BleedGopher
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
- Messages
- 60,716
- Reaction score
- 15,963
- Points
- 113
per Greder:
Overheard comments from some Gophers football players made P.J. Fleck's skin crawl last year.
" 'Oh, it's just this opponent,' " Minnesota's head coach recalled, leaving out the name of the Big Ten Conference foe. "You hear that in the hallway and you're like, 'What?!' That's a want-to-win, almost a cocky way of thinking."
The root of such comments: a belief that Minnesota's program held a certain spot in the league's hierarchy, a perch above the likes of, say, Purdue, Illinois or Maryland — the Gophers' opponent in Saturday's Big Ten opener in College Park, Md.
In Fleck's second season, the Gophers have worked to eradicate perceptions like that inside the new Larson Football Performance Center. "I wanted to make sure that they were incredibly humble," Fleck said. "You need to be humble or you will be humbled."
At Big Ten media days in Chicago, Fleck shared how the biggest objective with this year's team is to ditch the "want-to-win" approach and replace it with a "refusing-to-lose" edge.
Through nonconference play, Fleck saw that switch flipped in a 21-14 win over Fresno State on Sept. 8, which required a late touchdown and game-saving interception. In his postgame comments, Fleck said the victory over a veteran team that won 10 games in 2017 could be a turning point for the program.
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sp...igns-gophers-have-traded-want-win-refuse-lose
Go Gophers!!
Overheard comments from some Gophers football players made P.J. Fleck's skin crawl last year.
" 'Oh, it's just this opponent,' " Minnesota's head coach recalled, leaving out the name of the Big Ten Conference foe. "You hear that in the hallway and you're like, 'What?!' That's a want-to-win, almost a cocky way of thinking."
The root of such comments: a belief that Minnesota's program held a certain spot in the league's hierarchy, a perch above the likes of, say, Purdue, Illinois or Maryland — the Gophers' opponent in Saturday's Big Ten opener in College Park, Md.
In Fleck's second season, the Gophers have worked to eradicate perceptions like that inside the new Larson Football Performance Center. "I wanted to make sure that they were incredibly humble," Fleck said. "You need to be humble or you will be humbled."
At Big Ten media days in Chicago, Fleck shared how the biggest objective with this year's team is to ditch the "want-to-win" approach and replace it with a "refusing-to-lose" edge.
Through nonconference play, Fleck saw that switch flipped in a 21-14 win over Fresno State on Sept. 8, which required a late touchdown and game-saving interception. In his postgame comments, Fleck said the victory over a veteran team that won 10 games in 2017 could be a turning point for the program.
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sp...igns-gophers-have-traded-want-win-refuse-lose
Go Gophers!!
