Iowa State Commit Jirehl Brock Says P.J. Fleck Would Text Him Every 30 Minutes

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https://bleacherreport.com/articles...says-pj-fleck-would-text-him-every-30-minutes

"Before I took my visit, I heard they would put you in the office and lock the doors and put an hourglass upside down and say, 'You have this much time to commit.' Good thing they never did that to me. Talking to Coach Fleck in his office with my parents, it was really tempting to commit because of the approach he takes. He's a really good guy, don't get me wrong, but he knows how to make somebody intimidated."

Not a fan of that approach myself, but it is just hearsay from one recruit.
 

Disgusting behavior. Checking in daily is a bit much, but hourly is psychotic. Intimidating a kid to choose a school is also beyond excessive. I'm officially anti-Fleck. He represents the school poorly.
 

Disgusting behavior. Checking in daily is a bit much, but hourly is psychotic. Intimidating a kid to choose a school is also beyond excessive. I'm officially anti-Fleck. He represents the school poorly.

Some players may like this approach to feel wanted. Obviously not in this case. I would think if it didn't work in the past for the most part he wouldn't continue doing it. Everyone is different. I trust Fleck despite what took place here.
 

I just got off the phone with a “classic” car salesman. Despite politely telling him I’m very specific on options, colors, etc and he currently has nothing on the lot I’m interested in he persisted to pepper me with questions until I finally had to tell him look, I’m busy and hung up on him. They’re not all like that and those are the ones I’ll do business with.

I think Fleck’s approach will (obviously)work with certain people and turn other people off. It all depends on their expectations and their needs as recruits (and parents and coaches). He’s not had many of his recruits decommit and only a few of “his guys” like KHH and Beck have transferred so that bodes well. What I like isn’t what jonnyboy18 likes - just the way it is.
 

If you read the chatter (ie comments on these articles) there are recruits dads saying this is a load of bs. Not saying who’s right, but just that this may not be the whole story
 


Some players may like this approach to feel wanted. Obviously not in this case. I would think if it didn't work in the past for the most part he wouldn't continue doing it. Everyone is different. I trust Fleck despite what took place here.

You mean despite what one party claims took place. Obviously it behooves Iowa State if Fleck looks bad.
 

I've felt "intimidated" meeting people who were really intense.... it was just how those people were and my response to it, not necessarily their fault.

It also seems like this guy isn't try to say anything negative about PJ.

PJ is pretty clear that they often make first come first serve offers, making sure someone knows that might sound harsh, but you have to be sure they understand.
 

This is like Bluto and Popeye battle. What's a little slingin'.

 

I don't know what is true and what isn't, but my guess would be that Fleck has the ability to either text more frequently or less frequently depending on how much he thinks the recruit wants to be texted.

Maybe he's texting every 30 minutes the day he's traveling here to verify he caught his flight, found right car to pick up, etc.

It's just simple math that PJ can't text all recruits every 30 minutes.

Some people need a hard sell, and others soft, it's part of reading someone.
 



I just got off the phone with a “classic” car salesman. Despite politely telling him I’m very specific on options, colors, etc and he currently has nothing on the lot I’m interested in he persisted to pepper me with questions until I finally had to tell him look, I’m busy and hung up on him. They’re not all like that and those are the ones I’ll do business with.

I think Fleck’s approach will (obviously)work with certain people and turn other people off. It all depends on their expectations and their needs as recruits (and parents and coaches). He’s not had many of his recruits decommit and only a few of “his guys” like KHH and Beck have transferred so that bodes well. What I like isn’t what jonnyboy18 likes - just the way it is.
How many 3 [emoji294] kids are confident enough to tell a P5 coach to take a hike off a short pier?
We are 3[emoji294]U, but perhaps Fleck is snagging the elite 3[emoji294]s.
 

We have to be aggressive in recruiting. We are simply not good enough to do anything else. If a kid doesn’t like it that’s too bad.
 

How many 3 [emoji294] kids are confident enough to tell a P5 coach to take a hike off a short pier?
We are 3[emoji294]U, but perhaps Fleck is snagging the elite 3[emoji294]s.

Get a new bit, this one sucks
 

We have to be aggressive in recruiting. We are simply not good enough to do anything else. If a kid doesn’t like it that’s too bad.

I agree.
I'd sooner try whatever Fleck is trying than not try it.
It's early, and no one Fleck recruited has played a down, but early signs are good.

We won't know if Fleck was great at the U of M for 5-7 years, so let's practice patience.
 



Maybe Brock is overly sensitive and doesn’t like confrontation.

Maybe PJ once texted him twice in an hour.
 




I don't know what is true and what isn't, but my guess would be that Fleck has the ability to either text more frequently or less frequently depending on how much he thinks the recruit wants to be texted.

Maybe he's texting every 30 minutes the day he's traveling here to verify he caught his flight, found right car to pick up, etc.

It's just simple math that PJ can't text all recruits every 30 minutes.

Some people need a hard sell, and others soft, it's part of reading someone.

Actually, with marketing automation, he can. Don't know if he does, but it's really quite simple to do and brands across the globe are doing this on a daily basis. No reason he couldn't use that if he wanted to. DISCLAIMER: I don't have the slightest idea if this is legal or illegal according to the NCAA, nor do I care. If it's illegal, I'm sure it's not something Fleck is doing. That said, the technology and tools to facilitate this are a dime a dozen.
 

Big tent here. Sometimes criticism stings more because there’s a kernel of truth there. Insults with no basis are rightly laughed off.

PJ does seem to be struggling a bit to bring in 4 stars this cycle. There may be a method to his madness; some of the guys are underrecruited because they were hurt, missed games or seasons, but have been blowing up at camps or were studs prior to injury. If they make it back to form or develop as seniors (eg Wiley, Potts) then we may have some 4 star level steals. I’m pretty optimistic we have some high talent difference makers in the fold. Now the coaches have to do their thing.
 



I agree.
I'd sooner try whatever Fleck is trying than not try it.
It's early, and no one Fleck recruited has played a down, but early signs are good.

Brock did say that Fleck was the hardest guy for him to say no to. Fleck is making a connection it’s just not landing every time


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Look, Fleck is in a salesman's role when it comes to recruiting. You don't make many sales passively. So he texted every thirty minutes, really? For how long? My guess is Fleck sent him three or four texts in an hour or two time period and it gets diminished to texts every half hour. Now on the other hand....If Fleck is texting this kid every half hour for a day or two, that really is a bit much, but I doubt it.
 

We have to be aggressive in recruiting. We are simply not good enough to do anything else. If a kid doesn’t like it that’s too bad.

Agree. What did PJ Fleck say he learned from Schiano? Develop thick leather skin. He's pulling all the stops to get top 30-40 recruiting classes. He's doing what he was hired to do, recruit like crazy that haven't been done in quite awhile. What more can GHers ask of the guy? Be an altar boy?
 

IF - and I say IF - Fleck is using some "high-pressure" sales tactics, then different people are going to react differently to that. If I personally get the high-pressure pitch, I shut down. That is a turn-off to me. Other people may enjoy the attention. Bottom line - there is no "one size fits all" approach to recruiting. In the end, you are dealing with people - human beings - with individual personalities. There may be some similarities among higher-profile athletes - competitiveness, etc. But I believe you have to tailor the sales pitch to the client.

Fleck has the reputation as a good recruiter, so I assume he has the ability to 'read' people and tailor his pitch accordingly.

But, recruiting is just one piece of the puzzle. once you get the players on campus, you have to coach them. In the end, the results will play out on the field.
 

Could the title of the article at least be accurate? At no point is it ever insinuated much less stated that PJ Fleck was texting the kid.

When Coach Little says people were calling every hour, it was (Minnesota) calling," Brock told David Adam of the Herald Whig. "They would text every 30 minutes. It was a lot to take in. You don't want to be rude about it. You try to be as nice as possible. They were the hardest school to say no to.

"Before I took my visit, I heard they would put you in the office and lock the doors and put an hourglass upside down and say, 'You have this much time to commit.' Good thing they never did that to me. Talking to Coach Fleck in his office with my parents, it was really tempting to commit because of the approach he takes. He's a really good guy, don't get me wrong, but he knows how to make somebody intimidated."

FWIW, before this article came out (possibly before Brock even committed, can't remember), Ryan Burns reported that Brock was the type of kid whose favorite was whoever he had seen last/talked to most recently, etc,etc. If that is the case, then the Gophers probably took the correct path in how they recruited him and they may or may not recruit everyone the same way (hopefully not from the standpoint that different approaches work better on different types of people).
 


Disgusting behavior. Checking in daily is a bit much, but hourly is psychotic. Intimidating a kid to choose a school is also beyond excessive. I'm officially anti-Fleck. He represents the school poorly.

How any times are you going to be "officially" anti-Fleck?

Have you ever been Fleck-neutral? I doubt it's more than once.
 

I really don't give a damn what some ISU recruit says. Fleck has nabbed enough high quality recruits to keep me happy so I say don't change.
 

Big tent here. Sometimes criticism stings more because there’s a kernel of truth there. Insults with no basis are rightly laughed off.

PJ does seem to be struggling a bit to bring in 4 stars this cycle. There may be a method to his madness; some of the guys are underrecruited because they were hurt, missed games or seasons, but have been blowing up at camps or were studs prior to injury. If they make it back to form or develop as seniors (eg Wiley, Potts) then we may have some 4 star level steals. I’m pretty optimistic we have some high talent difference makers in the fold. Now the coaches have to do their thing.

Actually, PJ didn't have any 247 comp. 4 stars at this time last year. I would say he is a step ahead this year in that regard.
 




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