BleedGopher
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
- Messages
- 60,800
- Reaction score
- 16,220
- Points
- 113
per Pat:
There is a fair-sized group of Gophers football loyalists, even if those folks haven’t come close to filling TCF Bank Stadium, second smallest in the Big Ten, for any of five home games to this point.
The loyalists were even more pleased with the hiring of Phillip John Fleck to replace Tracy Claeys than they were when Tim Brewster replaced Glen Mason a decade ago – and that was pleased indeed.
The tradition here is to get lathered up with optimism when the new coach arrives, and then blame whatever immediate problems occur on the previous coach.
Mason was 6-7 in his final season of 2006, and Brewster was 1-11 in 2007, and the Gophers loyalists seemed to agree that it was Mason’s fault.
Claeys had finished out 2015 as the interim for the resigned Jerry Kill, then received the job and went 9-4 in 2016. The reasons for his firing were three-fold, and in this order:
1-Attendance was poor. 2-He was a cerebral, stoic giant of a man, not a jolly, self-promoting giant of a man. 3-There was an incident involving a coed and a number of players, followed by suspensions that led to a brief players’ boycott, and Claeys offered support of the players' protest.
Fleck arrived after an unbeaten regular season (13-0) at Western Michigan, and then a competitive loss to Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl. The loyalists quickly bought into Fleck’s high energy and the non-stop buzz words and phrases.
The Gophers’ strength of schedule will go up significantly over the month of games that remain: Michigan (22), Nebraska (58), Northwestern (30) and Wisconsin (11).
The bottom line at the moment is this: Claeys faced an easy schedule (65th) and took advantage. Fleck has faced the weak part of his schedule (77th) and has not.
http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...016-team-when-schedule-is-easy-win/454018223/
Go Gophers!!
There is a fair-sized group of Gophers football loyalists, even if those folks haven’t come close to filling TCF Bank Stadium, second smallest in the Big Ten, for any of five home games to this point.
The loyalists were even more pleased with the hiring of Phillip John Fleck to replace Tracy Claeys than they were when Tim Brewster replaced Glen Mason a decade ago – and that was pleased indeed.
The tradition here is to get lathered up with optimism when the new coach arrives, and then blame whatever immediate problems occur on the previous coach.
Mason was 6-7 in his final season of 2006, and Brewster was 1-11 in 2007, and the Gophers loyalists seemed to agree that it was Mason’s fault.
Claeys had finished out 2015 as the interim for the resigned Jerry Kill, then received the job and went 9-4 in 2016. The reasons for his firing were three-fold, and in this order:
1-Attendance was poor. 2-He was a cerebral, stoic giant of a man, not a jolly, self-promoting giant of a man. 3-There was an incident involving a coed and a number of players, followed by suspensions that led to a brief players’ boycott, and Claeys offered support of the players' protest.
Fleck arrived after an unbeaten regular season (13-0) at Western Michigan, and then a competitive loss to Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl. The loyalists quickly bought into Fleck’s high energy and the non-stop buzz words and phrases.
The Gophers’ strength of schedule will go up significantly over the month of games that remain: Michigan (22), Nebraska (58), Northwestern (30) and Wisconsin (11).
The bottom line at the moment is this: Claeys faced an easy schedule (65th) and took advantage. Fleck has faced the weak part of his schedule (77th) and has not.
http://www.startribune.com/gophers-...016-team-when-schedule-is-easy-win/454018223/
Go Gophers!!