Phony or visionary? P.J. Fleck drawing attention for Minnesota now, wins later

BleedGopher

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per Dennis Dodd:

They started showing up on P.J. Fleck's doorstep shortly after he took the Minnesota job in January.

Kids, adults, neighbors, thrill seekers.

"Some guys ding-dong ditch and take off," Fleck said. "Some teenage kids. They think it's funny."

A local paper revealed the Flecks' address in a real estate section story about the property. Since then, the world has literally beaten a path to the coach's door.

They all come -- in some way -- to gawk. Never mind Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino lives four doors down. Or that Minnesota is decidedly hockey and Vikings territory.

Right now, Philip John Fleck owns the town, or at least that part of it that is trying to figure out this pinball of a man taking his next big step at a decidedly mid-level Big Ten program.

Meanwhile, Heather and P.J. get a chuckle out of it when they check security cameras of their front porch via their cell phones.

"It was big news when we bought the house," Fleck said. "Everybody in our neighborhood has [come over]. That's great. It's your neighborhood.

"But there's been some random people. 'Is this where Coach Fleck lives?' My wife is, like, 'Um, no.' We get a lot of that."

Isn't this how the latest version of P.J. has to be unveiled? Armed with hype, hustle and a harried style, let's just say it's not surprising Fleck wouldn't shy away.

Accompanying a mercurial rise to a Power Five job at age 36 are whispered accusations of Fleck being a phony, self-promoter.

"You're not the first person to say that to me," the coach said. "I don't know what it really means."

Nor does he really care. You've probably seen the coach turn coal into a diamond.

http://www.cbssports.com/college-fo...awing-attention-for-minnesota-now-wins-later/

Go Gophers!!
 

Every time folks get worked up about how real or sincere PJ is all I can think of is this guy:

 

I don't care what people call him. I just care about wins.
 

When you hire a coach like Fleck, you get what you signed up for. He draws a lot of attention to himself, and the program he's coaching at - but not all of that attention is necessarily going to be positive. I hope Coyle understood that when he made the hire.

Fleck is like a rorschach test. People look at him and see what they want to see. Some people see a positive, life-affirming guy with an inspirational message. Other people see an infomercial host who is all about self-promotion. For better or worse, that attention is now focused on the U of MN. Some of that attention will be positive - some of it will be negative.

A friendly reminder - just because you think Fleck is great, that does not mean that everyone is going to share that opinion. That extends to the media. Not all of the media coverage of the Gopher FB program during the Fleck era is going to be positive. (Of course, you can always call it "Fake News." That's working so well for the President.....)
 

PJ comes off as the second coming of Lou Holtz to some here. Personally, the fact that he bought a house in a ritzy Edina neighborhood is a positive sign that he's here for more than just a couple years. I think the timing is good to take this program to a BT championship game or two in the next few years. If that happens, we'll start to see whether or not PJ truly wants to be here or if PJ is Holtz reincarnated.
 


How different is Fleck, than Harbaugh?... Is Harbaugh being in every 3rd story in the ESPN B10 blog hurting Michigan? I think not. Any press is good press, when you are trying to get your brand out there.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 

PJ comes off as the second coming of Lou Holtz to some here. Personally, the fact that he bought a house in a ritzy Edina neighborhood is a positive sign that he's here for more than just a couple years. I think the timing is good to take this program to a BT championship game or two in the next few years. If that happens, we'll start to see whether or not PJ truly wants to be here or if PJ is Holtz reincarnated.
I have no idea how long Fleck will stay. But what does buying a house for his family have do with it?
 

I'd hold the thought about PJF leaving and let him wins some championships first. If he does that, even if he decides to leave I'll be a very happy man.

Should he decide that this is going to be where he settles down that will be divine.

Since we can't control what he will or will not do in the future, let's focus on enjoying the Gopher Football program climb to greater heights.

I truly believe this is the best chance in decades to see Gopher Football rise to prominence.
 

I have no idea how long Fleck will stay. But what does buying a house for his family have do with it?

It's not really the fact that he bought a house, but where he bought it. It's just a gut feeling if he was closer to campus, there could be some concern that he doesn't plan on staying more than two or three years. It feels like where he's living is a sign of commitment and stability. He could very well be gone in the near future. I get the impression that he wants to stick around awhile.
 






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