Sid: P.J. Fleck has delivered on his promise at Minnesota

BleedGopher

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
60,588
Reaction score
15,671
Points
113
per Sid:

The Gophers football team’s 7-0 start, its nine-game winning streak and its No. 17 ranking in the Associated Press poll are all signs that P.J. Fleck’s promise he could change the culture at the University of Minnesota is working.

He did the same thing at Western Michigan, turning a 1-11 record his first year in 2013 into a 13-1 record and Cotton Bowl appearance in his final year in 2016.

And while it took four seasons to turn that program around, Fleck really got the Gophers going in the right direction in the middle of his second season, when they won four of their final six games, including winning at Wisconsin for the first time in 24 years and beating Georgia Tech 34-10 in the Quick Lane Bowl.

The Gophers’ nine-game winning streak is their longest since 1942.

Did Fleck believe this kind of success was possible so soon? “That is the vision. That is the plan,” he said. “Whatever the [ranking] is, that’s the [ranking]. We want to do everything we can to win every game we play. That is the whole mission, the whole goal — run a really successful program, a life program, and find a way to be better than we were yesterday.”

The Gophers haven’t had a club like this in decades, and Fleck said the really fun part is watching how the team continues to grow each week.

The Gophers have won their past three Big Ten games by a combined score of 116-31.

http://www.startribune.com/p-j-fleck-has-delivered-on-his-promise-at-minnesota/563829392/

Go Gophers!!
 

Not yet he hasn’t, but early returns are promising.
 

Fleck laid all this out when he first arrived on campus, and every press conference he lets us know the plan/vision and where the program is on that trajectory. I respect how transparent he has been with that vision each step of the way. That's what sets him apart from the Tim Brewster comparison.
 

Fleck laid all this out when he first arrived on campus, and every press conference he lets us know the plan/vision and where the program is on that trajectory. I respect how transparent he has been with that vision each step of the way. That's what sets him apart from the Tim Brewster comparison.

That and winning. And having a proven track record with winning.
 

That history video is telling. Kill did a few things here that hadn't been done in forever. And the first turnaround was Mason who did some amazing things here even though it didn't end up working out. But you can't argue with 7-0. This week is big, because 5-0 in the Big Ten assures us a winning record, which is a step. Its winning Big Ten games that we've had a lot of trouble with over the years. Let's get Maryland and then see where all the cards lay...
 


I think a bit premature. We go 7-5, there are going to be A LOT Of upset gopher fans
 

russian accent required:

Pay the man his money
 

Not yet he hasn’t, but early returns are promising.

Yeah, as opposed to "has delivered" should probably be "is delivering". Things are clearly trending in the right direction and the future of Gopher football looks brighter than any point in the years that I have been a fan (didn't really start following the program until the early 90s.

Still plenty of work to do but hard to find reasons not to be optimistic about the prospects of this team over the next few years and beyond.
 

Read the post from the WMU fan from back in 2017 - spot on how it all is unfolding - the hardest thing for people is to have a long view of things - everyone wants instant gratification and expects immediate results - for those that say he’s not there yet look at the big picture - we have a team of stars that is accomplishing things that are compared to teams from 50 years ago. The scary part is it is still a young team (the OL will return everyone, sophomore qb, etc) the future will be brighter when we have across the board seniors playing like mature programs have.
 




My expectation of a “good” season is being in contention for the division in the last two weeks of November. This was the case in 1999, 2003-2005, 2014, and 2016.

But a “good” program should be at this level most (+/-75%) seasons. The issue has been that this has basically been the program’s ceiling over the last 20 years rather than the mean. The program has reached this level 6 of 20 seasons, and has never exceeded it since the 60’s.

It’s nice that PJ has the program back to that level. But this year is a great opportunity to break-through that ceiling and do something those other 6 teams did not.
 




Top Bottom