How much are you on the PJ Bandwagon compared to last year?

How much are you on board with PJ compared to last year?

  • Last year I had no confidence, now I really believe

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    137

Hmm, I’m going to have to chew on this. I’m not an idol-worshiper type of guy so I’m not sure what you mean by bandwagon. Do you mean chances of success? Or liking PJ?

If you mean success Ican easily see him having success if he’s able to bring in the recruits and keep good coaches. If you mean do I like him as a coach I wish he’d drop a lot of the psychobabble, the catchphrases, but there’s no doubt he’s skilled as a recruiter. It’s way too early to say how he’ll do. I don’t feel like he was 100% committed to the on field product last season...so as painful as it was as a fan I’m hopeful things will get much, much better.

Overall, and despite it being way too early to make judgments if I’m being honest I’m very slightly less enthusiastic about his chances of success in the Big Ten after last season but I am optimistic about his ability to bring in talent. So overall I’d say I’m still over 50/50 on him getting back to the Kill era level of competitiveness and competing for a West crown.

The real question is how do we define success for PJ? I suspect that answer varies somewhat, particularly considering the competitive salary, the new facilities, etc. Overall record with 8 wins? 9? 10? Big Ten winning percentage above .500? What if we still lose to the Badgers? Or, does success mean reaching the Big Ten final? Big Ten crown? Rose Bowl?
 

Last year went less well than I expected, so I am less enthused than I was this time last year. Obviously, not going to make any final judgments one year in.
 


Last year 5-7 after 9-4 and a big bowl win the year before. 0-70 in last two games. Lost to Maryland and Purdue. Couldn't develop either QB. Offense finished 119th in nation. So last year, high hopes; this year, slight hopes - probably dropping one of my season tickets.
 


Since PJ:s hiring I have seen nothing but improvement in recruiting, implementation and adherence to a system, and an improvement in the programs public profile.

I have no reason to believe that the team is not going to be relevant this year and beyond, and serious contender in the conference and nationally in the future.

Driving the bus.
 

Glass still half full for me, never was half empty. Loved Brews ambitions...got me excited about finally having a coach that would go for it! Epic fail. Kill...not a kill shot hire as stated. Wasn't excited at all. Grew to love him with what he did and how he did it. He got us very close to winning the west, hard to say if he would have gotten us over the hump, but I personally think he would have. PJ big hire, interesting approach, can recruit...can he coach? I have no idea. He's had one head stop prior and achieved what he wanted but it's different in the BiG. So the jury is out on a number of things. Guess we will see.
 

Last year I was watching every video clip where he spoke.
This year, I still think he's a great hire, but I have less need to hear him update weekly.
I think I'm suffering from off-season-itis for now.
 

Last year 5-7 after 9-4 and a big bowl win the year before. 0-70 in last two games. Lost to Maryland and Purdue. Couldn't develop either QB. Offense finished 119th in nation. So last year, high hopes; this year, slight hopes - probably dropping one of my season tickets.

Seems like you are only talking about the things PJ didn't do well.
Was there anything you thought he did do well?
 



I went with the option of "Was 100% last year, but now am 50/50" (although I'm probably a little higher than 50/50, but that was the closest response to how I'm feeling).

I still feel that Fleck is about our best chance to elevate the stature of our program, but I'm less confident now of it actually happening. I see 2018 as another tough season - better than 2017 where we see a more competitive team, but likely a similar final record. As the "newness" of Fleck begins to wear off, I believe we will have our answer in the form of recruiting. If, while still spinning our wheels in 2018, he can continue to recruit at last year's level I think he has a chance...but, if we see our recruiting rankings start to fall back to the Kill/Claeys levels, I fear we have seen the top of what this program can become...about 8 regular season wins as a top with periodical dips down to the 5 win level.
 

I was in wait-and-see mode when Fleck was hired last year (50-50). The college sports landscape is littered with coaches who were successful at a lower level or "lesser" conference and couldn't get it done at the next job. I didn't see his silly catch phrases as an advantage.

I'm still 50-50. I was beyond disappointed with the way last season went. I thought it would be impossible to see less offensive creativity than the previous staff showed, and I was wrong. Meanwhile, Purdue, who has been awful for a few years, jumped right over us with their first-year coach. But recruiting was a great surprise, and if he continues that success good things can happen. I'm still in wait-and-see mode to find out if he can build on the recruiting success and whether he can coach them when they get here.
 


I'm in wait and see but be patient mode
 



I still think it's more likely than not that he'll win here, at least on the level of Jerry Kill & Co, but I still wouldn't bet the house on it and I still find his personality and personal style off-putting.
 

I went with the option of "Was 100% last year, but now am 50/50" (although I'm probably a little higher than 50/50, but that was the closest response to how I'm feeling).

I still feel that Fleck is about our best chance to elevate the stature of our program, but I'm less confident now of it actually happening. I see 2018 as another tough season - better than 2017 where we see a more competitive team, but likely a similar final record. As the "newness" of Fleck begins to wear off, I believe we will have our answer in the form of recruiting. If, while still spinning our wheels in 2018, he can continue to recruit at last year's level I think he has a chance...but, if we see our recruiting rankings start to fall back to the Kill/Claeys levels, I fear we have seen the top of what this program can become...about 8 regular season wins as a top with periodical dips down to the 5 win level.

This is exactly what I was thinking.
I'm higher than 50-50, and your other points detail my sentiments almost exactly.
 

Always: Big Ten wins vs Big Ten losses tells me everything about a coach. It covers all aspects of how the coach is doing as a Big Ten Coach. Short-term fantasy football recruiting rankings mean nothing for the short term Big Ten results. Attendance can rise or fall, depending on how the team is doing in conference play. The more competitive the team is in the Big Ten, the better the attendance may be. And: vice versa.

No matter what, Coach Fleck will be here for a LONG time. The administration can not afford to fire him and buy him out. So, I will always say: "...time will tell and time will be totally dictated by Big Ten record...the climate on the hill in St. Paul toward the University of Minnesota's leadership and near-term record of public opinion.

As always: my opinion counts for nothing...it is merely my opinion.
 

People should remember this poll when they start talking about "all the hate for PJ" and all of this victimhood crap. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I've never seen a 5-7 coach be so universally supported. I think it's a good thing, I think PJ is a good coach and I think this program needs stability. But, the talk about any backlash against PJ is insane.

BTW - I put 50/50 and still the same because it was the closest to how I felt. I think I'm probably more like 65/35 confident in PJ and still about the same.
 

To be less confident this year, it seems to be the responder had to be really delusional about what we had coming back from the 9 win team in 2016. Basically half a healthy offensive line, one real WR with experience, and QBs who did not fit the offense; the fact we had two good RBs coming back was largely wasted by the poor run blocking on the oline. On defense: No real DEs, and a devastated DB corps.
People who believe a 9 win season means the following year's team has talent are just not paying attention. We were not back to the "first year JK levels", but we were pretty close to Jk's second year levels of talent, with less real talent at several positions including QB.
 

People should remember this poll when they start talking about "all the hate for PJ" and all of this victimhood crap. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I've never seen a 5-7 coach be so universally supported. I think it's a good thing, I think PJ is a good coach and I think this program needs stability. But, the talk about any backlash against PJ is insane.

BTW - I put 50/50 and still the same because it was the closest to how I felt. I think I'm probably more like 65/35 confident in PJ and still about the same.

JK was as supported, if not more, after a 3-9 campaign.
 

JK was as supported, if not more, after a 3-9 campaign.

Absolutely. I did not articulate what I meant.

5-7 following a 9 win season - PJ has a ton of support.
3-9 following a 3-9 season - JK had a ton of support.

It's not really apples-to-apples, it's more like apples to dung, but you're JK was supported after the 3-9 first season.
 

Glass half empty last year. He proved me right. Glass half full this year. Please prove me right.
 

To be less confident this year, it seems to be the responder had to be really delusional about what we had coming back from the 9 win team in 2016. Basically half a healthy offensive line, one real WR with experience, and QBs who did not fit the offense; the fact we had two good RBs coming back was largely wasted by the poor run blocking on the oline. On defense: No real DEs, and a devastated DB corps.
People who believe a 9 win season means the following year's team has talent are just not paying attention. We were not back to the "first year JK levels", but we were pretty close to Jk's second year levels of talent, with less real talent at several positions including QB.

There's no trend line. We have to go by a single snapshot. Plus, people can base their confidence level on a year of observing the coach and how he conducts himself. So the responder doesn't have to be delusional at all.
 

I'll wait to judge him, until I have seen a season with him coaching with a D1 level QB.

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What bandwagon? All I need to say is, Maryland 2017, and it should send shivers down the spine.
Panama Jack needs to win before there's a bandwagon. At present their is just a cult leader with a few devoted followers dancing around the goal post chanting "Hari PJ."
Win and then people can talk about adding members to the cult of personality. [emoji56]
 

I have to say, usually the comments and poll results out here correlate pretty closely. Not so much with this one.
 

Last year I thought he would do well, but really just wanted him to fail.
This year I think we will do better than last year, but probably still just want him to fail.


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Since PJ:s hiring I have seen nothing but improvement in recruiting, implementation and adherence to a system, and an improvement in the programs public profile.

What metric are you using to measure 'adherence to a system'?


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What metric are you using to measure 'adherence to a system'?


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The players do reference rowing a lot on twitter and I saw a picture of a DL in a collared shirt.
 





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