PJ Fleck Interview new - Sunday 7-7-19

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Gopher Football coach PJ Fleck appeared on the Sports Huddle with Sid, Dave and Max.

(note - had a hard time hearing some of the questions and answers - may be going deaf...)

Sid: Do you keep Contact with commitments. How sure are you they won't keep their word?
PJ: not a guarantee. over 640 de-commits last year. (shorty- not sure if I heard that # right) that's about what they're averaging in college FB now. we try to talk to all of our recruits every day - text or talk on phone, or face time. we do everything we can to stay in contact. feel good about class. not done by any means. feel good about the type of young men we're bringing in here. It's a privilege to play for the U of MN.

Sid: talk about the kid from Notre Dame
PJ: Micah Dew-Treadway. DT. we knew we had to bulk up the interior. he's a tremendous resource. wonderful person. his parents live in the Mpls area. excited. big, strong, has a great soul. he makes his life about other people. work ethic is incredible. that's what we want to have here.

Sid: recruiting any JUCO's?
PJ: never say no, but right now we haven't been. this is a HS student-athlete class. that's the way we want to go. this is a developmental program. bring them in as FR, leave as SRs or come out early for draft. excited about the program - you can see the difference from when we got here to now

Max: how does the coaching staff divvy up recruiting assignments?
PJ: big thing. want to find coaches who are well rounded. need to be teachers - to teach the game. form relationships with people and recruit. got to hone in on the best people. every one of our 10 coaches can do all three at a high level. you watch them being fathers, husbands, great recruiters, developers of talent. for us, they've got to be able to do it all. where do we put them - places where they have connections. Callahan recruits Chicago. he knows that area well. so many bonds in area. that's how you do it. Patterson OK and TX - that's where he's from. that's how we do it on a regional basis. also recruit according to the position you coach.

Mona: has the transfer portal diminished role of JUCOs?
PJ: it has. you get a transfer come in, may have them for more years than a JUCO at times. it takes while to develop a player. you bring in a juco, you only have 2 years. it may take them 1 year to get acclimated, and then they've only got one year left. I don't know if it's been diminished, but you could tell, a lot of people would rather take a transfer than a juco - just because of the length of time you have them in the program.

Sid: what are players doing right now?
PJ: players are lifting, going to summer school, doing internships. they're really busy. we've given them a week off per month. when they come to training camp, we want them ready to go. don't want any burnout.

Max: is it automatic that all players take summer school?
PJ: we pretty much require them to take some level of classes. some take more classes. some take internships. some might need fewer credits, getting ready to graduate.

Sid: what about the Redshirt FR? will any of them be able to help you? (aka the Sid Question of the Week)
PJ: a lot of guys will be able to do that. Spann-Ford, Dunlap. lot of guys are very talented. And some of the true Freshmen- Gordon, Nubin. I like our FB team. love the way they've come together. (something about building a team-based program - missed some of it)

Mona: do you have a game-plan for using 4 games (for red-shirts)? does the staff track that?
PJ: it's done as a team. (lists 3 guys' names) in charge of roster management. I'm very involved. Marcus Hendrickson is a former NFL scout. huge asset for our program. looks like the GM. he observes practice. not there to coach, he's there to evaluate talent, depth. see if we need to build in that area. thinking years ahead. like an NFL GM.

Sid: only 12 seniors on this squad
PJ: we're still a very young team. a lot of people use that as an excuse. we were the youngest team in america last year. now we're the 2nd youngest, that's not an excuse - its reality. we're going to be young, but we can develop that talent into something special.

Sid: (missed question)
PJ: of course. 16 commits in June. one of the biggest months in program history, going back to when we were at WMU. it was truly an epic June.

Sid: lot of good ticket plans. they cut price of good tickets. great schedule. buy your tickets now. Murray's
PJ: RTB, ski-u-mah, Go Gophers. Enjoy your summer.
 


The past two weeks he has hinted at a possible commit shortly. We then had the two.

I'm taking he didn't say anything today about one.
 

Sid: only 12 seniors on this squad
PJ: we're still a very young team. a lot of people use that as an excuse. we were the youngest team in america last year. now we're the 2nd youngest, that's not an excuse - its reality. we're going to be young, but we can develop that talent into something special.

Oh boy. Weekly muster to battle. Multi page thread making sure our standards are met.
 

Oh boy. Weekly muster to battle. Multi page thread making sure our standards are met.

well, if you look at the question on JC recruits, instead of saying we aren't going to do that. We're going to do it the right way, he gave a great answer. There is hope PJ will figure out how to provide accurate answers and not make and then repeat blatant lies about the situation.

but I doubt it.

Apparently the players need to be above board on all things with no exceptions PJ, on the other hand can maintain integrity while repeatedly lying. Seems odd for the "culture" he's trying to create which is why so many, myself included are just dumbfounded by the idiotic things he says. Then doubles down on. Then continues to repeat.....
 


Oh boy. Weekly muster to battle. Multi page thread making sure our standards are met.

As someone noted he’s a social studies teacher not a math teacher :clap:

It’s genuinely pretty funny at this point. I get a kick out of sales guys, until you call their schtick and they keep chiseling. It’s a wonder but the best ones really believe.
 

Thanks SON.

Marcus Hendrickson is a former NFL scout. huge asset for our program. looks like the GM. he observes practice. not there to coach, he's there to evaluate talent, depth. see if we need to build in that area. thinking years ahead. like an NFL GM.

I found this quite interesting. Was this considered news when he was hired? IMO a significant shift at the college level.
 

Thanks SON.

Marcus Hendrickson is a former NFL scout. huge asset for our program. looks like the GM. he observes practice. not there to coach, he's there to evaluate talent, depth. see if we need to build in that area. thinking years ahead. like an NFL GM.

I found this quite interesting. Was this considered news when he was hired? IMO a significant shift at the college level.

I don’t know if it made much news, but he was hired in January 2017.

Director of Player Personnel

https://gophersports.com/coaches.aspx?rc=1933&path=football


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Thanks shorty. Your recaps are always a big Sunday treat for me.
 




well, if you look at the question on JC recruits, instead of saying we aren't going to do that. We're going to do it the right way, he gave a great answer. There is hope PJ will figure out how to provide accurate answers and not make and then repeat blatant lies about the situation.

but I doubt it.

Apparently the players need to be above board on all things with no exceptions PJ, on the other hand can maintain integrity while repeatedly lying. Seems odd for the "culture" he's trying to create which is why so many, myself included are just dumbfounded by the idiotic things he says. Then doubles down on. Then continues to repeat.....

I think you are a little heavy with calling PJ a liar. Apparently you don’t understand “coach speak”. Either that or you are a flaming liberal and everything you disagree with, must be a lie.
 

I think you are a little heavy with calling PJ a liar. Apparently you don’t understand “coach speak”. Either that or you are a flaming liberal and everything you disagree with, must be a lie.

or just a jerk
 

I think you are a little heavy with calling PJ a liar. Apparently you don’t understand “coach speak”. Either that or you are a flaming liberal and everything you disagree with, must be a lie.

Yes, he's a little heavy calling PJ a liar and probably does not do well with "coach speak." BTW I am a flaming liberal, but do not think that everything that I disagree with is be a lie. With some effort it is usually possible for reasonable people to disagree without being jerks.
 



I think you are a little heavy with calling PJ a liar. Apparently you don’t understand “coach speak”. Either that or you are a flaming liberal and everything you disagree with, must be a lie.

Thank goodness I wasn’t the only one wondering wtf is up with that poster.

P.J. has been here for more than 2 years now and people still haven’t figured out that he uses a lot of coach speak and generalities. If you still haven’t figured that out and you think he’s straight up lying, you’re a freaking moron and it’s your own problem.


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I think you are a little heavy with calling PJ a liar. Apparently you don’t understand “coach speak”. Either that or you are a flaming liberal and everything you disagree with, must be a lie.

You must be a flaming conservative and everything you agree with must be true. Like airports during the Revolutionary War.
 

Caligopher is a liar and a troll. Ignore list him as I have and stop quoting him. Eventually, no one will care to, nor be able to read his vomit.
 

Caligopher is a liar and a troll. Ignore list him as I have and stop quoting him. Eventually, no one will care to, nor be able to read his vomit.

Done. That last one was the straw that broke the camels back.
 

Coachspeak would be “we’re still a young team” or “we have a small senior class”. If he’s going to state erroneous information why are your panties in a wad he gets called on it? It is ridiculous and he should feel a little embarrassed when he’s getting trolled by a 200 yr old sportswriter. What? No.
 

Were Kill or Mason ever full of sh*t at times? I didn’t really pay much attention, but I’m guessing they probably were. Especially Mason.


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Coachspeak would be “we’re still a young team” or “we have a small senior class”. If he’s going to state erroneous information why are your panties in a wad he gets called on it? It is ridiculous and he should feel a little embarrassed when he’s getting trolled by a 200 yr old sportswriter. What? No.

Because that particular poster is a metronome. The same thing...over...and over...and over...and over...and over. Completely predictable and without nuance. A metronome is simply boring. Life is too short and too interesting to waste time on someone who is nothing but a bore.
 
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Were Kill or Mason ever full of sh*t at times? I didn’t really pay much attention, but I’m guessing they probably were. Especially Mason.


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Only after I decided I didn't like them... and less so when I liked them, weird how that works.
 

I think you are a little heavy with calling PJ a liar. Apparently you don’t understand “coach speak”. Either that or you are a flaming liberal and everything you disagree with, must be a lie.

I understand coach speak. I’m not a flaming liberal.

There are things in between, but keep on living in a black and white world.

For a coach that speaks so reverently about integrity, his words indicate his is lacking. He could make the same points without being factually incorrect, as just about every coach does.

If he made an occasional reference to a number that was off but didn’t repeat it ad nauseam, I wouldn’t care. Everyone makes mistakes. Not everyone pushes a false narrative to inflate their own accomplishments.

Usually you have to wade I to the murk and muck of politics to get into that (both sides of the aisle. There is no difference between the parties. They’re all in it to make decisions for others they won’t accept for themselves).

It doesn’t bother you. It bothers me.

Especially because of his chest thumping about how he’s changed the culture in the program to elevate it to a higher standard.

Apparently that higher standard only applies to some, so maybe that’s it. Fleck is a politician in a coaches clothing.

I guess that would make it possible that he just doesn’t know the difference between facts and lies. Or he doesn’t care. Neither one is “ok”, and none of it is necessary.


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Were Kill or Mason ever full of sh*t at times? I didn’t really pay much attention, but I’m guessing they probably were. Especially Mason.


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Absolutely they were, like just about every other coach out there. It’s called coach speak. There is a difference between coach speak and intentionally using inaccurate information (aka lying).

All coaches misspeak, get facts wrong. I can’t think of any that repeat the same incorrect information ad nauseam without care or concern outside of Fleck, but in fairness I don’t pay much attention to coaches of other programs.


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I guess it is fine to be OK with misleading and untrue statements of meaningless nature such as these - but please let’s not refer to this crap as “coach speak”? Coach speak is meant to motivate, not mislead. How is saying you won 4 of 5 to end the year or that you only have 12 seniors “coach speak”?


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I guess it is fine to be OK with misleading and untrue statements of meaningless nature such as these - but please let’s not refer to this crap as “coach speak”? Coach speak is meant to motivate, not mislead. How is saying you won 4 of 5 to end the year or that you only have 12 seniors “coach speak”?


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I think it was Sid who said there were 12 seniors. There are actually 13, according to the roster on the website. Is one of them leaving, or did Sid miscount? He’s almost 100 years old, so I’ll cut him some slack. ;)




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I think it was Sid who said there were 12 seniors. There are actually 13, according to the roster on the website. Is one of them leaving, or did Sid miscount? He’s almost 100 years old, so I’ll cut him some slack. ;)




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There is only 12 seniors listed on the 247 website.
 

If this kind of stuff is the biggest knock on Fleck's integrity/character I would consider that pretty damn good for the coaching world. I personally care more about whether our coach can make this program a winner or not. I don't care to obsess over the character of the man, especially over such small meaningless "transgressions".
 

Thanks SON for the continued valuable summaries of the PJF Sunday interviews.

We were hankering for a coach who can recruit and communicate to Gopher World.

Now that we have PJF, some people are always going to whine and complain. Calling PJF a liar is underhanded.

I like the direction of the program and the way that they are continuing to inculcate and improve what JK has started.

I hope that Gopher football become and remain stable for years to come.
 

Now that we have PJF, some people are always going to whine and complain. <b>Calling PJF a liar is underhanded.</b>

Look, you can argue that the things he lies about are meaningless and it isn’t a big deal — but the bolded part is just not true. To say something that you know isn’t true with the intent to mislead is a lie. Nothing underhanded in calling it so. To say we won 4 of 5, that he took a paycut to come here, that 80% of our players are underclassmen, etc. etc. are falsehoods and therefore lies. It’s not coach speak either. Underhanded would be more like the “maturation” comment you made on here not long ago.


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I guess it is fine to be OK with misleading and untrue statements of meaningless nature such as these - but please let’s not refer to this crap as “coach speak”? Coach speak is meant to motivate, not mislead. How is saying you won 4 of 5 to end the year or that you only have 12 seniors “coach speak”?


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You are a "Great Poster"

That's message board speak!

Don't think too hard on it!
 




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