PJ Fleck has already assembled the core of his next great team (CBS Sports)


The kind of article you'd never expect from the local news sources.
 

www.cbssports.com

Nice things said. Go Gophers!

Great article, thanks for posting. A snipet:

The national hoopla around Fleck has died down dramatically as he nestles into his latest challenge in Minneapolis. The Gophers went 5-7 in his first season as he took over a roster that was decimated by exhaustion of eligibility with several vacant scholarships not used through recruiting. The program was also dealing with a sexual assault charge regarding several players. And of course there was just the normal attrition that comes with a new sheriff being in town. The other major challenge, Fleck took over a roster that has only produced 11 NFL draft picks in the last 12 years, zero coming on the offensive line in that span. Looking at the last two NFL Drafts, Ohio State leads the way in the Big Ten with 14 players selected, Michigan had 13, Wisconsin had eight and Iowa seven. The Gophers had just one. Fleck had six at Western Michigan, which would put him fifth in the Big Ten. In the Big Ten West, the Badgers have 12 players in that span on an NFL roster, the Hawkeyes have 10 and Western Michigan has nine.

Between player development, a strong coaching staff and the “Row The Boat” culture, Fleck genuinely believes Minnesota can be a championship-level program again. That they can build in Minneapolis what Alvarez built in Madison.

“Because somebody is going to win,” Fleck stated. “Somebody has to do it. Somebody will do it. We want to be the bridge that connects the past to the present and builds another bridge to the future. That’s what we talked about from day one. We’re going to build a championship culture here that has the ability to sustain success over a long period of time, not just hurry up and win, quick fix and boom it’s over. That’s not what we want. We want to bring back that the tradition the seven National Championships, the 18 Big Ten championships. That puts us in the top four in tradition in the Big Ten. In terms of tradition there just hasn’t been that for 51 years. There has been good seasons but there hasn’t been that cultural sustainability over a long period of time where there has been at certain places in our conference where they had two coaches in 42 years and they’ve had four coaches in 40 years.”

Go Gophers!!
 

Between player development, a strong coaching staff and the “Row The Boat” culture, Fleck genuinely believes Minnesota can be a championship-level program again. That they can build in Minneapolis what Alvarez built in Madison.

Personally I'd rather build in Minneapolis what Bernie Bierman built in Minneapolis. It's better than what Wisky has.
 

Wow. I never would have guessed that; Fleck had 6 players drafted during that span at Western Michigan?
 


He's got it together - He has a long term strategic vision along with other goals, focused, attention to details, and charisma.

Strategic vision is so important in business, and as in any organization. Companies go under because they lack the most important thing - leadership with vision.

Imagine the media coverage and buzz if they can pull off a victory against Maryland and the segue into the games against Iowa.
 

This team has some possible NFL talent.
 


I wonder if NFL scouts will attend Gopher games with regularity now.
 



Circle the wagons!

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Coughlin, Winfield, Carpenter, Barber.....


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It was fortunate that PJ was able to sell them all on staying when it was at a point where none of them wanted to play football anymore.
 


It was fortunate that PJ was able to sell them all on staying when it was at a point where none of them wanted to play football anymore.

HA, HA...HA, HA,HA...BA...AH...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...(HUGE BREATH)...BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
 


Nice article.
Those in the biz are taking notice.
 




Good read. I hope he can build up what the Gophs had in the past! I'd be fine with winning the BiG West a few times and contending regularly.
 

Good read. I hope he can build up what the Gophs had in the past! I'd be fine with winning the BiG West a few times and contending regularly.

Are all of the NFL prospects his recruits???? Thank goodness PJ has the eye for NFL recruits.
 

So I mentioned Coughlin, Winfield, Carpenter, and Barber.
I know some people would say TJ and Cashman but I am skeptical of those 2. Both are great college players but I don't see them in the NFL. Assuming he comes back ok from injury I think Smith is a borderline NFL prospect.

I think any others would be in the "way too early to tell" category. Maybe Faalele and Bateman?
 

He's got it together - He has a long term strategic vision along with other goals, focused, attention to details, and charisma.

Strategic vision is so important in business, and as in any organization. Companies go under because they lack the most important thing - leadership with vision.

Imagine the media coverage and buzz if they can pull off a victory against Maryland and the segue into the games against Iowa.

Well said. I don't cotton to "all things Fleck" and I can understand why he grates on some, but I think his type is the emerging trend in college football. He has the vision top-to-bottom and while I get a little tired of the personal brand he has slapped on the program to some extent, I think he knows what he is doing.

As for pro prospects, Bateman and Terell Smith have "next level" written all over them along with the other guys that have been mentioned. It's a long ways off for the freshman class, but I also like Annexstad.
 

Are all of the NFL prospects his recruits???? Thank goodness PJ has the eye for NFL recruits.

Agree this is to early and his core is really still mostly Kill/Claeys recruits. It looks like of the "core" you can attribute Bateman, ZA, T Smith, B. Williams to PJ 100%. If he continues to recruit well and talent that is redshirting pans out (Faalele, Dunlap, etc..) it should go well. On defense there are a lot of guys to replace especially at LB in a few years and I see zero guys taking significant snaps at LB. In 2015 we had 3 freshman LB's that were good enough to see the field significantly as freshman. No one really did last year,and so far it doesn't look like anyone is taking significant snaps as a freshman at LB this year. A few are listed on the depth chart, but I think Julian Huff is the only guy getting in the rotation.
 

Wow! Great article. I would love to send this to all the local "sports reporters" and tell them that they should do a little research and interview the coach instead of taking the easy way out with cheap shots, but that would be wasted effort.

There certainly haven't been a shortage of supportive Gopher articles in the local papers, but much of that comes from the Gopher beat writers and one homer old man. With the exception of Sid, the highly read major columnists (radio jocks too) all love to take shots at the Gophers because it's click bait and the easy way out.

This goes back to the problem of not having that hometown team. Big cities like MSP and Chicago attract many other alums and Minnesota and Northwestern are always going to have a lot of "other fans" living in their city. The way to get local Minnesotans who don't buy in is to sustain a winning culture. Everything that article talks about. It can be done, but takes time. Something the locals are tired of giving to sports teams. A city hungry for a winner is an opportunity to win over locals and build a fan base. That opportunity continues to exist as nobody has been able to sustain winning ways. Hopefully P.J. can.
 

You don't think Pat could write this?

I would bet one of my pay checks that this article, or the reference of it on this forum (since Pat does visit here), prompts Pat to write an article almost directly to the contrary of this piece. If not this week, most certainly after the first loss of the season.

And he will do it strictly for the sole purpose of needling the people on this board, and take some odd degree of pleasure in it.
 

I would bet one of my pay checks that this article, or the reference of it on this forum (since Pat does visit here), prompts Pat to write an article almost directly to the contrary of this piece. If not this week, most certainly after the first loss of the season.

And he will do it strictly for the sole purpose of needling the people on this board, and take some odd degree of pleasure in it.

And the people on this board will give him that pleasure by taking the bait.
 





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