Obviously people are pissed off, always good to listen to guy in charge


I listened to Fleck's portion of the press conference.
Bullet points:
It's all on me. I make all the decisions.
team is young. youngest team in America. can't get FR to play like SR's.
lack of depth in secondary, so can't play certain defenses. Nebraska set up their offense to isolate vulnerable players on Gopher defense.
Defensive problems not with scheme, but with execution. players didn't hold the edge, and when they were in position, they missed tackles.
I'm rebuilding the team the way I know how. Said we were going to get younger.
team has lost best 2 players on offense and best 2 players on defense to injuries. every time a player gets injured, have to play another FR.
youngest team in America. (again) playing 5 FR on defense, 7 on offense.
have 100% faith in coaches.
those are some of the main points.


“It’s all on me” and “it’s not a scheme issue on D”? That doesn’t add up. You don’t give up 400 yards rushing with good scheme. Players were constantly out of position, not maintaining gaps, and not doing their 1/11th. Makes you wonder about the concepts, the coaching, and the team Defense plan. Good defensive teams have 11 players that know their role, and do their jobs, even though at the detriment of their own personal stats.
 
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I’ll be honest, I usually don’t listen to his press conferences because of his use of cliche, and mantra is so over the top I end up tuning him out.

But I watched this one all the way through.

What he said wasn’t important to my take away. I expect him to say he has 100% confidence in his coaching staff and stuff like that.

His body language tells a different story. He was thoroughly dejected as he searched for answers he doesn’t have in his intro.

His growing frustration with the Minnesota press was evident as he became more defiant as the questions went on, but he still looked lost and unsure of himself except for key moments where he was positive he still has all the answers and his patter is rote:

We’re young.
Takes time.
Poor execution due to freshman mistakes.

He leaves a lot out, but none of the answers matter. I want to see the results i want to see the results of what he changes. This year is lost, although I don’t think he threw this one away like he did last year.

We’ll see if this gets any better, but if he’s going to blindly hang on to what worked at western Michigan, he’s not giving himself a chance and without some gunner of hope. Some idea of where we’re headed. The MN sports press is going to make his life miserable, exhibit “A” Chip’s article today which reflects a reaction to Fleck’s response to him last night.

We’re in trouble. We may come out of it but to do that you need calm and clear leadership from someone willing to examine everything unless and until this improves. I don’t expect us to run the table, but I do expect signs of a direction to be evident half way through your second conference season. Every new coach has shown that. I’m concerned more than ever that we’re seeing the direction. I hope I’m wrong.


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Some really good observations here and your words support my same thoughts as I was watching the presser. I have never seen PJ so distraught over a loss. You could tell that he didn't think this was how his team was going to perform today. If PJ is down, hard for the fans to stay positive.

The Gopher/Buckeye game was a sure tell of where OSU really was as a football team. It was obvious to me that OSU was ripe for an upset and the Boilers didn't disappoint. I told everyone I could that Purdue was going to beat OSU. They were terrible against us and I thought I had a pretty good handle on where we were as a football team. Any football person that watched the Gopher/Buckeye game had to know that OSU was extremely over ranked and over thought of in the world of college football.

This defense looks like some our defenses of old that could give up 50 points in a quick fashion. I think our offensive success is just getting started and will continue to get more creative. I like all the signs of progress I see on the offensive side of the football. Our defense absolutely stinks. I don't care what needs to happen to fix it, new players, new coaches, whatever! Just fix the defense.

Our only chance of winning going forward this year is to put up 40+ points per game and hope we just outscore somebody.

Having been at the Nebraska game and my first time to Lincoln, the people were great, the stadium is a dump, there is nothing else to do in Nebraska so the entire state looks forward to 7-8 games a year to attend. Lincoln is nice but in the end, I am glad I attended the U and lived in a cool metro area that has so much more to offer than a podunk college town. If Gopher football ever starts winning on the big stage, the U would really be the coolest college experience around.
 

Stop hiring snake oil salesmen. 2 of the last 3 permanent hires now

I often wonder if people who use that saying even know what it is supposed to mean. Not liking a coach doesn't make him a snake oil salesman.
 

Dan Barreiro has been taking his lazy approach to ripping the Gophers today on his morning show.
He was discussing how PJ made the choice to go young but that the defense isn't even that young, yet it's horrible.
He seemed to argue that PJ was playing young people in key positions because PJ wants to, as if he's passing on some really talented Juniors and Seniors that Fleck said "no thanks" to.


A little bit later he couldn't recall who the coach was after Kill... "the coordinator guy who took over for a year and was let go".

It never seemed to occur to him that the Juniors and Seniors for the program might not be here because they were never recruited or transferred out before Fleck arrived.

He's right about the defense to some extent. The defense isn't that young and should be better than they have been.

I'm guessing Barreiro didn't give any examples of this? What older, more talented guys are on the bench right now? What talented guys transferred away that are still playing?
 


Good post.

Plenty of fans don’t like the decision Fleck made to go into a total rebuild mode. Some have decided 19 games into it that it’s over.

Fleck made the decision to go this route and as has been pointed out he’ll have his chance to see it through.

Whether it will work or not IMO can’t be determined after 19 games.

How was total rebuild mode his choice? Did he kick the secondary players out of school? Did he run Rhoda out of here? Should he have found some secret way to get Leidner another year of eligibility? Handy-Holly and Croft both wanted to leave rather than accept discipline for their mistakes. I'm sure they'd be great for the character of this team.

Players left with the coaching change. Even if they brought Urban Meyer or Nick Saban in, players would have transferred. Look at what was left - what was left was a total rebuild because there was so little left.

Additionally, as tired as people get of hearing this team is young, I get tired of the "9 win season" crap. They beat zero ranked teams, won zero trophies and beat one team they weren't favored to beat. Most of the teams were absolute garbage. That same team is lucky to get to a Bowl last year. No way they would have repeated even if it was possible.

Agreed. Fleck and Coyle are tied at the hip. As Fleck goes, so goes Coyle. If it ever got to the point where PJ needed to be fired, Coyle would be gone too.

Absolutely disagree. Whether Fleck works out or not does not reflect on whether Coyle made a good hire based on the information he had. No AD can predict whether any coach will work in their circumstances. Fleck was one of the top "hot" coaches in the country. Regardless of whether you thought he was the right pick or not, he checked nearly all of boxes on the "things we want out of our next coach" list. There is no guarantee Les Miles or whoever else would be doing any better right now.

Besides, if Maturi didn't get fired over the Brewster fiasco, where Brew was a much bigger risk for no good reason compared to other people interested in the job, no way Coyle gets fired for hiring a coach that made a New Year's Six Bowl (or whatever they're called).
 

I think what people are getting at with Fleck's choice to rebuild:

he had other options. he could have brought in a lot of Juco's to fill gaps in the lineup, to protect the FR who aren't ready to play. He could have tried to bring in some grad transfers. He did not take that route. And he said publicly he did not want to take that route. he chose to go young. that is a choice. so, to say he had no choice is a bit disingenuous.

And who knows - if Fleck would have brought in a bunch of Juco's, the team could be in the exact same shape they're in now. But we don't know, because he didn't choose to go that route.

Just like we don't know what might have happened in year 2 or 3 of a Claeys regime. Maybe Claeys would have struggled with recruiting, and the team would have struggled. or maybe Claeys would have recruited kids who fit his system, and they would have continued to play decent, if not great, football.
we'll never know. so you can't say "the team would have gone downhill under Claeys," because there is no way to prove or disprove that statement. it's meaningless. it's like saying the country would have been better off if Clinton had been elected President. there's no way to prove or disprove that statement, either.
 

How was total rebuild mode his choice?

Fleck has said numerous times, including this weekend that it was his choice to rebuild the program.

He has indicated its the way he knows how to do it.

That is what some in here have a problem with. According to them a rebuild wasn’t needed. Because the whole 9 wins thing supposedly is proof the program was on its way to greatness and a rebuild somehow disparages the previous staff.

I have no problem with the choice Fleck made.






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How was total rebuild mode his choice? Did he kick the secondary players out of school? Did he run Rhoda out of here? Should he have found some secret way to get Leidner another year of eligibility? Handy-Holly and Croft both wanted to leave rather than accept discipline for their mistakes. I'm sure they'd be great for the character of this team.

Players left with the coaching change. Even if they brought Urban Meyer or Nick Saban in, players would have transferred. Look at what was left - what was left was a total rebuild because there was so little left.

Additionally, as tired as people get of hearing this team is young, I get tired of the "9 win season" crap. They beat zero ranked teams, won zero trophies and beat one team they weren't favored to beat. Most of the teams were absolute garbage. That same team is lucky to get to a Bowl last year. No way they would have repeated even if it was possible.



Absolutely disagree. Whether Fleck works out or not does not reflect on whether Coyle made a good hire based on the information he had. No AD can predict whether any coach will work in their circumstances. Fleck was one of the top "hot" coaches in the country. Regardless of whether you thought he was the right pick or not, he checked nearly all of boxes on the "things we want out of our next coach" list. There is no guarantee Les Miles or whoever else would be doing any better right now.

Besides, if Maturi didn't get fired over the Brewster fiasco, where Brew was a much bigger risk for no good reason compared to other people interested in the job, no way Coyle gets fired for hiring a coach that made a New Year's Six Bowl (or whatever they're called).
+1


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I think what people are getting at with Fleck's choice to rebuild:

he had other options. he could have brought in a lot of Juco's to fill gaps in the lineup, to protect the FR who aren't ready to play. He could have tried to bring in some grad transfers. He did not take that route. And he said publicly he did not want to take that route. he chose to go young. that is a choice. so, to say he had no choice is a bit disingenuous.

And who knows - if Fleck would have brought in a bunch of Juco's, the team could be in the exact same shape they're in now. But we don't know, because he didn't choose to go that route.

Just like we don't know what might have happened in year 2 or 3 of a Claeys regime. Maybe Claeys would have struggled with recruiting, and the team would have struggled. or maybe Claeys would have recruited kids who fit his system, and they would have continued to play decent, if not great, football.
we'll never know. so you can't say "the team would have gone downhill under Claeys," because there is no way to prove or disprove that statement. it's meaningless. it's like saying the country would have been better off if Clinton had been elected President. there's no way to prove or disprove that statement, either.
How was "bringing in JUCOs" a viable option? How many were available in the 20 or so days prior to NSD after Fleck was hired? How many JUCOs are dominating the college football landscape?

People bring up the juco angle with very few examples of success. Don't bother with the Bill Snyder example unless you bring data showing a roster breakdown of jucos vs 4yr player. Plus how is k.st. doing this year?


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Additionally, as tired as people get of hearing this team is young, I get tired of the "9 win season" crap. They beat zero ranked teams, won zero trophies and beat one team they weren't favored to beat. Most of the teams were absolute garbage. That same team is lucky to get to a Bowl last year. No way they would have repeated even if it was possible.

And yet, that dogsh1t 2016 team beat 4 bowl teams in one season (CSU, Maryland, Northwestern, and WSU). How many bowl teams has Fleck beaten in 1.5 years? He beat MTSU last year and Fresno St. this year. It's not looking too optimistic to beat any of the remaining potential bowl teams on our schedule - maybe Indiana. The last time I checked, beating 4 bowl teams in one season is better than beating 2 or 3 bowl teams in two seasons.

Also, the point seems to elude you that "beat one team they weren't favored to beat" (which is factually wrong, btw) while winning 9 games means that we were favored in many games. How many games have we even been favored in during the Fleck era? How many times have we won as the underdog? We'll have lots of opportunities to "beat teams we weren't favored to beat," given that we were (embarrassingly) an underdog to an 0-6 team and (perhaps even more embarrassingly) home underdogs to freakin' Indiana.
 

And yet, that dogsh1t 2016 team beat 4 bowl teams in one season (CSU, Maryland, Northwestern, and WSU). How many bowl teams has Fleck beaten in 1.5 years? He beat MTSU last year and Fresno St. this year. It's not looking too optimistic to beat any of the remaining potential bowl teams on our schedule - maybe Indiana. The last time I checked, beating 4 bowl teams in one season is better than beating 2 or 3 bowl teams in two seasons.

Also, the point seems to elude you that "beat one team they weren't favored to beat" (which is factually wrong, btw) while winning 9 games means that we were favored in many games. How many games have we even been favored in during the Fleck era? How many times have we won as the underdog? We'll have lots of opportunities to "beat teams we weren't favored to beat," given that we were (embarrassingly) an underdog to an 0-6 team and (perhaps even more embarrassingly) home underdogs to freakin' Indiana.

Some of the same posters who denigrate the 9-4 season will be ready to release ceremonial doves if and when Fleck gets us there, without regard to number of wins over ranked opponents or in trophy games. It is amazing how the same people can see 9-4 both as a symbol of mediocrity for Claeys and an unreasonably optimistic goal for Fleck.
 

Some of the same posters who denigrate the 9-4 season will be ready to release ceremonial doves if and when Fleck gets us there, without regard to number of wins over ranked opponents or in trophy games. It is amazing how the same people can see 9-4 both as a symbol of mediocrity for Claeys and an unreasonably optimistic goal for Fleck.

It really is amazing. The 2019 season is close to as soft as a Big Ten schedule can get - no Ohio St., Michigan, or Michigan St. The only way it could possibly be easier is if we swapped out Penn St. for Indiana. And yet, even with this Charmin schedule, many posters here will be calling for a lifetime contract extension for Fleck if he goes 9-4 while losing to wisconsin and Iowa - book it. But the double standard is ok, though, because Fleck is thin, good-looking, charismatic, and well-spoken.
 



And yet, that dogsh1t 2016 team beat 4 bowl teams in one season (CSU, Maryland, Northwestern, and WSU). How many bowl teams has Fleck beaten in 1.5 years? He beat MTSU last year and Fresno St. this year. It's not looking too optimistic to beat any of the remaining potential bowl teams on our schedule - maybe Indiana. The last time I checked, beating 4 bowl teams in one season is better than beating 2 or 3 bowl teams in two seasons.

Also, the point seems to elude you that "beat one team they weren't favored to beat" (which is factually wrong, btw) while winning 9 games means that we were favored in many games. How many games have we even been favored in during the Fleck era? How many times have we won as the underdog? We'll have lots of opportunities to "beat teams we weren't favored to beat," given that we were (embarrassingly) an underdog to an 0-6 team and (perhaps even more embarrassingly) home underdogs to freakin' Indiana.

Hard to argue with any of that.
 

Some of the same posters who denigrate the 9-4 season will be ready to release ceremonial doves if and when Fleck gets us there, without regard to number of wins over ranked opponents or in trophy games. It is amazing how the same people can see 9-4 both as a symbol of mediocrity for Claeys and an unreasonably optimistic goal for Fleck.

I have a nice flock of doves (and some pigeons on contract) just for this event.

Here is our 2016 season from which Claeys was removed as Head Coach at the end of the season.

Date Time Opponent Site TV Result Attendance
September 1 8:00 PM Oregon State* W 30–23 44,582
September 10 11:00 AM Indiana State* W 58–28 41,026
September 24 11:00 AM Colorado State* W 31–24 44,854
October 1 2:30 PM at Penn State L 26–29 OT 95,332
October 8 11:00 AM Iowa L 7–14 49,145
October 15 11:00 AM at Maryland W 31–10 41,465
October 22 11:00 AM Rutgers W 34–32 46,096
October 29 11:00 AM at Illinois W 40–17 40,090
November 5 2:30 PM Purdue W 44–31 42,832
November 12 6:30 PM at No. 21 Nebraska L 17–24 90,456
November 19 2:30 PM Northwestern W 29–12 38,162
November 26 2:30 PM at No. 5 Wisconsin L 17–31 77,216
December 27 6:00 PM vs. Washington State* W 17–12 48,704
 

It really is amazing. The 2019 season is close to as soft as a Big Ten schedule can get - no Ohio St., Michigan, or Michigan St. The only way it could possibly be easier is if we swapped out Penn St. for Indiana. And yet, even with this Charmin schedule, many posters here will be calling for a lifetime contract extension for Fleck if he goes 9-4 while losing to wisconsin and Iowa - book it. But the double standard is ok, though, because Fleck is thin, good-looking, charismatic, and well-spoken.


Have you been looking at my "drafted" threads?

Here is our schedule next year:

2019
08/29 - South Dakota State
09/07 - at Fresno State
09/14 - Georgia Southern
09/28 - at Purdue
10/05 - Illinois
10/12 - Nebraska
10/19 - at Rutgers
10/26 - Maryland
11/09 - Penn State
11/16 - at Iowa
11/23 - at Northwestern
11/30 - Wisconsin
 
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Fleck has said numerous times, including this weekend that it was his choice to rebuild the program.


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What does "total rebuild" really mean in the context of college sports and what are the empirically demonstrated benefits of it? I understand what "total rebuild" means in the NBA. Get rid of the big contracts, go young, lose oodles of games for a few years, get plenty of draft picks (especially some high ones), and hope they turn out to be really good players. But what does that mean in college sports? I suspect with Fleck, it doesn't mean much of anything, like some of his other hollow rhetoric.

Fleck has used the holdovers he inherited. Not that many good ones left the program. He's brought in some juco players; he just hasn't brought in any particularly good ones yet. He has at least two upper class transfers from other D1 programs playing. As others have demonstrated with numbers, our team isn't appreciably younger than a number of Big Ten teams.
 

It really is amazing. The 2019 season is close to as soft as a Big Ten schedule can get - no Ohio St., Michigan, or Michigan St. The only way it could possibly be easier is if we swapped out Penn St. for Indiana. And yet, even with this Charmin schedule, many posters here will be calling for a lifetime contract extension for Fleck if he goes 9-4 while losing to wisconsin and Iowa - book it. But the double standard is ok, though, because Fleck is thin, good-looking, charismatic, and well-spoken.

I've been saying since Fleck was hired that the 2020 Rose Bowl could be Gophs best chance to get there in awhile based on their 2019 schedule and the CFB rotation.
 

I have a nice flock of doves (and some pigeons on contract) just for this event.

Here is our 2016 season from which Claeys was removed as Head Coach at the end of the season.

Date Time Opponent Site TV Result Attendance
September 1 8:00 PM Oregon State* W 30–23 44,582
September 10 11:00 AM Indiana State* W 58–28 41,026
September 24 11:00 AM Colorado State* W 31–24 44,854
October 1 2:30 PM at Penn State L 26–29 OT 95,332
October 8 11:00 AM Iowa L 7–14 49,145
October 15 11:00 AM at Maryland W 31–10 41,465
October 22 11:00 AM Rutgers W 34–32 46,096
October 29 11:00 AM at Illinois W 40–17 40,090
November 5 2:30 PM Purdue W 44–31 42,832
November 12 6:30 PM at No. 21 Nebraska L 17–24 90,456
November 19 2:30 PM Northwestern W 29–12 38,162
November 26 2:30 PM at No. 5 Wisconsin L 17–31 77,216
December 27 6:00 PM vs. Washington State* W 17–12 48,704

Four BigTen losses by a total of 31 points...only one by double figures. Boy do I miss the days where I actually believed we had a chance against anyone.
 

Four BigTen losses by a total of 31 points...only one by double figures. Boy do I miss the days where I actually believed we had a chance against anyone.

We held the lead or were tied in the 4th quarter of every single game.
 

I just can’t take the endless mediocrity any longer. If there was a glimmer of hope that they were about to turn the corner I’d be ok, but 32 years into this crap as a fan of Gopher football it’s just the same old song that will seemingly never change.

This is exactly how I feel. I understand programs need to be rebuilt, but I’m paying for the season tickets this year just like last year and the 26 years before (and more as a student). No crappy season ticket perk program is going to make up for being butt kicked over and over and over. I can absorb a well competed loss. We are not getting that. I need PJ to succeed. I’m not going to be around for the next Wacker or Brewster.
 

We held the lead or were tied in the 4th quarter of every single game.

Tru Dat. Think a few Flecksters brought up Gophs being competitive into the 3rd in Iowa and the 4th in the OSU games. Guess that's the "new bar"...
 

How was total rebuild mode his choice? Did he kick the secondary players out of school? Did he run Rhoda out of here? Should he have found some secret way to get Leidner another year of eligibility? Handy-Holly and Croft both wanted to leave rather than accept discipline for their mistakes. I'm sure they'd be great for the character of this team.

Players left with the coaching change. Even if they brought Urban Meyer or Nick Saban in, players would have transferred. Look at what was left - what was left was a total rebuild because there was so little left.

Additionally, as tired as people get of hearing this team is young, I get tired of the "9 win season" crap. They beat zero ranked teams, won zero trophies and beat one team they weren't favored to beat. Most of the teams were absolute garbage. That same team is lucky to get to a Bowl last year. No way they would have repeated even if it was possible.



Absolutely disagree. Whether Fleck works out or not does not reflect on whether Coyle made a good hire based on the information he had. No AD can predict whether any coach will work in their circumstances. Fleck was one of the top "hot" coaches in the country. Regardless of whether you thought he was the right pick or not, he checked nearly all of boxes on the "things we want out of our next coach" list. There is no guarantee Les Miles or whoever else would be doing any better right now.

Besides, if Maturi didn't get fired over the Brewster fiasco, where Brew was a much bigger risk for no good reason compared to other people interested in the job, no way Coyle gets fired for hiring a coach that made a New Year's Six Bowl (or whatever they're called).

Solid post.
 

Agreed 100%! This all crack me up from the mob.

So mob tell us what QB Cleays had that should be starting today?
Which WR Cleays had recruited that should be starting or how about TE?
What about Cleays forgetting to recruit lineman that we had to practice all spring with 4? Which one should be starting?

Oh on defense I can’t believe Murray and Travis didn’t come back from the NFL to play for PJ oh that’s right they graduated. Which DBs should be starting that would be juniors now Cleays recruited? These are all simple questions the mob should be able to answer?

Well, it's not all on Claeys. Fleck did bring in some guys, including JUCOs, who he hoped would be helping right now but aren't. We didn't need a QB from Claeys -- Fleck went out and got a JUCO QB last winter. He lasted three months at the U and is now playing linebacker elsewhere. Fleck recruited two JUCOs for the offensive line, neither of whom are contributing. He had two highly regarded freshmen DBs in his first recruiting class, one of whom played extensively last year, and both are gone. Royal Silver is a JUCO who is contributing, and O.J. Smith (good) and Chris Williamson (meh, but not often healthy, either) are older SEC transfers Fleck brought in for depth.

The line that Fleck didn't try to add depth with JUCOs and transfers is a myth. We tend to forget this because some are invisible. He brought in a number of guys who lack talent or were poor fits culturally. This happens in every program, and it has happened here with Fleck. He owns some of this.
 

While the 9 win season was nice (and certainly preferable to what we’ve been subjected to watch this season) the goal isn’t to win 9 games. It’s to win the West and get to the Rose Bowl. Without being able to know definitively, I believe Coyle was correct in deciding that Claeys, despite his ability as a D-coordinator, wasn’t going to get us there as a Head Coach.
So, we go out and hire a coach who has proven he can recruit and field a competent passing offense (the two components lacking from the K/C era). Although not perfect by any stretch, I think it’s pretty clear Fleck and Kirk are moving the offense in the right direction. Actually pretty exciting to think everyone minus Weyler and Greene will be back next year. Also, recruiting seems to me to be a large improvement when one considers the number of other Power 5 offers our recruits have. So in those two respects, the hiring is going as planned.
What makes this year so aggravating for me is that it’s clear that Fleck absolutely whiffed on choosing a D-Coordinator. It is nauseating watching our defense play, and unlike the offense, there is little reason for optimism. We have very little proven young talent anywhere, especially at DB.
So in an effort to take Gopher football to the next level by building off the last staff’s momentum, (which was absolutely the right move) a crucial mistake by Fleck has essentially traded our weaknesses for strengths and vice versa and we have plummeted back to the bottom of the Big Ten at a time when other programs in the West seem to be figuring it out. I don't expect Fleck to fire Smith until the end of the year, but it is essential that Fleck makes a change.
 

If this is still happening in the 5th or 6th year of Fleck's program, then yeah, he sucks and the Kill/Claeys regime will have been proven far better and more successful. Until then, I'd probably stop with the comparisons. We were all fans in 2014 and 2016...we remember...I was at the Citrus Bowl and it was really fun. I hope to get back there and beyond. I wanted it to be quickly. That isn't going to happen, but it doesn't mean it won't happen ever.
 

If this is still happening in the 3rd or 4th year of Fleck's program, then yeah, he sucks and the Kill/Claeys regime will have been proven far better and more successful. Until then, I'd probably stop with the comparisons. We were all fans in 2014 and 2016...we remember...I was at the Citrus Bowl and it was really fun. I hope to get back there and beyond. I wanted it to be quickly. That isn't going to happen, but it doesn't mean it won't happen ever.

FIFY.
Improvement needs to be happening well before the 5th and 6th years, or he shouldn't be around that long.
 

Well, it's not all on Claeys. Fleck did bring in some guys, including JUCOs, who he hoped would be helping right now but aren't. We didn't need a QB from Claeys -- Fleck went out and got a JUCO QB last winter. He lasted three months at the U and is now playing linebacker elsewhere. Fleck recruited two JUCOs for the offensive line, neither of whom are contributing. He had two highly regarded freshmen DBs in his first recruiting class, one of whom played extensively last year, and both are gone. Royal Silver is a JUCO who is contributing, and O.J. Smith (good) and Chris Williamson (meh, but not often healthy, either) are older SEC transfers Fleck brought in for depth.

The line that Fleck didn't try to add depth with JUCOs and transfers is a myth. We tend to forget this because some are invisible. He brought in a number of guys who lack talent or were poor fits culturally. This happens in every program, and it has happened here with Fleck. He owns some of this.

You know, the more games the Gophers play, the more head scratching that decision was. Not the decision to go after a QB, but to go after one like VV. Because every time I see Seth Green taking snaps, I see a guy that is much, much better at QB than VV ever was. His passing stats were never any good in JC. He would get pulled when the team got behind and had to throw the ball. He was a running QB and they already had a better one sitting on the bench. Just never understood that one. I know, water under the bridge and of course Face the Facts is going to jump in with an answer.
 

While the 9 win season was nice (and certainly preferable to what we’ve been subjected to watch this season) the goal isn’t to win 9 games. It’s to win the West and get to the Rose Bowl. Without being able to know definitively, I believe Coyle was correct in deciding that Claeys, despite his ability as a D-coordinator, wasn’t going to get us there as a Head Coach......
So, we go out and hire a coach who has proven he can recruit and field a competent passing offense (the two components lacking from the K/C era). Although not perfect by any stretch, I think it’s pretty clear Fleck and Kirk are moving the offense in the right direction.......

What makes this year so aggravating for me is that it’s clear that Fleck absolutely whiffed on choosing a D-Coordinator.


Essentially I agree with the edited points above. I would like to see this program move up to the upper echelon of at least the Western Division. I don't think Claeys was the guy to get us there and I don't blame the administration for making a change. I loved the defensive intensity of the Kill/Claeys years (and Claey's final game was the most shining example of that) but I was often frustrated by the offense. I don't know if Fleck is going to be the guy to take us to the upper echelon but I am much more satisfied by the direction of the offense. But....oh Lord...that defense.

P.S. I agree that the evidence indicates that Fleck can recruit and field a competent passing offense and the more diversified offense should help recruit skill players in the future. I wouldn't say that Fleck's overall recruiting is a big leap forward for this program so far though.
 

Defense wins championships... just saying


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