Keeping PJ Fleck at Minnesota

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If he wins and leaves we will find a good coach. He came here without the facilities yet complete. Everything is in place to continue the upward movement.

I would sign him at the end of the season to a 10 year extension. He gets everything about coaching here and the advantages it can have. To recruit and possibly win 10+ games in year three is outstanding.

No chance he gets just a one year bump after this season if it continues to be best season in 60+ years.
 

The only thing that has kept PJ from being a top 20 paid coach is Robb Smith.

We can thank Robb Smith for blowing three winnable games last year.

If we didn't have Robb Smith, PJ could be 11-10 right now for his overall record in the Big Ten.
 

The length of an extension doesn't matter. How much of a raise you give him doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the buyout. How expensive do you make it for him to leave?
 

Face The Facts said:
The only thing that has kept PJ from being a top 20 paid coach is Robb Smith.

We can thank Robb Smith for blowing three winnable games last year.

If we didn't have Robb Smith, PJ could be 11-10 right now for his overall record in the Big Ten.
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Didn't PJ hire Smith?

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MaxyJR1 said:
If he wins and leaves we will find a good coach. He came here without the facilities yet complete. Everything is in place to continue the upward movement.

I would sign him at the end of the season to a 10 year extension. He gets everything about coaching here and the advantages it can have. To recruit and possibly win 10+ games in year three is outstanding.

No chance he gets just a one year bump after this season if it continues to be best season in 60+ years.
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No way would I give a 10 year deal. Redo the current contract with a nice but reasonable increase to his base, bump up the incentives for titles, academics...etc, and really bump up his buyout if he leaves. Have it go through the 2025 season; basically moving it from the current 5 year to 6 year deal.
 


Word said:
Didn't PJ hire Smith?

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Yes, which was a mistake because it has cost PJ millions.

PJ spent about 3-4 weeks asking Robb to simplify and it took a firing to make it happen.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
If he wins and leaves we will find a good coach. He came here without the facilities yet complete. Everything is in place to continue the upward movement.

I would sign him at the end of the season to a 10 year extension. He gets everything about coaching here and the advantages it can have. To recruit and possibly win 10+ games in year three is outstanding.

No chance he gets just a one year bump after this season if it continues to be best season in 60+ years.
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Nebraska didn’t find a good coach after having 6 straight 9 or 10 win seasons. No guarantee we will be left on solid footing if P.J. leaves.


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die hard gopher said:
Nebraska didn’t find a good coach after having 6 straight 9 or 10 win seasons. No guarantee we will be left on solid footing if P.J. leaves.


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Sadly I assume that event would be accompanied by a recruiting exodus too.

Fair or not for most schools the loss of a successful coach is ... starting over from scratch.
 

Face The Facts said:
If he leaves we are starting over again.

So may as well be proactive and get the multi year extension written up.
He's a top 20 coach now and he should be paid like one.
Top 20 coaches make a minimum of $4.3 million. Seems like a good starting point.
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Am I against PJ getting an extra year put on his contract and/or the annual salary being advanced- no although I’d wait for a complete season to assess the results against better competition before determining length and amount.

However, your reasoning is preposterous. A coach gets his team into the top 20 ONCE and that’s what you use to validate him deserving a top 20 salary? If that’s the case there are gonna be a lot of coaches clamoring for a pay bump. Last year alone 43 teams were rated for at least 1 week in the top 20 of the coaches poll (50 in the top 25 so there’ll be an additional 7 coaches worthy of top 25 money by your reasoning).


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I don't see any urgency on this issue. If he sees this job as a stepping stone, it's not likely that anything we offer couldn't be topped, If he really wants to plant roots here he himself should want the season to play out to maximize his potential extension.
 

Oregon Gopher said:
Am I against PJ getting an extra year put on his contract and/or the annual salary being advanced- no although I’d wait for a complete season to assess the results against better competition before determining length and amount.

However, your reasoning is preposterous. A coach gets his team into the top 20 ONCE and that’s what you use to validate him deserving a top 20 salary? If that’s the case there are gonna be a lot of coaches clamoring for a pay bump. Last year alone 43 teams were rated for at least 1 week in the top 20 of the coaches poll (50 in the top 25 so there’ll be an additional 7 coaches worthy of top 25 money by your reasoning).


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I'm with with the extension whenever.

If we finish top 20, then we are top 20. Not sure if we'll be there or not. I'm hoping top 10.

Bottom line, PJ has already done things that haven't been done here since the 40's and 60's and the class GPA is an all-time high.
That's worth rewarding.
 

Didn't read the whole thread so maybe this was already brought up...

There aren't too many Power 5 schools that want the RTB cultural thing. Helmet schools definitely do not. That leaves a small number of Power 5 schools as an option and which ones are a big enough step up from here for PJ to take?
 

LakerFan said:
I don't see any urgency on this issue. If he sees this job as a stepping stone, it's not likely that anything we offer couldn't be topped, If he really wants to plant roots here he himself should want the season to play out to maximize his potential extension.
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Ultimately yeah, it's up to PJ.

There's no locking anyone in, if they want to go they can find a way.
 



Let the season play out and extend/pay him.

Keeping Fleck could get very, very expensive, but I think Coyle and Co. will do whatever is needed. Could Fleck eventually leave for, say, Notre Dame, or some inter-generational power football school? Absolutely. However, my hope is that its 10-plus years down the road after we've won a couple B1G championships and maybe more.
 

Pewterschmidt said:
Didn't read the whole thread so maybe this was already brought up...

There aren't too many Power 5 schools that want the RTB cultural thing. Helmet schools definitely do not. That leaves a small number of Power 5 schools as an option and which ones are a big enough step up from here for PJ to take?
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Naw man every coach has some slogans and ****. Winning >>> whatever it is you're talking about.
 

Pewterschmidt said:
Didn't read the whole thread so maybe this was already brought up...

There aren't too many Power 5 schools that want the RTB cultural thing. Helmet schools definitely do not. That leaves a small number of Power 5 schools as an option and which ones are a big enough step up from here for PJ to take?
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You don’t think PJ would be willing to tone down the RTB thing for a elite job? He can still use the phrase/mantra with his team and highly doubt a school like USC refusing to put a oar on the helmet and plastered in the facility would keep him from taking a job of that level.


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Slow down guys...We went to bowl games 6 of 7 seasons. We won 9 games the year before PJ arrived. Many of our best players right now were part of that 9 win group. (Bare cupboards...ha) We already had blown away all academic performance standards at MN prior to PJ’s arrival finishing like third in the entire country. This from kids who didn’t know where their classes were upon the arrival of the previous staff. NCAA probation was on the horizon for poor academic performance. You wanna laud somebody...the Kill staff set the table. Absolutely PJ has sustained it academically and tells us he is responsible. Sustaining, yes, implementing, No. So, all the best ever stuff is absolute hyperbole and premature.

There’s lot of great signs PJ has got it going on but let’s see what happens when Brooks, Smith, Martin, Barber, Winston D, Renner, TJ, Devers, Durr et all are no longer here. Not to mention Winfield and several holdover inherited O Linemen etc

Again, the hardest part (by far) of building a program is not getting in the Top 25. It is sustaining excellence. PJ has 4 more consecutive bowl seasons on his plate before he’s even in accomplishments with the last group of coaches. He has shown he can sustain academically...let’s see where we go on the field this year and next before we do anything but stay status quo with his five year deals. As illustrated by others, he is being very fairly compensated at present.

No matter what we do if UCLA comes calling and Heather and PJ are set on living in Beverly Hills and Malibu, the buyout is our only hope to persuade UCLA or USC to look else where. It trumps Edina and Lake Minnetonka.
 
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Unless we have some sort of colossal on field meltdown or a big scandal occurs of which Fleck is either culpable or badly mishandles, he’s going to be in the mix for any attractive jobs that open up in December. He will be 39 by the end of the season with 7 seasons of head coaching experience, noteworthy turnarounds at WMU and here, with a big personality, and his best years presumably ahead of him. The U of M is a stop on the way to where he’s going. It’s not the final destination.

If he gets the right offer, I think he’s gone before we play our bowl game because winning here consistently and on a long term basis is a difficult thing to accomplish. He might not ever be as valuable as he will be if we go 9-3 (6-3) or 10-2 (7-2) and won’t want a few 7-5 (4-5) seasons dragging down his resume. I want him to stay and be our 15 to 20 year coach while getting us to a level at which this kind of season is expected or at least not treated like a once in a generation miracle. However, I’m certain he wants more and am resigned to him eventually departing.

Even if it’s not this season, when he goes, leaving us in far better shape than he found us in, the key will be making the right replacement hire. Gutekunst cost us whatever Holtz built. Brewster set us back many years after Mason, love or hate him, got us to a level of respectability many never dreamed possible after Gutey and Wacker. Claeys has a good full season in charge but was in over his head and would have eventually undone Kill’s good work had he not been moved aside. The post Fleck hire will be the biggest decision facing the U of M in ages.
 

GopherGod said:
You don’t think PJ would be willing to tone down the RTB thing for a elite job? He can still use the phrase/mantra with his team and highly doubt a school like USC refusing to put a oar on the helmet and plastered in the facility would keep him from taking a job of that level.


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It is who he is. It’s his family. It’s real. He negotiated to buy it. It’s an important, integral part of his culture. Some other things maybe...Row the boat is about his son. I don’t think you compromise there, especially after installing and living and breathing and sharing the legacy of it again in his second coaching home here.
 

GopherGod said:
You don’t think PJ would be willing to tone down the RTB thing for a elite job? He can still use the phrase/mantra with his team and highly doubt a school like USC refusing to put a oar on the helmet and plastered in the facility would keep him from taking a job of that level.


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P.J. has said if you don’t let me be me then don’t hire me and if I’m not allowed to be me then I can’t be successful.


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60's Guy said:
It is who he is. It’s his family. It’s real. He negotiated to buy it. It’s an important, integral part of his culture. Some other things maybe...Row the boat is about his son. I don’t think you compromise there, especially after installing and living and breathing and sharing the legacy of it again in his second coaching home here.
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He can keep the message with his team without having to plaster it on a uniform. The message doesn’t lose its meaning if it isn’t on the helmet, etc..


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This thread is the most Minnesota thing ever. First whiff of success and here come the "Coach leaving town" rumors.
 

It’s admittedly kind of sad that we rain on the parade with such discussions, but Fleck leaving as soon as December is a legitimate concern and possibility. It’s the price of success.
 


Barreiro brought it up again with Mason, specifically mentioning USC. Mason said if Coyle is convinced he’s the guy, he should lock him up.

Mason also said he rewatched the Nebraska game, focusing on the O-line and said they played extremely well. He doesn’t understand why we had issues running the ball earlier with that line and those RBs.


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PitinoFan said:
Barreiro brought it up again with Mason, specifically mentioning USC. Mason said if Coyle is convinced he’s the guy, he should lock him up.

Mason also said he rewatched the Nebraska game, focusing on the O-line and said they played extremely well. He doesn’t understand why we had issues running the ball earlier with that line and those RBs.


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He also said if he was giving advice to a young head coach, he would tell them to stick around 4-5 years, make the program better than it was and then leave and do the same thing over again and leave because they will eventually get sick of you.
 

I say pay the man! How’s Western Michigan done without him. Way worse. He motivates young men and has shown the ability to coach and recruit.


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die hard gopher said:
He also said if he was giving advice to a young head coach, he would tell them to stick around 4-5 years, make the program better than it was and then leave and do the same thing over again and leave because they will eventually get sick of you.
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I think there is truth in that. I also think it depends on the personality of the coach. Probably, advice that meshes with PJ. But, he strings 10, 11 wins together this year and the phone will ring! Glen answered every call...lol. You got to, right?
 

PitinoFan said:
Barreiro brought it up again with Mason, specifically mentioning USC. Mason said if Coyle is convinced he’s the guy, he should lock him up.

Mason also said he rewatched the Nebraska game, focusing on the O-line and said they played extremely well. He doesn’t understand why we had issues running the ball earlier with that line and those RBs.


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Yep, Mase basically said make Fleck put his money where his mouth is...if this is his dream job and where he wants to be long term to bring back the glory, make his buyout painful if he decides to leave.
 

GopherGod said:
He can keep the message with his team without having to plaster it on a uniform. The message doesn’t lose its meaning if it isn’t on the helmet, etc..


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Maybe? One factor is how bad he wants to coach at that school. Add more money, easier recruiting, warm weather can you live without oars every where? I dunno ��*♀️
 

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