Chip: P.J. Fleck can't afford another whiff on his second hire for Gophers defensive

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BleedGopher

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per Chip:

On many occasions over the past 18 months, P.J. Fleck has highlighted voluminous coaching turnover in explaining the Gophers football program’s half-century slumber.

Replacing coaches every few years, he says, isn’t the recipe for success. His “cultural sustainability” blueprint sounds wonderful in theory, but Big Ten football requires a measure of competence, as well.

Sometimes, the situation requires more than catchphrases. This is that moment.

Fleck’s credibility is on the line with fans who want to see tangible proof of improvement. To stand pat with Smith, even for the final three games, would have been damaging.

Athletic Director Mark Coyle fired Tracy Claeys, in part, because he looked out at TCF Bank Stadium on gameday and saw rows of empty seats. Sluggish attendance remains a problem under Fleck. The defense on display throughout the Big Ten season hasn’t helped remove skepticism.

Two of the most important functions for any head coach are recruiting and being able to hire a top-notch coaching staff. Fleck has raised the bar in recruiting. He already has attracted more speed and talent with his young core.

He whiffed on his first defensive coordinator and now must start over. Fleck has lost a few position coaches off his staff to other jobs, but firing a coordinator during Year 2 shows both desperation and an acknowledgment that he got it wrong on the front end.

Fleck’s expertise is offense. That makes it even more imperative that he hires the right person to oversee his defense. He often preaches the value in staff continuity. He can’t afford to get this wrong again.

http://www.startribune.com/p-j-flec...-for-gophers-defensive-coordinator/499742891/

Go Gophers!!
 

Way to go Chip. With people like you and the other anti-Gopher news people at the Trip, probably eliminates most of those who were really qualified. As the Duke basketball Coach K, was quoted as saying, who would really want to coach in Minnesota? No support from the local tv and newspapers. Sorry to say, but yes, news accounts does effect success. If nothing more, just the recruiting is affected by what is written. But I guess you already knew this and it is just another notch in your journalistic belt. I am sure you are expecting PJ to notify you as to which coaches he is considering.
 

Has Justin Gaards stated expectations on players or coaches for the U ever been correct?
 


Pete smith said:
Way to go Chip. With people like you and the other anti-Gopher news people at the Trip, probably eliminates most of those who were really qualified. As the Duke basketball Coach K, was quoted as saying, who would really want to coach in Minnesota? No support from the local tv and newspapers. Sorry to say, but yes, news accounts does effect success. If nothing more, just the recruiting is affected by what is written. But I guess you already knew this and it is just another notch in your journalistic belt. I am sure you are expecting PJ to notify you as to which coaches he is considering.
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What from the article can you argue with? It appears accurate and fair. The article gives credit for recruiting and points out downfalls of defense and attendance. What is your issue with it?
 



Say what you will about the generalized tone of local media coverage, but I don't think this report was unfair or inaccurate. PJ can't afford another bad hire for this position. His first hire caused too much damage.

JTG
 

Pete smith said:
Way to go Chip. With people like you and the other anti-Gopher news people at the Trip, probably eliminates most of those who were really qualified. As the Duke basketball Coach K, was quoted as saying, who would really want to coach in Minnesota? No support from the local tv and newspapers. Sorry to say, but yes, news accounts does effect success. If nothing more, just the recruiting is affected by what is written. But I guess you already knew this and it is just another notch in your journalistic belt. I am sure you are expecting PJ to notify you as to which coaches he is considering.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? Chip Scoggins is the best college football writer in town. He actually enjoys the sport and has a passion for covering it, which is more than we can say for the rest of the NFL loving stooges we have.

This piece was accurate and balanced.
 

rockford said:
Say what you will about the generalized tone of local media coverage, but I don't think this report was unfair or inaccurate. PJ can't afford another bad hire for this position. His first hire caused too much damage.

JTG
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Agreed. I said the same thing a few days ago after he was fired. Fleck really needs to bring in someone top notch or he won't be a Big Ten coach for too many more years. The natives are already starting to get a little restless. The offense has improved since his start in fact I am already looking forward to next season's offense a lot but the defense is an absolute joke. I haven't seen a defense give up this many big plays on a regular basis in a very long time.
 



here's the thing. In order to know if the local media is really negative against the Gophers, the Gophers would have to win. If the Gophers win, and the media is still negative, then we'll know something. But right now, the media is responding to the team's performance on the field.

The media's job is not to be a cheerleader for the local teams. In some markets, the media may choose to play that role, but in theory, the media is supposed to be neutral. As opposed to play-by-play guys, who tend to be homers to some extent. some more than others (PA...)

But what we have here is more like this:

Team loses. Media says "The team lost." Fans complain about negative media.
 

Pete smith said:
Way to go Chip. With people like you and the other anti-Gopher news people at the Trip, probably eliminates most of those who were really qualified. As the Duke basketball Coach K, was quoted as saying, who would really want to coach in Minnesota? No support from the local tv and newspapers. Sorry to say, but yes, news accounts does effect success. If nothing more, just the recruiting is affected by what is written. But I guess you already knew this and it is just another notch in your journalistic belt. I am sure you are expecting PJ to notify you as to which coaches he is considering.
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It must be your time of the month. What would you have written?
 

short ornery norwegian said:
here's the thing. In order to know if the local media is really negative against the Gophers, the Gophers would have to win. If the Gophers win, and the media is still negative, then we'll know something. But right now, the media is responding to the team's performance on the field.

The media's job is not to be a cheerleader for the local teams. In some markets, the media may choose to play that role, but in theory, the media is supposed to be neutral. As opposed to play-by-play guys, who tend to be homers to some extent. some more than others (PA...)

But what we have here is more like this:

Team loses. Media says "The team lost." Fans complain about negative media.
Click to expand...

Agree with you when they lose, but our media has been lazy in covering the Gophers in how they don't do any diligence about the team before throwing out random complaints.
If you do some research and rip the team like you would have to when ripping the Vikings, I'm fine with it. But just taking potshots is something that's been overplayed in the last 20 years of Gophers coverage.

At least come with some substance in your rips and details as to why you feel they are rippable.
 

It’s not how the media treats the Gophers that I take isssue with, it’s how belittling and condescending they are to the fan base. Half of the college towns in America have losing teams, but most papers and media channels give their readers/viewers what they want (for their own livelihood, not for the school). Twin Cities media go out of their way to slam the Gophers so much that they’ve turned off multiple generations of readers/viewers. There are papers I don’t look at and stations I won’t listen to just because of this stance. That’s just a stupid way to treat potential customers.
 



More complaints about the media not treating the Gophers nicely. Seriously, who cares?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
What are you talking about? Chip Scoggins is the best college football writer in town. He actually enjoys the sport and has a passion for covering it, which is more than we can say for the rest of the NFL loving stooges we have.

This piece was accurate and balanced.
Click to expand...

That user seems to just write these weird zingers and phrases ... but none of them make sense, some are just random, and the posts almost weirdly go out of their way to indicate that he has no clue what he's talking about. It's like some AI gone wrong where it associates nouns and narratives but doesn't understand them even at the most basic level.
 

goldenboy said:
It’s not how the media treats the Gophers that I take isssue with, it’s how belittling and condescending they are to the fan base. Half of the college towns in America have losing teams, but most papers and media channels give their readers/viewers what they want (for their own livelihood, not for the school). Twin Cities media go out of their way to slam the Gophers so much that they’ve turned off multiple generations of readers/viewers. There are papers I don’t look at and stations I won’t listen to just because of this stance. That’s just a stupid way to treat potential customers.
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FWIW, in a college town where the FB team is the only game in town, it's fair to assume that a higher percentage of newspaper readers and radio listeners are fans of that team, and the paper or radio station has a financial incentive to cater to those fans. If (let's say) 40% of your readership are fans of State U, and you rip State U all the time, that's not good for your circulation.

But in the Twin Cities, we have a crowded sports scene. The Twin Cities media is covering multiple pro teams, the Gophers, the state colleges, the high school scene etc. As a result, it's fair to assume that Gopher fans make up a smaller % of the readers and listeners. So, if your coverage is pi**ing off Gopher fans, and some of them quit reading or listening, it's not as big a blow. As a result, the papers and radio stations have less incentive to cater to Gopher fans. for better or worse, they can take the attitude of "bleep 'em, we don't need 'em."
 

short ornery norwegian said:
FWIW, in a college town where the FB team is the only game in town, it's fair to assume that a higher percentage of newspaper readers and radio listeners are fans of that team, and the paper or radio station has a financial incentive to cater to those fans. If (let's say) 40% of your readership are fans of State U, and you rip State U all the time, that's not good for your circulation.

But in the Twin Cities, we have a crowded sports scene. The Twin Cities media is covering multiple pro teams, the Gophers, the state colleges, the high school scene etc. As a result, it's fair to assume that Gopher fans make up a smaller % of the readers and listeners. So, if your coverage is pi**ing off Gopher fans, and some of them quit reading or listening, it's not as big a blow. As a result, the papers and radio stations have less incentive to cater to Gopher fans. for better or worse, they can take the attitude of "bleep 'em, we don't need 'em."
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No kidding. If people don't believe it, go to the game Saturday and lguesstimate the attendance.
 

Spoofin said:
More complaints about the media not treating the Gophers nicely. Seriously, who cares?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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This time it's because Chip had the audacity to call the hire of Robb Smith a whiff. That's totally unfair. I wrote a long post about it on one of the several "Robb Smith should be fired" threads.
 

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