Maybe its just me, but I have always had an automatic skepticism of someone
who comes into a situation, completely erases the previous regime and all its vestiges
(even the good), and only wants to do things their own way, with no input from
anyone else. They just Know it All, and nobody can convince them differently.
Go with youth....recruit replacements for the guys you just recruited....throw the
returning juniors and seniors under the bus.
You know, sometimes you do recruit more talented players, but you rely on the
maturity and stability of the upperclassmen.
In the MAC, its much easier to go thru a youth movement and play freshmen and
redshirt freshmen and potentially see them grow and compete and succeed.
In the BIG, however, its a much more physical league, and playing freshmen all the time
over-exposes them physically. Then you have injuries....and more injuries...and players
that had potential never make it to their senior seasons. Had upperclassmen been eating
up playing time while they were developing it would be much healthier and less risky.
Kill and Claeys had a solid culture, in case its hard to remember. It was based on hard
work, accountability, and the other things that we know work.
If Fleck turns this around I will tip my hat to him, but I've been watching Gopher Football
since the early 1970s and I've seen this dance before.
All we need to a solid, proven, hard-nosed head coach who stresses solid fundamentals. If
you have that you can at least compete with anyone. Once you lose that, you cant compete
with anybody.
To suggest that the defense is anything other than a complete dumpster fire is idiocy. One only
needs to look at the video of the Bowl Game vs Washington State. The schemes, the fundamentals,
the tackling, etc, etc....was light years beyond what we have now.
Watch it....I invite everyone to....again. It wasn't that long ago. All any of us really have is time,
and seasons are being wasted, never to have back again. You honor all the kids in the program by
striving to have the best team possible each and every season. If a coach tells you to wait 3-4 years,
he might as well be telling us something else. "Call us when you get serious" should be what the fans
should say.
For the first time in memory, the U actually shelled out the money for a coach and facilities that should enable us
to really compete, but it appears its being blown.
The regression is stunning. It did not have to be this way. Only single-mindedness and stubbornness have brought
us this far. If Fleck was being paid less than Claeys, this wouldn't bother me because we were getting what we've
paid for. When you shell out what the U is for this guy, you should expect more.
I hope I'm wrong....I've been wrong before. I would be happy to be this time. But my thoughts are telling me
a rough story for this program.
The trouble is, head football coaches are often chosen by people who often REALLY don't have a true grasp of the subject
matter that's required for hiring a million dollar-plus executive/coach.