Depressing situation

[hategreenticemase]

It's a depressing situation. Fleck knew they were going to get their ass whipped. He was really weird on the show Wed on KFAN, kept jokingly avoiding talking about Michigan, wanted to talk about last Saturdays game. It was tongue in cheek but he kept doing it over and over. Now we know why. Wow. What a debacle. I could only stomach a half.

It's been a while since I have been this disappointed in a players "development". Wow, how can AK be what he is at this point? He was better last year for FFS. Incredibly disappointing and unfortunately it's revealing as well. The kid is an athlete, by all accounts has the intangibles and work ethic, and has arm talent. How can be not at least be a middling P5 QB much less a quality one? He isn't that at this point.

The state of this team, Fleck railing on NIL which is pretty indicative of how bad the disparity must be, it's all depressing. It's so hard to be a Gopher football fan. Fuck, look at this place. We would have had multiple threads after a s*** show like that yesterday. FFS, we can't even have a separate game day thread for the little brown jug. Apathy has set in.

Sure looks like what Feek alluded to earlier could be the case - Fleck wants out.

PS. Does anyone know why Darius Taylor didn't play? Fleck made it sound like Wed he would play.

[Sportsrgreat]

He’s transferring.

[hategreenticemase]

He’s transferring.

Says who???

[GopherGuy]

Apathy is setting in. I'm trying not to be knee jerk but the same things that bugged me when the Gophers won ugly exist when we lose ugly. At this point it isn't going to change. Playing not to lose means you will only ever be mediocre at best. I'm sick of settling or being told that is the best we can do here, BS. That right there is the mentality of a loser. PJ gets the rest of the season. Show people you are willing to change or just go.

[Sellingguy]

Apathy is setting in. I'm trying not to be knee jerk but the same things that bugged me when the Gophers won ugly exist when we lose ugly. At this point it isn't going to change. Playing not to lose means you will only ever be mediocre at best. I'm sick of settling or being told that is the best we can do here, BS. That right there is the mentality of a loser. PJ gets the rest of the season. Show people you are willing to change or just go.

What is worse, settling for what the gopher football program is, vs thinking they can be a elite program?

The bottom line is this. There are not enough great football players to go around.
How many D1 programs are there? Look at the top 25 teams over the last 20 years.
With out looking that up, i bet it is a very consistent list of teams.
Yes you will always have a surprise team from time to time, but realistically most teams, like the gophers have no shot.

Not even bringing in the NIL money issue, the high end recruits are going to go to one of the powerhouse schools. How many gopher players were recruited by a powerhouse?
All these kids playing college football are not doing so because they are some great player. They are playing because there are 1000's of spots open.
Now bring in the NIL money, and it is no contest.

[TheLokNesMonster]

Hire a great coach. Open the wallet and hire the very best. No serious recruit is going to listen to the malarkey that the Flack’s, Brewster’s, and Wacker’s, et al; barf out during their sales pitch.

We have zero NFL talent ever coming here. We can’t keep even one blue chip from Minnesota here. They wouldn’t waste their time with this shit.

Go to Texas with your checkbook and pay 6 or 8 guys to come here. Pay them. Overpay them. You’ll have to. It’s a start though. Let the world know you are in the game.

Otherwise let’s just hire Mike Grant, shoot for 6 wins, and punch your ticket to the Astro Blue Bonnet Bowl every 2 out of 5 years.

[LwnmwrMan222]

Fleck is a recruiter.

Fleck is a shitty coach.

I've said this before.

Coach Prime will be shown to be the same.

Kids buy into the rah rah the first 2, 3 years, then they see how horseshit the coaching actually is, then the coach can no longer recruit and the team steadily declines.

That's what will happen here.

[jffl_commish]

How long before these big money donors for the NIL shit figure out they can make money if they create their own league instead of funding college kids? Something like a U21 league that directly feeds the NFL.

[TheLokNesMonster]

How long before these big money donors for the NIL shit figure out they can make money if they create their own league instead of funding college kids? Something like a U21 league that directly feeds the NFL.

What they need to do is just admit that this is what college is becoming. Set a salary cap. Pay the players whatever they can get. Sorry North Appalachia State, you can play here anymore.

[rtb]

Still a Fleck supporter, best coach since I've been a fan despite his warts, and I think he's allowed a down year now and then. "Win 9 games with an occasional great season and compete with Iowa and Wisconsin." We all said that, I'd say 2019 was pretty great and check on competing with Wisconsin, not so much Iowa.

My bigger concern and the reason I'm down on the team's long term outlook in general is just that college football has changed so much in the last couple of years with NIL and the portal and it's not going back. Realistically, how can we compete if we aren't paying like the big time school? Where's the money going to come from? I don't see a lot of hope for the future, and would guess this is where the Fleck rumblings are coming from. I don't think paying a big time coach fixes that - unless you can get big time NIL money I'm thinking it's over as far as competing with the big boys. Coaches could change a culture and make breakthroughs at programs in the past. Without money now, good luck. NCAA straight up blew it with setting it all up.

[feekdogg]

Nah. This isn't depressing. This is par for the effing course around here.

Depressing is when you consider that a little more than a decade ago, Penn State's second in command of the their football program got outed as a child rapist (on football team property nonetheless), they lost half their scholarships, were banned from bowls for 4 years and since that happened, they've gone to four bowls that are all better than any bowl the Gophers have gone to in more than 50 years.

That's depressing.

[hategreenticemase]

Nah. This isn't depressing. This is par for the effing course around here.

Depressing is when you consider that a little more than a decade ago, Penn State's second in command of the their football program got outed as a child rapist (on football team property nonetheless), they lost half their scholarships, were banned from bowls for 4 years and since that happened, they've gone to four bowls that are all better than any bowl the Gophers have gone to in more than 50 years.

That's depressing.

Ok, now I'm really depressed.

[WannaBeProGolferGuy]

Still a Fleck supporter, best coach since I've been a fan despite his warts, and I think he's allowed a down year now and then. "Win 9 games with an occasional great season and compete with Iowa and Wisconsin." We all said that, I'd say 2019 was pretty great and check on competing with Wisconsin, not so much Iowa.

My bigger concern and the reason I'm down on the team's long term outlook in general is just that college football has changed so much in the last couple of years with NIL and the portal and it's not going back. Realistically, how can we compete if we aren't paying like the big time school? Where's the money going to come from? I don't see a lot of hope for the future, and would guess this is where the Fleck rumblings are coming from. I don't think paying a big time coach fixes that - unless you can get big time NIL money I'm thinking it's over as far as competing with the big boys. Coaches could change a culture and make breakthroughs at programs in the past. Without money now, good luck. NCAA straight up blew it with setting it all up.

I am with you and I still support Fleck as he is the best HC we have had since the early 60's. Plus, I don't trust the decision makers at the U to hire someone more better than PJ. I played for the Gophers under Jim Wacker (jeezo beezo) in the early 90's when then President Nils Hasselmo opined the U should drop football in favor of soccer since soccer was the wave of the future. Really? drop football from a Big 10 University.

Fleck needs to grow as a coach and ditch the 80's and 90's approach to run the ball 70% of the time, play solid defense. Right, wrong, or indifferent the game has changed. It's a passing game these days and he needs to adjust his philosophy and recruiting to match. You can't tell me that kids from all over the country would not want to come to a top 15 market with tons of Fortune 500 Companies. Will these kids desire to see the "flash" and go the NFL? Sure, and why not promote both? Hey, kid we will do whatever we can to get you to the NFL, but, if you don't then we our program is a "life program" and we will make you a better person/man when you enroll vs when you graduate.

Speaking of NIL, couldn't or wouldn't a coach in a major urban area with tons of Fortune 500 Companies attempt to establish some type of relationship with these companies to increase the NIL Collective? That is an advantage the U has over many many other universities. I suspect the lack of movement on the NIL collective is the decision makers at the Fortune 500 Companies are loyal to the universities they have graduated from and not neccessarily the UofM. But, What the hell why not try it?

Reality is, the UofM will never be Ohio State or Michigan or Alabama or Georgia since the Twin Cities "feels" like more of a professional sports town vs a colllege town. Many of those "college towns" are 1000% centered around the University and the Win Loss record of the football team or basketball team--see Lincoln, NE, Pullman, WA, Tuscaloosa, AL, Ann Arbor, MI etc. I surmsie the UofM wll never ever reach that level.

The UofM can not compete at that level since the outcome of a college football game matters less to us then the outcome of the Vikings game--hence it's a pro sports town.

Is it depressing? Meh, depends upon how you look at it. I have become resolute the Gopher football team will never be a perennial National Title Contending juggernaut. But, could they win 7-9 games every year with a chance for 11 wins every few seasons? Yep and that is what Fleck has done. But, the dropoff in talent and depth in Fleck's 7th year is alarming/concerning. Blew a 21 point lead to Northwestern and not even competitive vs Michigan last Saturday. Part of me is of the belief that, I respect Fleck's approach to his program since it's a "life" program and builds better human beings to benefit society. Several college football programs are littered with players that have questionable pasts/commit crimes while enrolled but are really good at playing football (some kid from Oklahoma State got arrested on Tuesday but somehow was able to play on Saturday because of the ol let the situation play out), those Universities look the other way since they are good at football and win football games for the University so the fans and boosters can feel proud. Fleck has benched players for not adhering to his standards (Dylan Wright) and I do have to give massive respect for Fleck doing so.

[Slap Shot]

The first 30 minutes of this podcast is an interview with Derek Burns and goes into a decent amount of detail regarding the current and future state of NIL for Minnesota.


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[BigInflateable]

Nah. This isn't depressing. This is par for the effing course around here.

Depressing is when you consider that a little more than a decade ago, Penn State's second in command of the their football program got outed as a child rapist (on football team property nonetheless), they lost half their scholarships, were banned from bowls for 4 years and since that happened, they've gone to four bowls that are all better than any bowl the Gophers have gone to in more than 50 years.

That's depressing.

Ok, now I'm really depressed.

Meh, Jerrah Kill won the Citrus Bowl That's not a bad one in the past 50 years!

[Slap Shot]

The Gophers beat Auburn in a legit bowl game, and the Gophers lost in the Citrus Bowl for the 3rd straight loss under Kill.

[BigInflateable]

The Gophers beat Auburn in a legit bowl game, and the Gophers lost in the Citrus Bowl for the 3rd straight loss under Kill.

What bowl was Auburn again? I'm foggy on that, thanks for the reminder!

[Slap Shot]

The Gophers beat Auburn in a legit bowl game, and the Gophers lost in the Citrus Bowl for the 3rd straight loss under Kill.

What bowl was Auburn again? I'm foggy on that, thanks for the reminder!

Outback on Jan 1.

[BigInflateable]

The Gophers beat Auburn in a legit bowl game, and the Gophers lost in the Citrus Bowl for the 3rd straight loss under Kill.

What bowl was Auburn again? I'm foggy on that, thanks for the reminder!

Outback on Jan 1.

Thank you sir. The two biggest bowl games the program had played in in 40 or 50 years! For some reason I'd thought they won the Citrus bowl. Mizzou handled Kills squad in that one though.

[RubeTube]

I agree with OP that Fleck wants out. I’m sure he was hoping to have moved up somewhere else long ago. Where is he going though? Who’s going to keep lining his pockets for mediocrity and winning the occasional game against Iowa and Wisconsin other than the Goofs?

If he left here right now, he wouldn’t even get a job as good as Minnesota.

[Slap Shot]

He doesn't want out - why would he? What he needs is to get in the ear of his DC and tell him to knock the shit off that happened vs NW and ILL.

[Sellingguy]

At this point PJ will do anything to hold on to the job. Anyone know what his buyout is if they fire him?
PJ had 3-4 years in which he might have been offered a better job. That time has passed.
He also had those first few years to change the recruiting to the next level players they rarely got before.
That didnt happen. That might not ever happen.
What coach could come to MN and get those better players?
Gopher football. Sniff a Jan 1st bowl game from time to time, but the reality is, Detroit. Just think, Detroit has a fucking bowl game. Why doesn't Minnesota? The Snow Bowl and let the gophers host the fucking thing.

[feekdogg]

Maybe the next time his wife makes him get plastic surgery, he should ask the doc to transform him into a guy who understands how to win football games.

[Sportsrgreat]

^feekdogg. Good one!

[Hummdrum]

Maybe the next time his wife makes him get plastic surgery, he should ask the doc to transform him into a guy who understands how to win football games.