What do we value?

Donate To GopherHole
RememberMurray

RememberMurray

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 25, 2019
Messages
8,944
Reaction score
8,826
Points
113
This is a thread about what we, as Gopher football fans, really want... and what we're willing to do to get there.

Here's the question:

Let's say our very own billionaire shows up on the scene. He (or she) says, "It's new day in Gopher football, and we're going to make big changes. This program will be dedicated to one thing and on thing only: WINNING. No matter what. Nothing less will be acceptable".

The current coach and his staff are immediately fired, and a new, higher-profile Big Name is hired. The roster is completely remade with the very best players money can buy. Academics is now an afterthought, since it doesn't contribute to the New Mission. Off-field behavior is put under far less scrutiny. Players can get away with far more, provided they play well on the field.

The team promptly wins multiple national titles.

Are you pleased, or are you disillusioned or...?

There are no wrong answers here. Opinions, please.
 


My opinion (not saying it is the right one)

College football to me now more than ever is a professional game. I would be fine with the best players money can buy. But I would have limits on behavior. Murderers, rapists, robbers, and the like would be a no go for me. An occasional underage consumption, DWI, or curfew violation I can live with.

If our graduation rates slipped a few percentage points I could live with that.

Only my opinion, and I say this not liking what college FB is becoming or has already became in many aspects.
 

Am I pleased? Bro… I’m frickin’ ecstatic.

images


mighty-ducks-win.gif
 

If the players were complete aholes, breaking the law and being pricks that would not fly with me. But as to the rest, in this current landscape of college athletics I would just enjoy the ride.
 


I expect to win. Winning is what the game is about. Beating Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan for our legacy rivalry trophies are what's important. Doing that puts us in the top quartile of the conference, at the very least.
 

Im fine with all of this. However, I would like to see PJ still be the man. He mentioned national championships in his first press conference after getting hired. He deserves to fulfill that prophecy.
 

If you have enough money to spend and are winning titles you don't have to take the sketchy but talented guys. You can have the clean, smart, and 5 star talent guys.

I'm fine with the coaches getting fired to achieve this, though I would want to see what PJ could do with the most resources. Fine with iffy academics, since it doesn't hurt the rest of the U's academics or the education non-football players get. I think academics are already an afterthought for a portion of the team.

I would draw the line at a major, serious campus crime wave coming from the football team. But that's not happening broadly at other recent national title contenders.
 

Great ? It would be a dream to be able to buy a high quality and high character team. IU seems to have gotten close with players n coaches. I would love to see a PJF team with a big NIL budget. I think he would prioritize team guys and being able to recruit and retain big impact players and coaches would be exciting.
 



Hard to imagine the hypothetical but if the team were truly a bunch of thugs and criminals I imagine my interest would wane some. I'd still probably cheer from a distance but would I be as die hard as I am now? Not sure. I got into NCAA over NFL for a reason. I still like NFL though.
 

maybe at that point we expand the bank no? fill in the bowl and or add a third level? would be pretty cool
 

If this team won multiple national titles there isn't a single person here who would object in the slightest.

/thread
 

I feel like even if it happened it wouldn't be in the context of "you traded X for Y" and we'd find some perfectly good / reasonable players to cheer for too.
 



I personally love our team, and how they operate. Love no scandals, no arrests, lots of service and giving, quality football, guys getting drafted, guys getting coaching jobs and all around positive aura around the team. While I would love to win more and be in the cfp (which i think we will be) having a program that turns out good people and doesn't have negative head lines is far more important to me. I dont have money to add to NIL and if I did football is low on the list of things I want to contribute to, but I will continue to cheer and support emotionally! ROW THE BOAT SKI U MAH GO GOPHER!
 

Soon2B8 said:
I personally love our team, and how they operate. Love no scandals, no arrests, lots of service and giving, quality football, guys getting drafted, guys getting coaching jobs and all around positive aura around the team. While I would love to win more and be in the cfp (which i think we will be) having a program that turns out good people and doesn't have negative head lines is far more important to me. I dont have money to add to NIL and if I did football is low on the list of things I want to contribute to, but I will continue to cheer and support emotionally! ROW THE BOAT SKI U MAH GO GOPHER!
Click to expand...
This. To me it's even the small things. Like watching the end of Illinois/Tennessee last night. The Illinois players celebrated by waving goodbye towards the Tennessee bench/fans. Just thought it looked in poor taste. Just my opinion but I thought to myself that I'm happy it's not something I generally see our guys doing
 

I would be happy to become a serious championship contender while losing some of the positive off the field reputation the Gophers have build. I wouldn't want the Gophers to recruit players with major behavioral issues or keep players after major incidents but would be okay with them recruiting some players with less than perfect histories.

If given top tier NIL funding but still limited money, I don't think immediately firing the head coach, gutting the roster, and looking at talent as the only factor in recruiting is the best method to win. As NIL develops, outbidding your rivals won't always work - a few MLB teams try that strategy with the lack of a hard salary cap and it's really only worked well for the Dodgers. You'd still want a coach that players want to play for, which could be Fleck as the figurehead with assistant coaches taking care of the x's and o's. You'd still want players who are going to stay on the field, meaning they need to stay healthy and not get in too much trouble. We don't have the recent history of success like some other schools that have only gotten a slap on the wrist so if we outspent everyone and had major off the field problems, there's a good chance the NCAA would make an example out of us.
 

pharmacygopher said:
This. To me it's even the small things. Like watching the end of Illinois/Tennessee last night. The Illinois players celebrated by waving goodbye towards the Tennessee bench/fans. Just thought it looked in poor taste. Just my opinion but I thought to myself that I'm happy it's not something I generally see our guys doing
Click to expand...
Exactly! I also love that we have an empathetic coach. When he started the post game press conference emphasizing that football isn't the most important thing and talked about the shooting at Annunciation. He sees that his program can bring joy and light to the community but it is not more important or above our community! I believe he has a team that understands and sees it too! I am proud of our program!
 

Not really bought in to the whole premise you put forth. Are you saying that with a benefactor who contributes unlimited $$, Fleck and his program culture wouldn't be able to achieve these on field goals (his staff turns over regularly already) by bringing in top coaches and players? If so, why not?
 
Last edited:

National Championships would be an easy yes. Multiple playoff appearances would be the same.
 

Wins and consistency. Averaging 8 wins over last five years is nice , would love to push that closer to 9.
 


USAF said:
If this team won multiple national titles there isn't a single person here who would object in the slightest.

/thread
Click to expand...
If we did it like Georgia and off the field stuff. All the driving incidents yes a lot of people would take issue with it. Or even like Michigan on field stuff.

Sabans teams were pretty clean, 2019 LSU. Everyone would take it.
 

If only there was a way to watch professional football in Minneapolis.
 

They would need to be enrolled students at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities and be in good standing academically, making progress towards a degree, and be eligible in college football for no more than five seasons.

Otherwise, it's not college football. It's just XFL with University names on the uniforms.


In addition to the stuff said by others about not being criminals.


Then, yes I'd think it's great!
 

PMWinSTP said:
Not really bought in to the whole premise you put forth. Are you saying that with a benefactor who contributes unlimited $$, Fleck and his program culture wouldn't be able to achieve these on field goals (his staff turns over regularly already) by bringing in top coaches and players? If so, why not?
Click to expand...
I believe that if someone were to put forth a premise of "ANY current FBS staff could win a national championship, if you simply gave them unlimited money", then that premise would be false.

Now, does that apply to Fleck specifically. Well ....
 


fmlizard said:
If you have enough money to spend and are winning titles you don't have to take the sketchy but talented guys. You can have the clean, smart, and 5 star talent guys.

I'm fine with the coaches getting fired to achieve this, though I would want to see what PJ could do with the most resources. Fine with iffy academics, since it doesn't hurt the rest of the U's academics or the education non-football players get. I think academics are already an afterthought for a portion of the team.

I would draw the line at a major, serious campus crime wave coming from the football team. But that's not happening broadly at other recent national title contenders.
Click to expand...
Agree 100%. Coaches want smart players. Even if the players grades are suspect coming in, I believe the academics support staff can help them. Lowering standards is in itself an admission of failure.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom