BleedGopher
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per Sid:
The lack of recent Gophers football success may be the worst in the Big Ten except for Indiana, which hasn’t won a title since that tie with the Gophers in ’67. Schools like Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers haven’t won a title but have only been in the conference a few seasons.
When P.J. Fleck was asked if he was aware of this history when he took the job, he said that all he is concerned about is looking forward.
“What we haven’t done for 51 years, that has to stop affecting our future,” Fleck said. “Just because it is our past doesn’t mean it has to be our future.”
Still, it isn’t just a lack of Big Ten titles; the program has been middle of the road for most seasons since 1967.
The best finish would be either 2003 under Glen Mason, when the Gophers finished tied for fourth at 9-3 and won the Sun Bowl, or 2013, when they tied for second in the Big Ten West at 8-4 under Jerry Kill, won at Michigan and at Iowa and then lost in the Citrus Bowl.
Fleck said that these kinds of challenges are exactly what he craves in a coaching job.
“That is what we do. I love to run into the fire, not away,” Fleck said. “Not only was there a championship drought for 51 years, but there was a lot of other issues going on here, and we decided that this was the opportunity for us.”
Fleck said it was no different at Western Michigan when he became the youngest head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2012.
“I’ve always wanted to bring our staff to places that we feel like we can give them a championship down the road, that maybe they haven’t had for so long. Give people things that they’ve dreamed of that they haven’t had for a long time,” Fleck said. “It takes a while, but that’s why we took the job. I made that very clear to [athletic director] Mark Coyle.”
http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...-by-u-s-long-drought-of-mediocrity/491721711/
Go Gophers!!
The lack of recent Gophers football success may be the worst in the Big Ten except for Indiana, which hasn’t won a title since that tie with the Gophers in ’67. Schools like Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers haven’t won a title but have only been in the conference a few seasons.
When P.J. Fleck was asked if he was aware of this history when he took the job, he said that all he is concerned about is looking forward.
“What we haven’t done for 51 years, that has to stop affecting our future,” Fleck said. “Just because it is our past doesn’t mean it has to be our future.”
Still, it isn’t just a lack of Big Ten titles; the program has been middle of the road for most seasons since 1967.
The best finish would be either 2003 under Glen Mason, when the Gophers finished tied for fourth at 9-3 and won the Sun Bowl, or 2013, when they tied for second in the Big Ten West at 8-4 under Jerry Kill, won at Michigan and at Iowa and then lost in the Citrus Bowl.
Fleck said that these kinds of challenges are exactly what he craves in a coaching job.
“That is what we do. I love to run into the fire, not away,” Fleck said. “Not only was there a championship drought for 51 years, but there was a lot of other issues going on here, and we decided that this was the opportunity for us.”
Fleck said it was no different at Western Michigan when he became the youngest head coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2012.
“I’ve always wanted to bring our staff to places that we feel like we can give them a championship down the road, that maybe they haven’t had for so long. Give people things that they’ve dreamed of that they haven’t had for a long time,” Fleck said. “It takes a while, but that’s why we took the job. I made that very clear to [athletic director] Mark Coyle.”
http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...-by-u-s-long-drought-of-mediocrity/491721711/
Go Gophers!!
