: whatever happened prior to us being here. we knew the situation we were walking into. we knew it would take time. we knew there would be a depth issue and a numbers issue. it might not have hurt people that particular year, but that's going to set you back a few years when things like that happen. when you have that much attrition in one particular year. then you make a coaching change, bring in a whole new culture, a new philosophy, a whole new way of doing things it's going to take time to get back - not just the numbers, but the change in culture.
Sid: the 2016 class probably lost a ton of kids, too.
PJ: not that many, a few. we had some multi-sport athletes who decided to play baseball instead of football. that's normal. the normal attrition, not due to problems or things that happened before I came here. the normal attrition that happens when you have a coaching change. I think people understand that. I'm not for everyone. not every coach that comes in here is going to be just like the last coach. if anything, a lot of times they're a complete opposite. so there's that transitional period that happens over a year or two that every coach and every university has to see that. that's what we're going through now.
Sid: The Eagles worked out here. They really enjoyed it.
PJ: they enjoyed it enough to win the Super Bowl. So we did our part.
Sid: you helped them win.
PJ: yeah, we helped them win. It was a lot of fun to have the Eagles here. They were a class act to work with. we were glad we could be part of the whole process of them winning the Super Bowl.
Sid: when do you start Spring Practice?
PJ: 1st week of March.
