Ask Bob: Why don't you like P.J. Fleck?

BleedGopher

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per Bob:

What the heck is your problem with P.J. Fleck?

Bob says ...

My late mom had a real disdain for show-offs. That trait has been passed on to me.

Since the start of his career, I have felt that Fleck is mostly style with little substance. All of the slogans are annoying. To me.

Some people like Fleck. They think he is a great coach with a bright future. And they might be right.

He did win big at Western Michigan. Then, left for a better job. Hard to blame him. When you get your shot to go to the Big Ten, you take it.

This year’s Minnesota team is undefeated going into Saturday’s game against Illinois. But the Gophers could easily be 0-4. Good fortune seems to be part of Fleck’s system.

If the guy wins the Big Ten title and puts together a string of successful seasons, I will happily admit to being wrong.

https://www.news-gazette.com/sports...cle_ca762b72-e46a-11e9-bd38-4b71b69d2c41.html

Go Gophers!!
 

Who is Bob and why should we care?

I'm not sure winning has anything to do with liking someone's slogans or whatever, that seems dumb.
 


per Bob:

What the heck is your problem with P.J. Fleck?

Bob says ...

My late mom had a real disdain for show-offs. That trait has been passed on to me.

Since the start of his career, I have felt that Fleck is mostly style with little substance. All of the slogans are annoying. To me.

Some people like Fleck. They think he is a great coach with a bright future. And they might be right.

He did win big at Western Michigan. Then, left for a better job. Hard to blame him. When you get your shot to go to the Big Ten, you take it.

This year’s Minnesota team is undefeated going into Saturday’s game against Illinois. But the Gophers could easily be 0-4. Good fortune seems to be part of Fleck’s system.

If the guy wins the Big Ten title and puts together a string of successful seasons, I will happily admit to being wrong.

https://www.news-gazette.com/sports...cle_ca762b72-e46a-11e9-bd38-4b71b69d2c41.html

Go Gophers!!

Have they really been that lucky? Maybe in the SDSU game but otherwise they've made plays to get the wins. Not winning by as much as most think they should doesn't mean they're lucky.
 

Bob is always the same, regardless of how you spell his name, forwards or backwards.

I don't care about Zerorez or bob and I don't even know who Bob is.
 


This is who Bob is (from the article).

In his 31st year on the Illinois football beat, AP Top 25 voter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


At schools like Western Michigan and Minnesota you need to be a little different to attract talent. You sure as heck can’t be like every other coach, as other programs have more tradition, atmosphere, etc.

Not gonna be for everyone, but that’s okay. Don’t care if Bob or Meatsauce like Fleck and can’t articulate why, I only care that certain subset of high school athletes want to play for Fleck.
 

Since the start of his career, I have felt that Fleck is mostly style with little substance. All of the slogans are annoying. To me.

I mean, just based on win totals, this is a poor take. Say what you will about his antics but he built up a program at Western Michigan and increased his win totals in his first two years here. And can people stop saying "They could easily be 0-4." They're not. You could easily say the 2002 national champion Buckeyes should have had like two losses. They didn't. Teams have close games sometimes, but the Gophers found a way to win.
 



Have they really been that lucky? Maybe in the SDSU game but otherwise they've made plays to get the wins. Not winning by as much as most think they should doesn't mean they're lucky.

That part felt like a little kid saying "the video game is cheating".

Luck is part of Fleck's system? He really believes that?
 

Did he spell that correctly? I think he dropped an "O".

JTG
 

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of luck.

Every great team has it. At a bare minimum, not having bad injuries. Purdue has not had that luck this season. Knock on wood for us!
 

Have they really been that lucky? Maybe in the SDSU game but otherwise they've made plays to get the wins. Not winning by as much as most think they should doesn't mean they're lucky.

Particularly the Purdue game, I wouldn't even say we could have "easily" lost that game. For Purdue to have won, they would have needed to stop us and force a punt, then drive the length of the field for a TD just to get the game in OT, then beat us in OT in which they'd have only a 50-50 shot. So I wouldn't say we could "easily" lost that game. We could have lost it but when we had the ball on the last possession, the odds were definitely in our favor.

If anything, I think you could argue the other teams were as fortunate the games were as close as they were. Purdue got a lucky bounce on the onside kick, GSU was fortunate (not necessarily lucky but fortunate) to have been able to return 2 balls for non offensive TD's, and Fresno was fortunate that there were 3 penalties called after third downs that other refs may not have called plus the muffed punt.

Oh well, it is what it is.
 



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZzHblfAYPa0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> .
 

This is who Bob is (from the article).

In his 31st year on the Illinois football beat, AP Top 25 voter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is Bob:

Is-Popeyes-Wimpy-Living-In-Your-Basement.jpg

Bob is a syndicated writer. He writes articles for a living:

Returning-ToLive-In-Your-Parents-Basement-Simplified-Life.net_.jpg

Bob is an award winning journalist:

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Don't be like Bob:

Is-Popeyes-Wimpy-Living-In-Your-Basement-Time-To-Go.jpg
 
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per Bob:

What the heck is your problem with P.J. Fleck?

Bob says ...

My late mom had a real disdain for show-offs. That trait has been passed on to me.

Since the start of his career, I have felt that Fleck is mostly style with little substance. All of the slogans are annoying. To me.

Some people like Fleck. They think he is a great coach with a bright future. And they might be right.

He did win big at Western Michigan. Then, left for a better job. Hard to blame him. When you get your shot to go to the Big Ten, you take it.

This year’s Minnesota team is undefeated going into Saturday’s game against Illinois. But the Gophers could easily be 0-4. Good fortune seems to be part of Fleck’s system.

If the guy wins the Big Ten title and puts together a string of successful seasons, I will happily admit to being wrong.

https://www.news-gazette.com/sports...cle_ca762b72-e46a-11e9-bd38-4b71b69d2c41.html

Go Gophers!!

It's interesting to me that lately Fleck has been more substance. I believe that this team has now become a player led team and hence PJ is letting the players speak in Fleckisms. Yes, he still has his sayings, but they are less pronounced and spoken low key rather than rah rah lately. By my best estimation, PJ is maturing along with his team and starting to look like a head coach that belongs with the big boys.
 


I wonder how many times Bob wrote about how great the latest Illinois coach was going to be, and what a smart hire they were. I wonder if he was even in the camp that they should have hired Brewster (oh, why could they not have hired Brew in '06?!?!?!). Unless he has proven to be some expert evaluator of coaches, he's just another person with an opinion that means less than the virtual paper it's written on.
 

Since the start of his career, I have felt that Fleck is mostly style with little substance. All of the slogans are annoying. To me.

I mean, just based on win totals, this is a poor take. Say what you will about his antics but he built up a program at Western Michigan and increased his win totals in his first two years here. And can people stop saying "They could easily be 0-4." They're not. You could easily say the 2002 national champion Buckeyes should have had like two losses. They didn't. Teams have close games sometimes, but the Gophers found a way to win.

Agree. I find the fleckisms annoying too but there are pretty good indications there is at least some substance to go with that style.


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PJF has been very consistent in saying that he’s not for everyone. The fact that some people don’t like him makes total sense. The other thing he’s been completely transparent about is that he is authentic in what he believes and says. And that his message is completely designed for his players. I can understand why that group would be motivated by and rally around energetic and simple messages. Acronyms and catchy phrases are memorable and easy to digest and repeat among that group. Each will have their own opinion. Frankly, I just want him to succeed. But for those that say that “he’s not for me,” you are probably right. He’s not for you. By design.
 
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It's interesting to me that lately Fleck has been more substance. I believe that this team has now become a player led team and hence PJ is letting the players speak in Fleckisms. Yes, he still has his sayings, but they are less pronounced and spoken low key rather than rah rah lately. By my best estimation, PJ is maturing along with his team and starting to look like a head coach that belongs with the big boys.

His between quarter sprint is now an up-tempo jog as is his tunnel exit. He has either matured or "Minnesota-nice values" has beaten some "look at me" out of him.....probs a tiny bit of both.
 

PJF has been much improved over the last 4-5 weeks. I like him and am no longer continually distracted by strange numbers. But, I suspect that in the end this board’s opinion of the coach will rise and fall with the fortunes of the team.
 

Weird. My mom had real disdain for Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. That trait was thankfully not passed on to me.
 


It's interesting to me that lately Fleck has been more substance. I believe that this team has now become a player led team and hence PJ is letting the players speak in Fleckisms. Yes, he still has his sayings, but they are less pronounced and spoken low key rather than rah rah lately. By my best estimation, PJ is maturing along with his team and starting to look like a head coach that belongs with the big boys.

He's not stupid. I think you're right in that he's not as gimmicky because the team, and some leaders, have developed to the point where he doesn't constantly have to drill into them the mantras. He also came in and made his big splash. Whether it was because of his personality or whether it was because he looked at the results of last 50 years, who knows? Probably a combination, but I think part of his "branding" was because just trying to sell Gopher football by itself wasn't going to do it.

Also, we're not New York or LA, but he is in a much larger and more sophisticated place than before. He's competing for the sports dollar with professional teams. You want to stand out but you can't be too weird. You're at Western Michigan and play Wisconsin tough on New Year's Day (I think) and you're pretty much everyone's god. You're in the BIG, not exactly a team to be feared, and the words sound pretty hollow and you're leaving yourself open to a lot of cynics and ridicule.
 

Particularly the Purdue game, I wouldn't even say we could have "easily" lost that game. For Purdue to have won, they would have needed to stop us and force a punt, then drive the length of the field for a TD just to get the game in OT, then beat us in OT in which they'd have only a 50-50 shot. So I wouldn't say we could "easily" lost that game. We could have lost it but when we had the ball on the last possession, the odds were definitely in our favor.

If anything, I think you could argue the other teams were as fortunate the games were as close as they were. Purdue got a lucky bounce on the onside kick, GSU was fortunate (not necessarily lucky but fortunate) to have been able to return 2 balls for non offensive TD's, and Fresno was fortunate that there were 3 penalties called after third downs that other refs may not have called plus the muffed punt.

Oh well, it is what it is.

Morgan had an off the charts historical performance against Purdue...if he would have had his normal good type of game, or even a very good game, Gophs could have very well lost that game.
 

How the hell do you watch any sports on any level and not like show-offs?

This dork should quite watching or being a part of it. At least half of the athletes are show offs outside of the stadium. They think they are pretty big deals.
 

Who is Bob and why should we care?

I'm not sure winning has anything to do with liking someone's slogans or whatever, that seems dumb.

Exactly what I was thinking. Hmmm...should I click on the link?
 

Morgan had an off the charts historical performance against Purdue...if he would have had his normal good type of game, or even a very good game, Gophs could have very well lost that game.

I get pointing at fluke plays or needing to convert 4th and long, or getting an onside kick, etc. and using that as an argument that we could have lost. However, not sure saying “if our player(s) wouldn’t have played as well” is a valid argument. Seems we could apply that to pretty much every game and it feels like grasping at straws to me. Just think if Winfield never played against FSU...


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