Fleck won’t measure his football team’s 2018 season by how many games the Gophers win

BleedGopher

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per Greder:

P.J. Fleck won’t measure his football team’s 2018 season by how many games the Gophers win.

“Numbers will always get stale,” Fleck said. “If we win so many games some day, that will be the expectation.”

Speaking at the Gophers’ local media day Tuesday, Fleck used the last of his four seasons at Western Michigan to explain his thinking. After going 1-11 in Fleck’s first season in 2013, the Broncos won 13 games and earned a berth in the Cotton Bowl against Wisconsin.

“Here we are go from being 1-11 to 11-0 and people are saying, ‘If we lose this game, it’s all for naught,’ ” Fleck said. “I’m looking at them like, ‘You know we won 11 games so far’ We remember three years ago and where we were at?’

“I understand the expectation, but holy cow that changed quickly, didn’t it?”

Regarding his second Gophers team, which starts its season Aug. 30 with a 6 p.m. kickoff against New Mexico State, Fleck said, “The number (of wins) doesn’t necessarily mean that much to me. … Somebody else can judge the number. That is never going to be something that I look at to whether that was a success or not.”

https://www.twincities.com/2018/07/...ng-to-shock-some-people-carter-coughlin-says/

Go Gophers!!
 

"Oh my God, Fleck doesn't care about winning!!!!!!!"
 


That's fine and frankly reasonable for him, as long as he realizes that many of the program's investors (by way of time, money and other resources) will be judging 2018 based on outcomes (e.g., wins and losses) and not solely the process.
 

My opinion (for as little as it's worth):

2018 - would love to see 6 wins and a low end bowl game, but will understand if it's 5-7 or even 4-8 ... would be disappointed with 3 or fewer wins

2019 - this needs to be a significant payoff, 8 or more wins and a decent bowl game

2020 - if 2019 comes through, then 10+ wins or bust!
 


tumblr_mn9ellwM7z1qfhw7ko1_500.gif


/s
 

He has said championships is the expectation. I guess there are not a specific number of of wins to go with that.
 

Who cares if he doesn't name a number? He's said many things already that indicate he's gonna try and win games this year.
 

PJ doesn't have to worry about number of wins
It is wren"s job to count Big 10 wins


Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 



He has said championships is the expectation. I guess there are not a specific number of of wins to go with that.


That is the end goal, it shouldn't be the year 2 goal

By 2020 I think we should be competing for BIGW

I think Next year we should be thick, but not quite there

we'll see

If 2020 we're still waiting for results, good bye PJ
 

If wins don't matter, then let people into the games for free - or charge a nominal amount, like $10 for a seat.
 

Ha.... Grain of salt taken, but not the verbiage you want expressed at a shareholder meeting...

I for one, am not getting all jazzed up to go to TCF seven times, and tuning in to BTN for the others expecting less than a win. I doubt it is any different for P.J.
 




You can get to the same number of wins in different ways. Could sneak out wins against the bad teams and then get blown out against the good ones, neither QB looks good, etc. Or lose a few early on you shouldn't but then really turn it on late and upset a team or two. One of the QBs steps up, lots of momentum going into 2019. Same number of wins, different feeling at the end of the year.

Obviously I'd rather they look good all the way through. Just pointing out how you can view a season differently even with the same number of wins.
 



Mighty nice of him to tell us ahead of time in case the Gophers have another floundering season.

At some point in time, we have to show marked improvements even if they lose some close games. Not a two-game shut-out at the end of the season. We want to see the Nekton Mentality in action. Not running out of players and gas at the end of the season.

Upsetting Wisconsin will cure lots of frustration even if they miss out on a bowl game.
 

The last time we had a coach coaching the team, we were 9 and 4 and beat a ranked team that was favored by 14 points in a bowl game. Since day one of the culture change and the "row the boat" era, Fleck was under the assumption we were at the bottom of our expectations. I get it, he is saying that progress for this lowly program at this time is not measured with wins.
 

Mighty nice of him to tell us ahead of time in case the Gophers have another floundering season.

At some point in time, we have to show marked improvements even if they lose some close games. Not a two-game shut-out at the end of the season. We want to see the Nekton Mentality in action. Not running out of players and gas at the end of the season.

Upsetting Wisconsin will cure lots of frustration even if they miss out on a bowl game.

Last two games not withstanding, there were 2-3 other losses last year that absolutely could have been wins. Game management and adjustments are the staff's responsibility, and there were some very apparent lapses in those other losses. Another year for both players and staff should yield better results.
 

I'd venture to say that the Gophers will be better than last year despite Fleck's tempering of expectations. Didn't he say you have to fail first to learn how to win?

I can sense it, the Gophers are due to upset someone. BADGER ROADKILL.jpg
 

That's fine and frankly reasonable for him, as long as he realizes that many of the program's investors (by way of time, money and other resources) will be judging 2018 based on outcomes (e.g., wins and losses) and not solely the process.

Judging, sure, and doing what? Cancel tickets unless X games are won, and ignore how they looked and how they improved, and how the freshmen look, etc? That's nuts.
 

Judging, sure, and doing what? Cancel tickets unless X games are won, and ignore how they looked and how they improved, and how the freshmen look, etc? That's nuts.

I'm positive some would not renew tickets if the team goes 4-8 or something, others (non-season-ticket holders) would just find other things to do with their Saturdays than watch on TV or pick up single-game tickets. Winning teams are generally more fun to watch, and many fans aren't paying close enough attention to know that x player improved, x freshman is exciting, etc.
 

Never like it when PJ is very obviously trying to manage expectations. I'm fine though. I just hope for progress this year and next and hopefully a great year in year 4 with a senior quarterback and all PJ's guys are juniors and seniors. Then we'll have Annexstad as a red shirt senior the next year and we'll be off to the races.
 

That's fine and frankly reasonable for him, as long as he realizes that many of the program's investors (by way of time, money and other resources) will be judging 2018 based on outcomes (e.g., wins and losses) and not solely the process.

It is fine and reasonable for Fleck. He isn’t getting fired if the team only wins 4 games this year and he knows it.

Some of the fan base will lose their minds if it is a only 4 win season but Fleck’s job won’t be in jeopardy.
 

Never like it when PJ is very obviously trying to manage expectations. I'm fine though. I just hope for progress this year and next and hopefully a great year in year 4 with a senior quarterback and all PJ's guys are juniors and seniors. Then we'll have Annexstad as a red shirt senior the next year and we'll be off to the races.

As the roster is currently constructed, we won't have a senior QB in year 4 - and almost all of Fleck's recruits will be juniors at the oldest. And, assuming that Annexstad is able to hold on to his redshirt this year, he wouldn't be a redshirt senior until year 6.
 


I don't want this to devolve into a Claeys v. Fleck argument, but I just wonder how much patience there would be for Claeys if he had a season like last season and was talking down this season, even after coming off a 9 win season? I think people would be calling for his head. I absolutely think Fleck wants to win - anyone who thinks differently is out of his or her mind - I am just really concerned about Fleck's coaching ability. After seeing some poor coaching decisions last year, I just don't know he has the chops to cut it. I'll admit that Fleck rubs me the wrong way, but I still want him to succeed. However, I am not just going to blindly cheer the guy on because he is the Gophers FB coach. He has to prove to me that he can win at this level and right now I don't see it. Granted, you have to give the guy some time, but if there are not some very visible improvements this year, I think it will be time to panic. People will jump off the bandwagon in droves if we have another season like last season, IMO.
 

He hedges some but I hope that he means that wins and losses are not the only way he will judge this season.
 

I don't want this to devolve into a Claeys v. Fleck argument, but I just wonder how much patience there would be for Claeys if he had a season like last season and was talking down this season, even after coming off a 9 win season? I think people would be calling for his head. I absolutely think Fleck wants to win - anyone who thinks differently is out of his or her mind - I am just really concerned about Fleck's coaching ability. After seeing some poor coaching decisions last year, I just don't know he has the chops to cut it. I'll admit that Fleck rubs me the wrong way, but I still want him to succeed. However, I am not just going to blindly cheer the guy on because he is the Gophers FB coach. He has to prove to me that he can win at this level and right now I don't see it. Granted, you have to give the guy some time, but if there are not some very visible improvements this year, I think it will be time to panic. People will jump off the bandwagon in droves if we have another season like last season, IMO.

Probably. But they'd be different situations. Claeys had his hand in the program many years before. So while he was new to being a head coach, he wasn't new to being a big part of the recruiting, gameplan, etc. I think it also helps that Fleck has had success as a head coach previously (albeit at a lower level).
 

per Greder:

P.J. Fleck won’t measure his football team’s 2018 season by how many games the Gophers win.

“Numbers will always get stale,” Fleck said. “If we win so many games some day, that will be the expectation.”

Speaking at the Gophers’ local media day Tuesday, Fleck used the last of his four seasons at Western Michigan to explain his thinking. After going 1-11 in Fleck’s first season in 2013, the Broncos won 13 games and earned a berth in the Cotton Bowl against Wisconsin.

“Here we are go from being 1-11 to 11-0 and people are saying, ‘If we lose this game, it’s all for naught,’ ” Fleck said. “I’m looking at them like, ‘You know we won 11 games so far’ We remember three years ago and where we were at?’

“I understand the expectation, but holy cow that changed quickly, didn’t it?”

Regarding his second Gophers team, which starts its season Aug. 30 with a 6 p.m. kickoff against New Mexico State, Fleck said, “The number (of wins) doesn’t necessarily mean that much to me. … Somebody else can judge the number. That is never going to be something that I look at to whether that was a success or not.”

https://www.twincities.com/2018/07/...ng-to-shock-some-people-carter-coughlin-says/

Go Gophers!!

I'm with pj. To be honest, I'm not expecting much this year. Inexperience in important areas like qb, DL, DB, WR, TE. I wont be judging the team on wins either but more the week to week improvement.

2019....now that's when we will see what pj is made of when we dont lose many seniors and have alot of experience back on both lines and WR and QB
 




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