After a thoroughly disappointing day capped by Purdue rendering last weeks "feel good" moment meaningless by taking Ohio State out in a huge upset, I was curious to see when Gopher fans last had an opportunity to storm the field. Literally every program seems to at least luck in to a huge upset every once in awhile...right? Well, I went back through the records as I knew the Gophers had no such opportunity in their decade at TCF and would you believe there was never an opportunity at the Metrodome either? The Gophers are on their second STADIUM of time without a home win over a big time opponent. How about this? Since the year 2000, the Gophers have just TWO wins against teams ranked in the TOP 20: once at Ohio State in 2000 and again in 2005 over a Purdue team that turned out to be terrible (5-6 overall). Do you realize the Gophers have not won in Iowa City (not Columbus....Iowa City!) since 1999? I am sure everyone is aware by now that the Gophers have not finished in the top 3 of the conference nor defeated a team that would go on to finish in the top 3 of conference in more than 20 years.
Some posters wish Jerry Kill was the coach. Jerry Kill started out 2-6 and 2-6 in conference play in his first two years. Of those 12 conference losses, 10 were by more than 2 touchdowns. He also lost to New Mexico State, North Dakota State, and needed triple overtime to defeat a UNLV team that would finish the year 2-11 in those first two years. The high point of his tenure was a fantastic win at Nebraska and that came in his 4th season. He's credited with a 14-21 conference record at Minnesota. West divison (not conference, just division) finishes were 6th, tied 5th, 4th, tied 2nd, tied 4th. Never beat Wisconsin, losing record against Iowa.
Some people still bring up Glen Mason for some reason. Depressingly, Glen Mason had the exact same conference winning percentage as Jerry Kill (40). He had a decade to show that he could at least occasionally contend for a conference title. During his tenure only the Gophers and Indiana failed to finish 3rd or better in the conference standings at least once. Losing records against Iowa and Wisconsin and the gap was widening as his tenure lengthened.
I can hear people now saying "forty percent sure sounds a lot better than the fifteen percent Mr Row The Boat is at". It certainly is, and if all you aspire to is winning forty percent of the games then I guess this post isn't for you. But also keep in mind that Mason's first two seasons were 1-7 and 2-6 in conference play and as previously mentioned Kill went 2-6 and 2-6. So even if forty percent is acceptable to you, recent Gopher history suggest Fleck isn't far off from the trajectory of those who "achieved" that.
Nebraska was a complete disaster and I've seen more than enough of Robb Smith's defense, but Fleck is less than two years removed from being considered one of the top up and coming coaches in the nation. Given Gopher history does it make sense to mock him when he's lost arguably his best player on both sides of the ball to injury? Is it really any surprise that Gopher football is bad in a year where they are starting a true Freshman QB and between 4-6 other Freshman on offense? I can't remember another year where the Gophers, or any team, has lost their two best players (I am sure it's happened somewhere), but I can remember a lot of years where the Gophers were just as bad as they have been this year.
I don't know if Fleck is the guy, I hope he is but after years and years of disappointment as a Gopher fan (I really feel for those of you 40 plus fans that have experienced even more and especially those of you who travel to watch this team year after year) it's tough to believe. But that's not Fleck's fault, it's the fault of those that came before him. He deserves more than 1.5 years to turn around 50 years of failure. Nebraska sucked today and relevance feels a long way away right now, but does it feel further away than when we were losing 45-17 to Purdue in 2011? It probably doesn't, we've just all tried to erase that memory.
Some posters wish Jerry Kill was the coach. Jerry Kill started out 2-6 and 2-6 in conference play in his first two years. Of those 12 conference losses, 10 were by more than 2 touchdowns. He also lost to New Mexico State, North Dakota State, and needed triple overtime to defeat a UNLV team that would finish the year 2-11 in those first two years. The high point of his tenure was a fantastic win at Nebraska and that came in his 4th season. He's credited with a 14-21 conference record at Minnesota. West divison (not conference, just division) finishes were 6th, tied 5th, 4th, tied 2nd, tied 4th. Never beat Wisconsin, losing record against Iowa.
Some people still bring up Glen Mason for some reason. Depressingly, Glen Mason had the exact same conference winning percentage as Jerry Kill (40). He had a decade to show that he could at least occasionally contend for a conference title. During his tenure only the Gophers and Indiana failed to finish 3rd or better in the conference standings at least once. Losing records against Iowa and Wisconsin and the gap was widening as his tenure lengthened.
I can hear people now saying "forty percent sure sounds a lot better than the fifteen percent Mr Row The Boat is at". It certainly is, and if all you aspire to is winning forty percent of the games then I guess this post isn't for you. But also keep in mind that Mason's first two seasons were 1-7 and 2-6 in conference play and as previously mentioned Kill went 2-6 and 2-6. So even if forty percent is acceptable to you, recent Gopher history suggest Fleck isn't far off from the trajectory of those who "achieved" that.
Nebraska was a complete disaster and I've seen more than enough of Robb Smith's defense, but Fleck is less than two years removed from being considered one of the top up and coming coaches in the nation. Given Gopher history does it make sense to mock him when he's lost arguably his best player on both sides of the ball to injury? Is it really any surprise that Gopher football is bad in a year where they are starting a true Freshman QB and between 4-6 other Freshman on offense? I can't remember another year where the Gophers, or any team, has lost their two best players (I am sure it's happened somewhere), but I can remember a lot of years where the Gophers were just as bad as they have been this year.
I don't know if Fleck is the guy, I hope he is but after years and years of disappointment as a Gopher fan (I really feel for those of you 40 plus fans that have experienced even more and especially those of you who travel to watch this team year after year) it's tough to believe. But that's not Fleck's fault, it's the fault of those that came before him. He deserves more than 1.5 years to turn around 50 years of failure. Nebraska sucked today and relevance feels a long way away right now, but does it feel further away than when we were losing 45-17 to Purdue in 2011? It probably doesn't, we've just all tried to erase that memory.